What is the Wild-Harvested Mushroom Certification?

Per Iowa Administrative Code Chapter 481-30, to legally sell eight different types of wild-harvested mushrooms in Iowa, sellers must complete a certification workshop that covers the identification and differentiation of these mushrooms from their look-alikes. The Administrative Code defines "certified wild-harvested mushroom identification expert" as follows: 

"An individual who has, within the last three years, successfully completed a wild-harvested mushroom identification training program provided by an accredited college, university, or state mycological society. The training program must include a component of actual identification of physical specimens or simulations of mushroom species. A document must be issued by an accredited college, accredited university, or state mycological society certifying the individual's successful completion of the wild-harvested mushroom identification training program and specifying the species of wild mushrooms the individual is qualified to identify."

People can be poisoned by eating misidentified mushrooms. By the end of the certification workshop, participants will be able to confidently identify the legally sold wild mushrooms in Iowa (listed in the table below) and differentiate them from common poisonous lookalikes.

Certificates are valid for three years from the date the workshop is completed. Registration is open to out-of-state individuals who hunt and sell in Iowa, but keep in mind that local certification may be required to sell in your home state. Looking to buy wild-harvested mushrooms? See our list of current wild-harvested mushroom certificate holders in Iowa. 

Consumer advisory statement in the ruling: "A consumer advisory shall inform consumers by brochures, deli case, menu advisories, label statements, table tents, placards, or other effective written means that ‘wild-harvested mushrooms should be thoroughly cooked and may cause allergic reactions or other effects.”

Content covered in the workshop will prepare participants for the certification exam, which is administered in person at the end of the workshop. Each workshop date is divided into two parts: 

1. The online pre-workshop webinar covers two major things: the Food Code definitions, criteria, and specifics, AND the basics of fungal ecology and some macroscopic fruiting body morphology.
2. The in-person workshop (required for the certificate) covers foraging safety and ethics, and dives into morphological features of the eight legal-to-sell types of mushrooms in Iowa and their poisonous lookalikes. There is a hands-on specimen identification lab portion after the classroom learning, followed by a final review and then the certification exam. Participants who pass (with at least an 80%) leave the workshop with their full-size and wallet-sized certificates in hand. 

Legal-to-Sell Mushrooms in Iowa (Per ARC 5119C 31.1(4))

Common name(s)	Scientific name(s)	Image example
Morels (yellow, black, half-free morels)	Morchella americana (syn. M. esculentoides) Morchella angusticeps Morchella punctipes
Oyster (golden, pearl, aspen, lung)	Pleurotus citrinopileatus Pleurotus ostreatus Pleurotus populinus Pleurotus pulmonarius
Chicken of the woods, sulfur shelf	Laetiporus cincinnatus Laetiporus sulphureus
Hen of the woods/maitake	Grifola frondosa
Chantarelles	Cantharelles "cibarius" group
Toothed mushrooms (bear's head tooth, lion's mane)	Hericium erinaceus Hericium americanum
Pheasant back/dryad saddle	Polyporus squamosus (syn. Cerioporus squamosus)
Black trumpet	Craterellus cornucopoides