Wild Harvested Mushrooms

Morel mushroom hunters are just itching to go hunting in their favorite spots! But if you pick wild mushrooms for sale, they must be inspected for safety by an approved mushroom identifier.

The Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) offers a program to become a mushroom indentifier to meet Kansas regulations. An interested person must apply to KDA by email at KDA.FSL@ks.gov.

The application email must include:

• The applicant’s name, address, and phone number;
• The variety or varieties of wild harvested edible mushroom for which recognition is sought;
• A description of the applicant’s years and kind of experience identifying mushrooms; and,
• Information about any mushroom identification courses completed by the applicant.

Once received and reviewed, KDA will add the applicant to the mushroom identification registry and notify the applicant of the registry number assigned.

Inclusion in the registry does not indicate that KDA is responsible for failure on the part of the registrants to successfully identify inedible/poisonous varieties of mushrooms.

Resources are available from the Association of Food and Drug Officials.