2.52pm
Council searched for dried mushrooms at grocers
Also on August 1, 2023 – three days after the lunch – an environmental health officer employed by Monash City Council visited any identified Asian grocers in areas specified by Erin Patterson, prosecutor Nanette Rogers, SC, told the jury.
The health officer investigated dried mushroom products, fresh mushroom products and supplier details, as well as the products’ packaging and labelling.
Later that day, Sally Ann Atkinson from the Department of Health had a second conversation with Erin, and contrary to what she had previously said, Erin told Atkinson she had not used the mushrooms purchased from the Asian grocer in any other dish. Instead, she had opened them, noticed their smell, put them into a Tupperware container and not used them at all, Rogers told the jury.
“She said she had checked her bank card records and could not find any purchases around the day she purchased mushrooms and was likely to have paid cash for small items,” Rogers said.
“She said she could not remember where she would have gone to purchase mushrooms, but said it was likely to be a shopping strip in and around Oakleigh or Clayton.
“Erin gave a detailed description of the packaging: a clear package that looked as if it had been repackaged with a white handwritten label on it,” Rogers said.
Monash City Council investigators visited 14 stores on August 2 and 3, 2023 that were either Asian or Indian grocers, or fruit and vegetable sellers across Oakleigh, Clayton and Mount Waverley. But they were unable to find any product matching Erin’s description, Rogers said.
The leftovers collected from Erin Patterson’s bin and transported to Monash Medical Centre and the Royal Botanic Gardens were tested and did not show any sign of death cap mushrooms, the jury heard.
Rogers said the Department of Health’s investigation finished about August 11. The department did not get any reports of other people falling ill in a way similar to the guests at the lunch.
Rogers told the jurors they would hear evidence from a toxicologist who would explain how the body’s DNA is halted by the death cap mushroom toxins, so the toxins keep on recirculating within the body and making the person sicker and sicker.
Erin Patterson is facing trial after pleading not guilty over a fatal mushroom lunch. Today, Nanette Rogers, SC, will present the prosecution’s case against Patterson.
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