Eleven Muscovites were hospitalized with botulism after eating conserved mushrooms over the holidays, according to the Moscow mayor's office.


Shortly before the new year, the city government ordered law enforcement to crack down on trade of home-bottled goods, but "seconds after" the holiday, cases of food poisoning began checking into city hospitals, said mayoral spokesman Andrei Varchenya.


Botulism -- an acute form of food poisoning that can be deadly -- is caused by bacteria that grow in improperly canned foods. Incidence of botulism takes a distinct upturn around the holidays, and 18 cases were reported during the months of November and December, Varchenya said.


Buying or selling any preserved goods on the street has been illegal since 1992, according to a decree passed by the city health department, said Olga Verba of the mayor's consumer market department. Although the militia and regional administrations are charged with enforcing the decree, unheeding Muscovites still do much of their shopping on the sidewalk.


One result is occasional cases of food poisoning. "It's a serious seasonal problem," said Igor Nadezhdin, press spokesman for the city Medical Administration.


Although the city's chief medical adminstration could not confirm that the canned vegetables were mushrooms, or that the victims actually had botulism, there were 11 cases of food poisoning recorded around the time of the holidays, Nadezhdin added.


"Like any normal doctor, I would tell customers not to eat anything they buy on the street," Nadezhdin said. "If you want to buy mushrooms, buy them from a state factory under state administration."


Mushrooms, a beloved national dish to Russians, are also relatively destructive to them. Deadly toxins can crop up even in usually safe mushrooms that are used in traditional dishes. A spate of mushroom poisonings killed dozens of people in Russia and Ukraine in 1992, and every summer brings a scattering of poisoning deaths.