4 Dead From Killer Mushroom Soup

SACRAMENTOThe Placer County Sheriffs Office in Northern California confirmed a fourth person has died from eating a soup made with poisonous mushrooms earlier this month at senior care facility in Loomis, Calif. The sheriffs office has classified the deaths as an unfortunate accident."

According to the Associated Press, all of the victims who lived at the Gold Age Villa care facility and a caretaker were sickened on or around Nov. 8 after the caretaker made the soup after picking mushrooms in the facilitys backyard.

Every year, the State of Californias Department of Health issues warnings about picking and eating wild mushrooms. Several varieties contain deadly toxins, and it has been shown many times that most people cannot easily distinguish between the poisonous and the non-poisonous varieties. The agency stresses that it is very easy to confuse some of the harmless varieties of mushrooms with their deadlier cousins, and only a qualified expert can make the determination if any mushroom is edible.