Fatal fungi: health alert as mushroom season begins

Millions of Australians are being warned against foraging for mushrooms, as cool, wet weather brings with it an abundance of fatal fungi.

Poisonous mushrooms, including the infamous death cap and yellow-staining varieties, are more common across Victoria in autumn and winter months.

As they begin to grow in full force - from the suburbs of Melbourne to the regions - health authorities are warning residents to steer clear.

"Eating some wild mushroom can make you very sick or even kill you," said Dr Evelyn Wong, Victoria's deputy chief health officer.

In 2025, 436 calls were placed with the Victorian Poisons Centre related to mushroom exposures, a spokesperson told AAP.

While the majority had no symptoms at the time of calling, 98 cases involved minor symptoms, 23 moderate and two severe.

Nearly half of the calls involved exploratory exposures to children under five years.

The yellow-staining mushroom and death cap are of the most concern in Victoria - the former for its prevalence and the latter, its lethality.

The yellow-staining mushroom is generally not fatal but can cause intense gastrointestinal symptoms.

"It's not gonna kill you, but it's unpleasant," Dr Tom May, senior principal research scientist at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, told AAP.

It often grows in clusters, sometimes referred to as fairy rings, and closely resembles some varieties of edible fungi, including the field mushroom.

While the yellow-staining mushroom is responsible for the most fungi poisonings in Victoria, it is not nearly as fatal as the aptly named death cap.

A single cap often contains enough to poison to kill an adult and can sprout wherever oak trees grow - across Melbourne and the regions.

The death cap shot to national notoriety during the Erin Patterson trial, during which Dr May took the stand to give expert evidence.

Patterson was jailed for life in 2025 after being found guilty of murdering her former in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson.

A jury found she deliberately served beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms in July 2023 at her Leongatha home in regional Victoria.

"I think if you look at the media coverage (of that case), that certainly would have brought to people's attention that there are highly toxic fungi around," Dr May said.

Victorians are urged to only eat mushrooms purchased from reputable retailers and to avoid foraging for them in public areas.

Where wild mushrooms sprouted in home gardens, they should be removed to reduce any risk to children or pets, the Department of Health said.

But it must be done with care, wearing gloves and carefully placing them in a bag before disposing of them in a closed, general waste rubbish bin.

Hands should be washed thoroughly afterwards.

If wild mushrooms are consumed, residents are urged to call the Victorian Poisons Centre immediately before symptoms develop.