3rd person in Calif. dies from mushroom poisoning

LOOMIS, Calif. (AP) — A third person has died from eating toxic mushrooms at a California senior care facility.

State Department of Social Services spokesman Oscar Ramirez told The Associated Press Wednesday that the person died on Saturday. The victim’s name was not released.

Ramirez says the senior home, Gold Age Villa in Loomis, called Monday to report the third death.

Two other people died and three others were sickened when they ate soup made from the toxic mushrooms on Nov. 8. The caretaker who prepared the soup apparently picked the mushrooms from the home’s backyard and did not know they were poisonous.

State food regulations do not prohibit the use of foraged ingredients in food prepared at care facilities, though they do prevent the use of home-canned foods and unpasteurized milk.