Morel Mushroom Certification Workshop 

Held at: Dreher 4-H Building, Douglas County Fairgrounds, 2110 Harper, Lawrence KS 66046

This workshop is intended to help assure that wild harvested mushrooms sold as morels in the state are actually morels and safe to consume. The current Kansas Department of Agriculture (KDA) Food Safety and Lodging regulations state that mushrooms picked in the wild for sale must be individually inspected for safety by an approved mushroom identification expert. Those successfully completing this workshop will be recognized as mushroom identification experts for the purposes of meeting this regulation. Note that these regulations and this certification do NOT apply to cultivated mushrooms, such as shiitakes, but only to mushrooms harvested in the wild. Cultivated mushrooms do NOT require an identification course.

The course will be taught by mushroom identification expert Sherry Kay from the Kaw Valley Mycological Society. There is no charge for the course this year.

The workshop will cover the following:

 

• Background on the regulation and certification requirements
• Pre-training identification test
• PowerPoint presentation on recognizing morels and false morels and other species of wild mushrooms
• Post-training identification test for certification (and re-testing as needed)

 

Morel Mushroom certification

After successful completion of the workshop and test, participants will need to sign a liability waiver and can then receive wall-size and wallet-size training certificates recognizing them as an “approved mushroom identification expert.”  The certification is a 3 year certification. If you cannot attend the course this year but would still like to register your mushroom identification qualifications, you will have until August 2016 to complete a certification course (we are currently planning to hold this course yearly).

This workshop is organized by Kansas State University Research and Extension, Kansas State University Biology Department, the Kaw Valley Mycological Society, The University of Kansas Biological Survey, and the Kansas Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Lodging Program.  

 

 

Register Now!