A Morel Dilemma: Episode 1 — Outbreak in Bozeman

A Morel Dilemma: Episode 1 — Outbreak in Bozeman

From The Poison Lab by Clinical Toxicology LLC

June 3, 2026 · 34 min · Season 2 · Episode 50

About this episode

The episode explores a deadly outbreak linked to morel mushrooms in Bozeman, Montana, detailing the unfolding investigation.

A deadly outbreak begins with a single meal at a sushi restaurant in Bozeman, Montana. Within hours, diners develop severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Some collapse. Two people die. At first, it looks like food poisoning, but investigators quickly notice one strange ingredient connecting many of the sick patients: morel mushrooms. In the first episode of A Morel Dilemma , we meet the people caught in the earliest moments of the outbreak and begin following the investigation as it unfolds in real time. What starts as a suspected restaurant-associated illness quickly becomes a much stranger question: how could a prized edible mushroom, eaten for centuries, suddenly be linked to death? This is not a retrospective summary. It is the beginning of a poisoning mystery, told the way investigators experienced it: with urgency, uncertainty, and more questions than answers. Select references CDC Report on Bozeman Morel Mushroom Outbreak Rat Poison Contaminated synthetic cannabis E cigarette and vaping assosciated lung injury Enoki-Listeria outbreak Aconite outbreak in Canada mentioned in the introduction Arsenic Coffee Pot Poisoning in Maine Leongatha Mushroom Murders A Morel Dilemma…

Topics covered

  • food poisoning
  • mushroom toxicity
  • investigation
  • public health
  • outbreak response

Keywords

  • morel mushrooms
  • outbreak
  • food poisoning
  • Bozeman
  • toxicology

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CDC

Products: GOTTA PICCEM Mushroom card game, The Poisonus Fungus Am

Places: Bozeman, Montana

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