Where to take mushrooms for checking in Spain

Whether a mushroom is safe to eat is decided not by a photo or an app, but by an experienced person holding the mushroom in their hands. So this guide covers two practical things: where in Spain to take your find for an in-person examination, and what to do if someone has already eaten some and feels unwell. Phone numbers, addresses and opening days here come only from official services and from the mycological societies themselves.

A caveat about ourselves first: the MicoRadar calculation on the map and the weekend forecast tell you about the weather and growing conditions, not about what is in your basket or whether it is edible.

If someone feels ill after eating wild mushrooms, call straight away

Call 112 immediately, or go to the emergency department (urgencias) of the nearest hospital. Don't "wait until morning" or "see how it goes": you need to go even if the symptoms are mild and even if the person feels better the next day, because with some poisonings it is precisely this improvement that delays the start of treatment and raises the risk of complications.

There is also a round-the-clock toxicology helpline run by the Instituto Nacional de Toxicología, open 365 days a year: 91 562 04 20. It is a line for people without medical training, and urgent consultations there are answered by telephone only. ¹³ In Catalonia, ACSA gives another number: 061 Salut Respon. ⁵

Take a sample of the mushrooms that were eaten to the hospital. A raw specimen is best. If no raw ones are left, take leftovers of the cooked dish, anything that has already gone in the bin, or, as a last resort, vomit: all of this helps identify the species and choose the treatment. ³⁶

And two points that people tend to trip over. First: everyone who ate the same dish should see a doctor, even those with no symptoms, because they most likely ate toxic mushrooms too. Second: if symptoms appear not immediately but after many hours, that in itself is a sign that the poisoning may be very dangerous. Canal Salut writes that the most severe poisonings, in particular those caused by the Death cap (Amanita phalloides), show up after roughly 8–10 hours, sometimes later; at the very first symptoms, however minor they seem, go straight to a medical facility. ⁴

Keep one raw specimen of each kind, before dinner

One raw mushroom of each species you plan to cook. This is direct advice from AESAN: if it comes to poisoning, a specialist will be able to identify the species from that specimen. ³ A minute's work in the kitchen that, in the worst case, saves the doctors hours.

Why a photo or an app can't replace an examination

Because the official sources themselves warn about it directly. The Comunidad de Madrid asks people not to identify mushrooms using "smart" apps alone: no one guarantees they make no mistakes, and the cost of a mistake is high. ⁶ The Gobierno de Navarra adds something about photographs: colour, shape and size change as the mushroom grows, which is confusing. ⁷ AESAN advises not to rely on a single photo. ³ The bluntest wording comes from the Instituto Nacional de Toxicología: there is no simple test that distinguishes poisonous mushrooms from non-poisonous ones, and when people try to identify a specimen over the phone, the error rate remains fairly high even among experienced mycologists; the only reliable method is an expert examining the mushroom in person. ²

And this is not only about beginners. Hospital Clínic de Barcelona notes an uncomfortable detail: the people who most often turn up in their emergency department with poisoning from wild-picked mushrooms are those with a lot of experience. Neither traditional rules of thumb nor modern apps, Google Lens photos included, give reliable identification. Over the past ten years the hospital's laboratory has analysed more than 450 samples from patients with suspected mushroom poisoning, of which 50 tested positive for amatoxins. These are figures from a single reference laboratory that receives urine samples from hospitals across Catalonia, not statistics for Spain as a whole. ⁹

How to bring a mushroom in whole

Since only in-person identification is reliable, the mushroom has to reach the specialist intact. Dig it out completely: push a knife into the soil parallel to the stem and lever it up. If you simply pull it off, part of what is important for identification stays in the ground, for example the volva in Amanita phalloides. Then wrap the find in foil and keep it in the fridge. And from the moment of picking, keep the mushrooms meant for identification separate from those you intend to eat. ⁶⁷

The Sociedad Micológica de Madrid also has formal requirements, and they apply to everyone: only healthy, whole specimens, with cap and stem, are accepted for examination. Broken, incomplete, frozen or dried ones are not examined. And the expert's verdict applies to exactly the specimens you brought: not to those lying at home, not to those you will pick tomorrow, and not to those you gave to relatives, however similar they may look to you. ¹⁰

Where to go: by region

For Madrid, it is best to check the dates on the society's website: the service's timetable is announced every year in October, and 2026 is no exception. ¹⁰¹¹⁶

The Catalan email is a special case. ACSA itself calls its reply a "guide" to the species: it is not permission to eat what you have found. The same source says that the most reliable options are to study mycology and to put your questions to mycological associations, that is, in person. ⁵ For Salamanca and Zaragoza, the sources don't say whether the service is free, so ask on the spot. ¹²¹³

You can't take a basket to the Instituto Nacional de Toxicología

This is a common misunderstanding. The INTCF identifies specimens and samples that come from hospitals or from forensic experts, that is, through the hospital channel, not from a person with a bag of mushrooms. For everything else, the institute refers people to the mycological societies in the autonomous communities. ² We also have a section on poisonous mushrooms covering individual species and their consequences. It is best read before the trip, not after dinner.

What to do before you set out

• Save 112 and 91 562 04 20 in your phone, and in Catalonia 061 as well.
• Check on the relevant society's website which day and hour it holds its in-person sessions.
• Put a knife and foil in your rucksack, and keep a separate bag in the car for mushrooms to be identified.
• Dig them out whole, with the base of the stem, and don't mix them with what you plan to cook.
• At home, keep one raw specimen of each species in the fridge until the dish has been eaten.
• If someone feels ill after wild mushrooms, call 112 or go to urgencias, with a sample and everyone who ate.

Data checked against sources on 29 September 2026.