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No evidence Woolworths sold death cap mushrooms: ACT Health

Paul Kelly, ACT chief health officer, said there’s no evidence that supermarket giant Woolworths supplied the Death Cap mushrooms that have seen three people hospitalised recently.

Two people are in hospitals in Canberra and one in Sydney after eating the deadly fungus, the ABC reports.

The three victims are from the same household and claim they fell ill after eating the mushrooms which they say they bought from a Woolworths store in Dickson.

However ACT chief health officer, Paul Kelly, said there’s no evidence the mushrooms came from Woolworths, and the assumption at this stage is that the mushrooms were picked.

"There's plenty of mushrooms in and around Canberra, particularly inner Canberra, at the moment after all the rain we've had. So it seems like an honest mistake,” Kelly said.

Woolworths is working closely with ACT Health but said there have been no other reports of similar food poisoning incidences.

Death Cap mushrooms can easily be mistaken for other, safe to consume mushroom varieties, however if ingested can lead to nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, liver damage and even death.

In 2012, a chef and a kitchen hand died after consuming Death Cap mushrooms that were intended for use as part of a private New Year’s Eve dinner at a bistro in the Harmonie German Club in Canberra’s Narrabundah.

The restaurant's 38 year old chef Lui Jun and 52 year old kitchen hand Tsou Hsiang died from  eating a stir-fry containing the mushrooms.

 

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