Health bosses warn Victorians against picking wild poisonous mushrooms
Foragers are being warned about potentially deadly mushrooms growing across Victoria as the weather becomes wetter and colder.
Death cap and yellow-staining mushrooms appear during the autumn months, and if ingested,
can be poisonous.
The states's chief health officer Dr Christian McGrath urged Victorians not to pick and eat wild mushrooms unless they are an expert, and clear any that are spotted growing out of the way of children and pets.
'Anyone who collects and consumes wild mushrooms of unknown species is putting themselves at risk of potential poisoning and serious illness,' he said on Tuesday.
'Consuming a death cap mushroom may result in death.'
All wild mushrooms should be disposed of using gloves and placed into landfill bins, with no home tests currently available to distinguish safe and edible mushrooms from poisonous ones – which can cause stomach pains, nausea vomiting and diarrhoea.
Mushrooms purchased from a supermarket, greengrocer or other reputable source are safe to eat, Dr McGrath added.
Multiple deaths have been reported from suspected mushroom poisoning in Victoria in recent years.
In April 2024, 53-year-old Rachael Dixon went into cardiac arrest and died after allegedly drinking a hallucinogenic concoction prepared from wild mushrooms.
She was attending a healing retreat when she drank the fatal magic mushroom tea.
Help is available around the clock via the Victorian Poisons Information Centre on 13 11 26, or the Animal Poisons Helpline on 1300 869 738, to seek urgent medical advice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
06-06-2025
- The Age
Botched hospital stays caused more than 100 deaths
Three Victorian patients died or were seriously harmed after receiving surgery on the wrong part of their body last financial year. Two others were left with life-threatening complications because foreign objects – such as surgical sponges, cotton swabs or clamps – were unintentionally left inside them at the end of an invasive procedure. Thirteen people died or were seriously harmed because they were either given the wrong medication or incorrect dosage. And six died by suspected suicide in an acute psychiatric unit or ward. The revelations are contained in Victoria's latest annual review of hospital errors resulting in serious harm or death, otherwise known as 'sentinel events'. The report – compiled by government agency Safer Care Victoria and obtained by The Age before it was published – found there were 193 such incidents during the 2023-24 financial year, resulting in approximately 112 deaths. While the overall number of sentinel events and subsequent deaths are down compared to last year's record high of 245 incidents and 167 patient deaths, there has been a year-on-year spike in the number of suspected suicides in acute psychiatric settings and the proportion of sentinel events involving babies less than seven days old. The six Victorians who died by suspected suicide in an acute psychiatric setting last financial year represent a threefold increase compared to 2022-23 when two individuals died in similar circumstances. The proportion of self-harm incidents among uncategorised sentinel events also grew year-on-year, from 7 per cent to 10 per cent. The Age can confirm Safer Care Victoria will conduct a review of the way health services report these so-called 'category 11' cases, which make up the vast majority of incidents.
Sydney Morning Herald
06-06-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Botched hospital stays caused more than 100 deaths
Three Victorian patients died or were seriously harmed after receiving surgery on the wrong part of their body last financial year. Two others were left with life-threatening complications because foreign objects – such as surgical sponges, cotton swabs or clamps – were unintentionally left inside them at the end of an invasive procedure. Thirteen people died or were seriously harmed because they were either given the wrong medication or incorrect dosage. And six died by suspected suicide in an acute psychiatric unit or ward. The revelations are contained in Victoria's latest annual review of hospital errors resulting in serious harm or death, otherwise known as 'sentinel events'. The report – compiled by government agency Safer Care Victoria and obtained by The Age before it was published – found there were 193 such incidents during the 2023-24 financial year, resulting in approximately 112 deaths. While the overall number of sentinel events and subsequent deaths are down compared to last year's record high of 245 incidents and 167 patient deaths, there has been a year-on-year spike in the number of suspected suicides in acute psychiatric settings and the proportion of sentinel events involving babies less than seven days old. The six Victorians who died by suspected suicide in an acute psychiatric setting last financial year represent a threefold increase compared to 2022-23 when two individuals died in similar circumstances. The proportion of self-harm incidents among uncategorised sentinel events also grew year-on-year, from 7 per cent to 10 per cent. The Age can confirm Safer Care Victoria will conduct a review of the way health services report these so-called 'category 11' cases, which make up the vast majority of incidents.
The Age
04-06-2025
- The Age
Australian container return schemes are a booming good news story
For the first time since South Australia introduced Australia's first modern container return scheme in 1977 every state and territory in the nation is now paying cash for containers, with billions of bottles and cans being recycled and a marked reduction in coastal plastic litter. By close of business on Tuesday the NSW scheme had collected 13,742,879 bottles and cans and paid out $1.374 billion in refunds, with 1.1 million tonnes of product being recycled. In Victoria, an estimated 1.8 billion containers have been recycled through the container deposit scheme since its launch in November 2023. A government spokesman said Victorians had collected $186 million from the scheme, including more than $1.9 million donated to charities and community groups. The last state to introduce its own scheme was Tasmania, which began operations at the start of May and collected more than 1.2 million bottles and cans in its first four days of operations. According to a study published earlier this month in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin, the density of plastic pollution had fallen 39 per cent over a decade in coastal areas around Australia's cities, in part due to container deposit schemes. Loading It found containers were not the main form of debris found around Australian cities, except Hobart, according to a survey conducted shortly before the Tasmanian container deposit scheme began operations. 'Hobart, which did not have container deposit options at the time of the survey, was found to have the highest occurrence of fragment and whole beverage bottles compared to all other cities,' says the report. 'This provides additional evidence that effective policies, such as container deposit legislation, can help to reduce plastic in the environment.' The schemes, which see consumers charged a 10¢ deposit which is refunded upon container returns, are successful because they provide the packaging industry with a clean and reliable stream of material for recycling, said James Dorney, chief executive of Tomra Cleanaway, the joint venture which runs the NSW scheme.
