As Morel Season Peaks, New Series Revisits Deadly Bozeman Outbreak

MILWAUKEE - Rezul -- Morel mushrooms are among the most beloved wild foods. Foragers hunt them, chefs serve them, and mushroom enthusiasts celebrate them as a seasonal delicacy.

But in 2023, a deadly outbreak in Bozeman, Montana forced investigators to confront a baffling question: how does a mushroom people have eaten for generations suddenly become the prime suspect in a fatal mass poisoning?

That question is at the center of A Morel Dilemma, an investigative podcast from The Poison Lab, hosted by toxicologist Ryan Feldman, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT. Feldman is a clinical toxicologist who has worked with poison centers for more than a decade helping clinicians manage poisonings.

The series follows the Bozeman outbreak as it unfolded: first reports of severe illness, a restaurant shutdown, patient interviews, food testing, public health alerts, and a mystery around a sushi roll that contained morel mushrooms.

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More than 50 people became ill. Several were hospitalized. Two people died. At first, explanations seemed familiar: foodborne bacteria, contamination, a toxic look-alike mushroom, or some hidden ingredient. But as investigators worked through the evidence, the case became stranger.

"Morels are one of those foods people think they understand," said Feldman. "They are familiar, celebrated, and widely treated as edible. So when an outbreak investigation starts pointing toward them, the first reaction is disbelief. That disbelief is where this series begins."

Across the season, A Morel Dilemma brings listeners inside the investigation through interviews with affected families, public health officials, CDC toxicologists, poison center experts, mycologists, analytical chemists, neurologists, and researchers.

Rather than summarizing the outbreak after the fact, the series unfolds the way real poisoning investigations do: one clue at a time. Listeners follow competing theories, dead ends, laboratory testing, epidemiology, treatment decisions, and debate among experts about what the evidence can and cannot prove.

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Along the way, the series becomes more than a story about one restaurant outbreak. It opens a window into how poisoning outbreaks are recognized, tracked, treated, and investigated, from hospital calls to poison center consultation, public health interviews, national alerts, and laboratory searches for toxins that may not yet have a name.

"This is not just a story about mushrooms," Feldman said. "It is a story about how public health works under uncertainty, when people are sick, the stakes are high, and the answer is not obvious."

The investigation also leads beyond Montana, into reports involving other mushrooms and the possibility that familiar species may not always behave the way experts expect.

A Morel Dilemma premieres June 3, 2026 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and major podcast platforms. Episodes and supporting materials will be available at https://www.themoreldilemma.com.