Amanita Muscaria Comes Under Fire in State and Federal Investigations

Out of the many thousands of mushrooms that humans use as food, medicine, or gateways to altered states of consciousness, Amanita muscaria — also known as fly agaric — stands out. Known for its blood-red cap speckled with white polka dots, its appearance in fairy tales and Mario Brothers video games, and more recently as the inspiration for an emoji, it’s arguably the most famous mushroom in the world. And yet, much about this mushroom remains shrouded in mystery, misconception, and myth. That could soon change now that federal and state health authorities have zeroed in on it as the potential culprit behind a string of recent injuries and deaths.

In December, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent a letter to U.S. food manufacturers warning that Amanita and its three primary active compounds — muscimol, muscarine, and ibotenic acid — are not “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS), a standard stipulated by the 1938 Food, Drugs, and Cosmetic Act. (A quick note on terminology: Amanita is a genus within the fungus kingdom, and it includes many other mushroom species besides Amanita muscaria. For the sake of simplicity, however, we’ll refer to Amanita muscaria simply as “Amanita” moving forward in this story.) Although they’re not currently listed as controlled substances in the U.S., the FDA’s letter serves as a warning that products made with any of these substances and sold to consumers would be “subject to enforcement action.” The agency said it consulted hundreds of scientific publications to assess Amanita’s potential harms before reaching its decision. It also cited records from the National Poison Data System, which contained “hundreds of calls in the last year associated with consumption of [Amanita], [and] its extracts,” with symptoms including “hallucinations, respiratory depression, and even death.” 

“Evidence suggests that recently there may be more products with [Amanita] and its extracts and constituents in foods intended to have hallucinogenic effects, but more information is needed to fully understand the scope of how such substances are being used in the food supply,” a spokesperson for the FDA told DoubleBlind. “As such, we believe it is important to notify manufacturers now about our safety assessment and to help clarify the regulatory status of this ingredient. We know some food manufacturers are even concentrating these ingredients to achieve the desired effect.”

The month before the FDA issued its warning, just before Thanksgiving, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) announced it had launched an investigation into PolkaDot, the brand that’s arguably come to dominate the burgeoning market for psychoactive candy products. As DoubleBlind previously reported, this market has exploded in the wake of a broader cultural embrace of psychedelics, and many products — mostly chocolate bars and gummies — are vaguely or inaccurately labeled, surreptitiously containing hazily understood compounds, like 4-AcO-DMT. Whereas PolkaDot previously marketed its products as containing psilocybin, a Schedule 1 substance, it appears to have gone through a recent rebrand centered on Amanita: All of the chocolate bars featured on what claims to be its official website are now labeled as an “Amanita mushroom supplement.” (There are a number of phony websites and Instagram accounts claiming to officially represent the brand; requests sent to this particular site and to the company’s CEO asking to confirm or deny the site’s authenticity went unanswered.)

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