Morel Illness Outbreak? Not What You'd Expect. Here's What To Know

Recently news headlines are awash with reports of an illness outbreak associated with Morel mushrooms. Morel mushrooms are a very popular spring mushroom with millions of people taking to the woods every year to forage the delicacy. In Montana last year there were reports of multiple people becoming ill after consuming the mushroom at a Bozeman sushi restaurant. However it's not as the news headlines would have you believe. This particular sushi restaurant was investigated and several violations of food safety were found, along with improper preparation of Morel mushrooms. They were found to be basically serving the mushrooms raw, instead of cooking them. Cooking your morels is an important step to break down the chitin and other compounds that can cause illness. I wanted to take a look at this issue as Morel season is underway in the U.S. and people are seeing these reports and becoming scared. There is no reason to panic, Morels are totally safe to consume if you prepare them properly.
Sources:
www.scientific...
www.cdc.gov/mm....
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[@christianclayton1492]

Calling them "news" outlets is hilarious!

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Glad you got a laugh out of it.

[@christianclayton1492]

@@TrilliumWildEdiblesI've been trying to educate myself on some outdoor skills including foraging recently so I also learned a bit.

[@Turdfergusen382]

Thanks for setting the story straight bud. Excellent job.

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

You're very welcome and thank you!

[@deedorothypapineau6920]

I always sauté morels until they are toasty browned. To me they taste better with some black pepper at the same time.

[@UFOSPACEMAN]

I’ve eaten many raw morels 🤷‍♂️ I don’t advise doing what I’ve done.

[@StargazingDragon]

I've seen exactly what you're talking about. Thank you for spreading good info and clarifying!

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Glad it was helpful!

[@chillindave1357]

Thx Josh, I heard ZERO about any of this... before today 😉 "Relax, the raw fish is less than a month old... sheesh!"

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

You're very welcome! Yeah, improper storage and food handling around fish is recipe for disaster.

[@JasonColombe]

More propaganda so you won't feed yourself. Good food. Control

[@catherinelittlebear9863]

Excellent report! Thank you!

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Glad you liked it and thank you!

[@RAVEN-uj5zq]

Maybe they eating a false Morel Mushroom.

[@MichaelR58]

Good informational video, thanks for sharing YAH bless !

[@tpowfjb]

It's Pronounced kiton.

[@kleineroteHex]

Good thing the sushibar wasn't Amish, they drag those to court without any real reason (only made up accusations).

[@midwestribeye7820]

It's so sad what the government is doing with our food freedoms. 😢

[@kleineroteHex]

@midwestribeye7820 you can put that IN ALL CAPS!

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Yeah, they get so much sh!+ it's ridiculous. They just want to be left alone. I have a friend who used to work for the ASPCA investigating animal treatment and often he was sent to amish communities. He said only once dud he find something that was abusive to the animals and it was an isolated incident done by someone who wasn't actually amish, they just tried to emulate them. Sad situation all around really.

[@sherrym5556]

BS thats a lie! Amish are well known for HORRIBLE dog breeding, inhumane practices etc. Do your research and see how many Amish breeders have been shut down for their disgusting practices. 🤬🤬😡😠🤬​@@TrilliumWildEdibles

[@olenajohnson9980]

Totally ignoring common knowledge and ‘inventing’ new ways of cooking morels is very irresponsible for this particular chef. All mushroom can be eaten, but some only once - taught to any beginner mushroom foragers for this particular reason.

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Exactly! The irresponsibility is definitely upsetting.

[@mayamachine]

Google is a non-biased trustworthy and accurate source of information. In Google We Trust

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

It can be accurate but it's up to us to determine accuracy because they only care about ad revenue. Honestly that's about the only thing I trust them for is to pay me, lol! Hell, Reddit is a better source of accurate information than most other places now. Always nice seeing you in the comments!

[@oneoflokis]

Could always try Duck Duck Go!

[@mayamachine]

@@TrilliumWildEdibles on a mushroom forum a fellow got that rocket fuel poisoning, he had been gathering morels from a old abandoned apple orchard, that chemical was used as pesticide, as we know mushrooms bio accumulate. peace brother

[@StringofPearls55]

😅

[@ssstults999]

Thanks for informing ppl of the truth and the science behind the real reasons these poor souls may have passed. So important to disseminate these "news" outlets stories! You can't believe everything you hear, even if they are considered authoritative.

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

You're very welcome!

[@JasonColombe]

Send all your morels to me if you're scared😂✌🏻❤️

[@JasonColombe]

🤠✌🏻❤️

[@jasminemace899]

I agree with some things you say, but definitely not the chitin (and humans do not synthesize it.... Fingernails are keratin). All mushrooms' backbone is chitin and we eat button mushrooms raw all the time. Not trying to be a troll at all, just know that we eat chitin, although, we can't digest it, so it can cause stomach upset.... But not death. The thing I was hoping you'd end with was the fact that they most likely serving the false morels. Nothing else comes close for a possibility❤. With that, I hope nobody reads this comment and everyone is scared of morels now and I can reclaim my honey h😂les

[@jimmyjack7083]

Oh thank God. When I saw the video title, I thought that the morels are getting sick.

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

That would be terrible.

[@Dianna-pm2hv]

Not a morel problem, just a stupidity problem. I have eaten morels my whole entire life, and no one I know has ever gotten sick. Ever.

[@zinckensteel]

_munches fava beans_ what's that about proper cooking?

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Hopefully you're eating your fava beans with some chianti.

[@zinckensteel]

@@TrilliumWildEdibles Not today, just some homemade spiced lemon wine.

[@debbiehall6616]

Thank you

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

You're very welcome!

[@CarolinaOmaSteph]

I always properly clean and cook my dryland fish (morel). Not everyone know how to correctly prepare them for consumption.

[@Shaden0040]

People got sick and died after eating at a sushi bar I wouldn't blame the mushroom I would blame the chef and probably is the fish especially if they eat fugu which is a poisonous fish unless expertly cut. so it's most likely the atoo which poisoned them and killed them or they got contaminated fish that was contaminated by Fugu remains Football is a puffer fish All puffer fish are highly toxic As only an expert sushi chef can cut fugu so that only the edible pieces which are small pieces are safely consumed and even then accidents do happen so if somebody was cutting fugu and accidentally it wasn't the mushrooms. Although some people do get adverse reaction to eating mushrooms of certain types that are not toxic but their body reacts to them because they're not used to them and they may have some toxins in them that this person is susceptible to or can react to everybody's body chemistry is a little bit different not every medication works exactly the same on everybody some people have bad reactions to medication or side effects That are detrimental to the use of medication That can happen with mushrooms Is there something in the mushroom that your body particularly does not respond well to Whether it's deadly or just nausea inducing or headache inducing or other side effect inducing.

[@jenifermorgan7328]

They were able to tie the level of illness to how well the mushrooms were cooked. The ones with partially cooked morels had less severe illness than those who ate raw or mostly raw mushrooms.

[@MarlenevT]

My understanding is that there is a look alike mushroom that is toxic. Could that be the issue?

[@TurboLoveTrain]

Sushi in Montana ...Sushi Montana...

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Lol, right! That caught my attention as well. Rocky mountain oysters, sure. Sushi, seems sketch.

[@clif4rd1]

Thank you.

[@lightclawshadowmarsch8167]

There is a lookalike mushroom that is identical. One will kill u the other tastes great in a salad

[@trinaka]

No identical morel mushrooms exists

[@Basementbuds420]

If you listen to tv or anything they paint all natural foods as harmful,,, so eat shrooms all the time but apparently wood loving shrooms that perfer rotting wood as there home well here and there can cause a form of temporary paralysis for a day that would suck but it goes away with zero side effects

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

Well of course they do, eating natural cuts into the profits of their donors. We can't have that now can we?

[@scott6252]

Weren't the mushrooms at the sushi bar a farmed product from China ? That could be the problem to, grown in a manure

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

They were imported from China. I didn't include that because I wanted to avoid issues as mentioning China gets people in a tizzy real quick. But yeah I can guarantee that in some way playing a part because the farming practices aren't always as good.

[@1871corporationUSA]

Morels don't grow in dung. Mushrooms can uptake heavy metals from soil/substrate and store them in the fruits.

[@__-pl3jg]

I read the CDC's report and they stated those same China grown morels were shipped to several other states but only the one restaurant in Montana had reported illnesses. They also tested the batch in Montana for heavy metals and toxins not finding anything significant. So either they were correct in thinking it was hydrazine or it wasn't the mushrooms at all and was some spoiled fish. 🤷 My first thought was that the mushrooms were infected with bascillus subtilis bacteria before being packaged. That species along with other bacteria produce toxins that are VERY destructive to the liver and kidneys. Even if the bacteria is killed during the cooking process the toxins remain. Thats why you cant eat rotted meat even if its cooked. It's still full of toxins. This doesnt seem to be the case in this mushroom situation though.

[@nyantun2643]

👍

[@bradlafferty]

Thank you for this information and advice.

[@TrilliumWildEdibles]

You're very welcome!