19 minutes ago
Highlight
She said she spoke to Erin on July 31 after she was admitted to hospital.
“She told me that she came (to hospital) because her children needed to be checked out because there had been a lunch and there was concern they may also have been affected,” she said.
“It was my understanding that she had given the children some of the meal the following day, but scrapped off the mushroom paste that was on it.
“She said she had been unwell the following day, the Sunday, with gastro symptoms.”
Professor Stuart told the court Erin said she made beef wellington with “two types of mushrooms”.
She said there were button mushrooms from a supermarket in a “container with plastic over the top” and dried mushrooms from an Asian food shop from either Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.
“Erin said she made a paste (for the beef wellington) and when I asked her about the dried mushrooms, she said she used the entire lot and there was nothing else left over,” she said.
The court heard Professor Stuart asked Erin whether she had been foraging.
“I asked her if she had been mushrooming … but she said no, she only used the two types of mushrooms she described,” she told the court.
Professor Stuart added: “She asked me why I was asking those questions of her and I retold her that I was just trying to make sure there was no public health issue.”
3 minutes ago
The court heard she treated Erin on July 31, two days after the lunch, following her transfer from Leongatha Hospital in the afternoon after reporting symptoms including nausea and diarrhoea.
Dr Muldoon told the court Erin had “chapped lips but otherwise looked very well”, with normal vital signs.
When asked by Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC what Erin attributed her symptoms to, Dr Muldoon said Erin was “under the impression it was food poisoning … from a home-cooked meal of beef wellington”.
She said Erin told her she used dried dehydrated mushrooms – “possibly shiitake or porcini mushrooms” – she had purchased them from a Chinese grocery store from either Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.
Dr Muldoon said Erin told her she no longer had the packaging and there were no mushrooms left.
She said Erin also denied the use of wild or foraged mushrooms.
Highlight
Erin denied going 'mushrooming' when questioned by public health authorities
Professor Rhonda Stuart, who was the director of the local public health unit at Monash Health in July 2023, is now giving evidence.She said she spoke to Erin on July 31 after she was admitted to hospital.
“She told me that she came (to hospital) because her children needed to be checked out because there had been a lunch and there was concern they may also have been affected,” she said.
“It was my understanding that she had given the children some of the meal the following day, but scrapped off the mushroom paste that was on it.
“She said she had been unwell the following day, the Sunday, with gastro symptoms.”
Professor Stuart told the court Erin said she made beef wellington with “two types of mushrooms”.
She said there were button mushrooms from a supermarket in a “container with plastic over the top” and dried mushrooms from an Asian food shop from either Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.
“Erin said she made a paste (for the beef wellington) and when I asked her about the dried mushrooms, she said she used the entire lot and there was nothing else left over,” she said.
The court heard Professor Stuart asked Erin whether she had been foraging.
“I asked her if she had been mushrooming … but she said no, she only used the two types of mushrooms she described,” she told the court.
Professor Stuart added: “She asked me why I was asking those questions of her and I retold her that I was just trying to make sure there was no public health issue.”
3 minutes ago
Erin had 'chapped lips but otherwise looked very well': Doctor
Dr Laura Muldoon, who was an emergency registrar at Monash Health, has entered the witness box.The court heard she treated Erin on July 31, two days after the lunch, following her transfer from Leongatha Hospital in the afternoon after reporting symptoms including nausea and diarrhoea.
Dr Muldoon told the court Erin had “chapped lips but otherwise looked very well”, with normal vital signs.
When asked by Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC what Erin attributed her symptoms to, Dr Muldoon said Erin was “under the impression it was food poisoning … from a home-cooked meal of beef wellington”.
She said Erin told her she used dried dehydrated mushrooms – “possibly shiitake or porcini mushrooms” – she had purchased them from a Chinese grocery store from either Oakleigh or Glen Waverley.
Dr Muldoon said Erin told her she no longer had the packaging and there were no mushrooms left.
She said Erin also denied the use of wild or foraged mushrooms.
