Foragers Warn of Misidentified Toxic Mushrooms by ID Apps

By Emily Middleton

ABC Central West

Topic: Fungi

Thursday, 6 August 2026, at 9:12 am

Mushrooms are often found on the forest floor.

In short:

Many people use their phones to identify wild mushrooms, but these apps are not always right.

Experienced foragers say amateurs should pick with a guide and not rely on apps.

What's next?

NSW Health does not recommend eating wild mushrooms.

Searching for wild mushrooms is an old and romantic tradition.

As the weather gets cooler, foragers like Robbie Robinson go to the woods to find mushrooms.

Robbie Robinson has been gathering wild mushrooms for over 40 years and sells them to restaurants.

Robbie Robinson has a lot of experience with wild mushrooms.

Robbie Robinson said wild mushrooms have different nutrients than the ones you buy.

You get different mushrooms every year.

Wild mushrooms often grow in pine plantations and state forests.

Some mushrooms are safe to eat, but others are very bad for you.

Some bad mushrooms look like safe ones, which can be very dangerous.

While it's legal to pick mushrooms in NSW, NSW Health does not recommend it.

This is why some people made apps to help identify safe mushrooms.

However, these apps are not always right.

A study found that AI apps that identify mushrooms often make mistakes.

The best app still got it wrong about 15% of the time.

Other apps were even worse, with one getting it wrong over 90% of the time.

Diego Bonetto teaches people how to pick wild food.

Find a guide

Diego Bonetto has been teaching foraging for over 25 years and likes to see people picking wild food.

But he's worried that more people are using their phones to find mushrooms.

Diego Bonetto said you should pick what you know is safe and not try to match pictures on your phone.

The wild mushroom season is in late autumn and early winter.

Diego Bonetto says amateurs should learn from experienced pickers.

Mushroom foraging needs to be done with knowledge.

Life-threatening risk

NSW Health does not recommend eating wild mushrooms because it can be very dangerous.

About 900 people call the Australian Poisons Information Centre each year about eating wild mushrooms.

Some mushrooms can be fatal, like in a case where three people died after eating death cap mushrooms.

Julian Cox said mushrooms can be toxic and contaminated with bad things from the environment.

Julian Cox said restaurants that use foraged ingredients might have food safety issues.

Diego Bonetto said mushroom foraging is a tradition in Italy.

Wild mushrooms on the menu

Chefs like to use wild mushrooms in their kitchens.

Robbie Robinson said chefs learn about foraging from each other.

Robbie Robinson learned about foraging from European chefs and by reading.

Robbie Robinson said some chefs prefer wild mushrooms over the ones you buy.

Robbie Robinson said it's best to learn foraging from someone who knows what they're doing.

Once you learn, you won't forget how to identify mushrooms.

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