Woman Died After Eating Mushrooms At Michelin-Starred Restaurant

A woman died after having a mushroom dish at a Michelin-starred restaurant in Spain. The restaurant was temporarily shut down till investigators could determine the cause of death.

María Jesús Fernández Calvo, 46, had a meal at Valencia's RiFF restaurant Saturday, along with her husband and their 10-year-old son, where they were celebrating the man's birthday. A dish composed of rice and morchella fungi was part of the meal.

On Sunday, Calvo suffered bouts of vomiting and diarrhea and died. Her husband and son also suffered similar symptoms along with nine other people who ordered the same dish at the restaurant. According to investigators, the official cause of death will only be determined after a complete autopsy was performed on the body, Good Food reported.

"We will have to wait... before we can determine whether it was the ingestion of a food that directly caused her death, or whether it prompted a state that led to this fatal outcome," said Ana Barceló, the regional health chief, on Wednesday, adding that the woman might have died from direct food poisoning or asphyxiation from portions of vomit in her lungs.

Chef Bernd Knöller, who opened RiFF in 2001 and has since become famous for his innovative culinary dishes, expressed his "deep sorrow" for Calvo’s death. He added that in the wake of the incident, the decision to temporarily close the restaurant was made by him.

"I have offered my complete co-operation to the Valencian health authority from the very start in order to clear up the facts, with the hope that we can establish the causes as soon as possible," the German chef said.

The restaurant earned its first Michelin star in 2009 for its “innovative cuisine... based around the highest quality, seasonal, local product". In an initial inspection Monday, the eatery was given a clean bill of health.

The dish which allegedly caused multiple people at the restaurant to fall sick was part of the chef’s taster menu of various Mediterranean-inspired dishes. It comprised of morchella mushrooms, which are a type of fungi known as "true morels.” They contain the powerful toxin hydrazine and hence, cannot be eaten raw.

These mushrooms were used by specialized chefs all across France as it was locally grown there. It was usually prepared by drying it out before rehydrating it with water or milk and meticulously cooking it thereafter.

Health inspectors said they would look into the preparation of the mushrooms that were served at RiFF, Saturday. If the mushrooms were served raw by mistake, the restaurant could face penalties.

The restaurant had a five-star rating on the travel website Trip Advisor and was ranked Ranked 140th of 4,286 restaurants in Valencia, Spain.

Its website boasts about its Mediterranean food: “We like the Mediterranean Sea and its products (fish, shellfish, mollusks, cephalopods, algae and marine plants). The vast majority of them we buy bidding in the auction of the port of Valencia auction. Our second hobby is the vegetables that we try to produce that organic farming of Calig, Llíria and Alboraya, but we also supply ourselves in the Central Market.”