Checked daily · 2026 season

Foraging Calendar 2026: What Is In Season, State by State

Morels are the six weeks everyone knows about. The year has rather more in it than that. These are the windows when each wild edible has actually been recorded in your state, corrected for how many people were outdoors, with the land access rules and the toxic lookalikes named.

States covered

of 50, where the data supports a calendar

386

Species windows

state and species pairs

204,886

Records behind them

research grade observations

In season nationally

October

Right now

What is in season in October

These are the species whose peak month falls in October somewhere in the states covered here. A species can be in season in Alabama and two months away in Minnesota, so treat this as the national shape and go to your own state for dates.

Chanterelle

CantharellusIn season now

Peaks somewhere between June and December depending on the state. Recorded in 29 of the 29 states here, from 19,322 records.

Black trumpet

CraterellusIn season now

Peaks somewhere between January and December depending on the state. Recorded in 28 of the 29 states here, from 10,338 records.

Hedgehog mushroom

HydnumIn season now

Peaks somewhere between January and October depending on the state. Recorded in 7 of the 29 states here, from 961 records.

Chicken of the woods

LaetiporusIn season now

Peaks somewhere between April and November depending on the state. Recorded in 29 of the 29 states here, from 50,542 records.

Wild grape

VitisIn season now

Peaks somewhere between June and November depending on the state. Recorded in 17 of the 29 states here, from 3,108 records.

Black walnut

Juglans nigraIn season now

Peaks somewhere between June and December depending on the state. Recorded in 21 of the 29 states here, from 2,348 records.

Hen of the woods

Grifola frondosaIn season now

Peaks somewhere between September and October depending on the state. Recorded in 21 of the 29 states here, from 9,380 records.

American persimmon

Diospyros virginianaIn season now

Peaks somewhere between August and November depending on the state. Recorded in 19 of the 29 states here, from 7,098 records.

Giant puffball

Calvatia giganteaIn season now

Peaks somewhere between September and November depending on the state. Recorded in 18 of the 29 states here, from 5,793 records.

Porcini

Boletus edulisIn season now

Peaks somewhere between September and November depending on the state. Recorded in 8 of the 29 states here, from 3,983 records.

Lion's mane

Hericium erinaceusIn season now

Peaks somewhere between October and December depending on the state. Recorded in 23 of the 29 states here, from 9,538 records.

Oyster mushroom

PleurotusIn season now

Peaks somewhere between January and December depending on the state. Recorded in 29 of the 29 states here, from 33,800 records.

Matsutake

Tricholoma section MatsutakeIn season now

Peaks somewhere between October and December depending on the state. Recorded in 6 of the 29 states here, from 1,087 records.

The whole year

The foraging year, in the order it arrives

A dense patch of broad green ramp leaves emerging from brown leaf litter on a woodland floor — Ramps come up through last year’s leaf litter and are the first thing on the calendar in most states. “Wild Leek (Allium tricoccum) - Flickr - Jay Sturner” by Jay Sturner from USA, CC BY 2.0

This is the case for a calendar rather than a morel page. Each row below is one species, ordered by the month it typically peaks, with the range of peak months it takes across the states covered here. The windows genuinely separate: this is not one season with fourteen names on it.

Morel

MorchellaFungus

Typically peaks in April

In 26 states here, from 14,959 records.

Ramps

Allium tricoccumPlant, leaf

Typically peaks in April

In 20 states here, from 14,321 records.

Black raspberry

Rubus occidentalisPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in June

In 18 states here, from 2,245 records.

Chanterelle

CantharellusFungus

Typically peaks in July

In 29 states here, from 19,322 records.

Wild blackberry

Rubus subgenus RubusPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in July

In 23 states here, from 5,605 records.

Lowbush blueberry

Vaccinium angustifoliumPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in July

In 6 states here, from 526 records.

Black trumpet

CraterellusFungus

Typically peaks in August

In 28 states here, from 10,338 records.

American elderberry

Sambucus canadensisPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in August

In 22 states here, from 4,330 records.

Pawpaw

Asimina trilobaPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in August

In 16 states here, from 5,602 records.

Hedgehog mushroom

HydnumFungus

Typically peaks in August

In 7 states here, from 961 records.

Chicken of the woods

LaetiporusFungus

Typically peaks in September

In 29 states here, from 50,542 records.

Wild grape

VitisPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in September

In 17 states here, from 3,108 records.

Black walnut

Juglans nigraPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in October

In 21 states here, from 2,348 records.

Hen of the woods

Grifola frondosaFungus

Typically peaks in October

In 21 states here, from 9,380 records.

American persimmon

Diospyros virginianaPlant, fruit

Typically peaks in October

In 19 states here, from 7,098 records.

Giant puffball

Calvatia giganteaFungus

Typically peaks in October

In 18 states here, from 5,793 records.

Porcini

Boletus edulisFungus

Typically peaks in October

In 8 states here, from 3,983 records.

Lion's mane

Hericium erinaceusFungus

Typically peaks in November

In 23 states here, from 9,538 records.

Oyster mushroom

PleurotusFungus

Typically peaks in December

In 29 states here, from 33,800 records.

Matsutake

Tricholoma section MatsutakeFungus

Typically peaks in December

In 6 states here, from 1,087 records.

Before you eat anything

This site publishes timing, not identification. It tells you when a species has historically been recorded in your state. It cannot tell you what you are holding, and nothing on it should be treated as permission to eat a wild mushroom.

CDC reports that approximately 7,500 poisonous mushroom ingestions were reported annually to poison control centers across the United States. Source.

This is not a theoretical caution. During November 2025 to March 2026, the California Poison Control System and California Department of Public Health responded to an outbreak of 39 cases of amatoxin mushroom poisoning in northern California, resulting in three liver transplantations and four deaths. This is the largest reported outbreak of mushroom-associated hepatotoxic poisoning in California history and the largest in the United States in several decades. Amatoxins are not denatured by cooking or other methods of food preparation. CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, May 28, 2026.

“The public should be aware that poisonous mushrooms might resemble nonpoisonous mushrooms, cooking mushrooms does not remove or inactivate toxins, and that wild mushrooms should never be consumed unless they are identified by an expert.” CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, accidental poisonous mushroom ingestions, United States 2016 to 2018
“Poisonous mushrooms often resemble and are difficult to distinguish visually from nonpoisonous, edible mushrooms.” CDC, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Amanita species mushroom poisonings, northern California, November 2025 to March 2026
“Even people with years of experience picking wild mushrooms can sometimes mistake these toxic mushrooms for safe ones.” California Department of Public Health
“Only an expert can differentiate between poisonous and edible mushrooms.” Penn State Extension

Where to take a question instead

North American Mycological Association: Volunteer identification consultants, listed by state. NAMA keeps a state by state list of volunteers who will help identify a mushroom when a poisoning is suspected. It is a free service. This is the single most useful link on this page.
Report a mushroom poisoning. “It is important to file a report, even if the outcome was only a gastrointestinal upset. NAMA tracks ALL mushroom poisonings.”
Poison Control, 1-800-222-1222. One number covers the whole United States, around the clock. There is also an online triage tool. Both are free and confidential. poison.org

Call Poison Control 1-800-222-1222

A brown, deeply folded and brain-like fungus growing on the ground among conifer needles — A Gyromitra, one of the fungi authorities call false morels. It contains gyromitrin, which the body converts into a compound that damages the liver. Lookalikes exist, and telling one from a morel is a job for a person with the specimen in hand, not for a page. “Gyromitra esculenta qu” — Benutzer:Fornax — Public domain

Land access

Where you may legally gather, by who owns the land

The rule is set by the land manager, not by the species and not by the state line. Enforcement actions on record trace to a land manager’s own rule rather than to a rare plant listing. So the question to ask first is not “is this plant protected” but “whose land am I standing on”.

National Park Service land

Prohibited by default, then re-permitted park by park. This includes national monuments, seashores, recreation areas and parkways, not only the parks with "National Park" in the name.

“Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the following is prohibited: Possessing, destroying, injuring, defacing, removing, digging, or disturbing from its natural state: Plants or the parts or products thereof.”

36 CFR 2.1(a)(1)(ii)

“The superintendent may designate certain fruits, berries, nuts, or unoccupied seashells which may be gathered by hand for personal use or consumption upon a written determination that the gathering or consumption will not adversely affect park wildlife, the reproductive potential of a plant species, or otherwise adversely affect park resources.”

36 CFR 2.1(c)(1)

The answer is neither "banned everywhere" nor "go ahead". It is: read that specific park unit's Superintendent's Compendium, because the designated list and the quantities differ from park to park. Great Smoky Mountains publishes a list of 17 named fruits and nuts plus edible mushrooms at one pound per person per day. New River Gorge allows one gallon of berries, three gallons of tree fruit and a gallon and a half of mushrooms. Grand Teton allows berries and nuts but no mushrooms at all.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park: A named list of fruits and nuts, plus edible mushrooms at 1 pound per person per day for all fungal species combined, gathered at least 100 feet from roads and facilities. Ramps are separately prohibited: "The collection of ramps is not allowed under 36 CFR or 54 USC."
New River Gorge National Park and Preserve: Berries 1 gallon per person per day, tree fruit and nuts 3 gallons, any edible mushroom 1.5 gallons. Ramp harvesting ended January 1, 2022 because the whole plant is taken rather than a fruit.

National forests (USDA Forest Service)

Generally the most permissive federal land, but there is no national number. The threshold below which you need no permit is set regionally, which is exactly why neighbouring forests publish different limits.

“No permit is required for the free use of a special forest product at or below that product's incidental-use harvest level, which shall be determined at the discretion of the regional forester or a subordinate officer. The incidental use harvest level covers small amounts of special forest products, such as cones, mushrooms, berries, acorns, black walnuts, or medicinal roots.”

36 CFR 223.239(b)

“Selling or exchanging any timber or other forest product obtained under free use pursuant to sections 223.5 through 223.11.”

36 CFR 261.6(f), listing what is prohibited

Three adjacent Appalachian national forests give three different answers about the same plant. Monongahela in West Virginia asks for no permit at all for "a reasonable amount of edible material (mushrooms, ramps, etc.) for your own consumption". Cherokee in Tennessee requires a permit for ramps and caps personal use at 40 ramps a year. Chattahoochee-Oconee in Georgia requires a permit with a $20 minimum charge. Check the individual forest, every time.

Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia: No pass or permit needed "when you are gathering a reasonable amount of edible material (mushrooms, ramps, etc.) for your own consumption".
Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee: Ramps require a permit. Personal use is free but capped: one permit per person per year, 40 ramps per permit, 200 permits per zone per year, valid 15 days.
Colville National Forest, Washington: No permit or fee to harvest up to 3 gallons of mushrooms per day. Resale is prohibited.

State parks and state forests

The most variable tier, and the one where a single line per state is usually wrong. In several states the parks agency and the forests agency are different agencies with opposite rules.

Tennessee is the clearest illustration. Its state PARKS rule expressly permits gathering reasonable quantities of renewable natural products for personal use. Its state FOREST rule, written by a different department, prohibits collecting plants outright. New York splits the same way in the opposite direction: its state forests except personal consumption, and its state parks regulation contains no edible exception at all. The per-state entries below give the rule for each, separately, where we could verify it.

Private land

Permission first, always. Several states go further than ordinary trespass law and make the taking of plant material a separate offence.

“A person shall not willfully or negligently cut, destroy, mutilate, or remove plant material that is growing upon public land or upon land that is not his or hers without a written permit from the owner of the land, signed by the owner of the land or the owner's authorized agent.”

California Penal Code 384a(a)(2)

“If any person shall take and carry away, or shall aid in taking or carrying away, any ginseng growing upon the lands of another person, with intent to steal the same, he shall be punished as a Class H felon.”

North Carolina General Statutes 14-79

Note that a state which presumes permission to WALK on unposted land is not thereby giving permission to TAKE. Washington presumes a licence to enter unimproved, unposted, unfenced land; that presumption addresses entry only. Oregon has no such presumption at all, and its special-forest-products statute exempts small quantities only on public land, so there is no de minimis allowance on Oregon private ground.

American ginseng is the exception

Ginseng is not on this calendar and nothing here encourages digging it, but the question gets asked constantly and the answer is genuinely regulated. The US Fish and Wildlife Service states: “In all 19 States, ginseng harvest season starts in September.” and separately that “It is illegal to harvest American ginseng roots on most State lands, all National Park Service land, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service national wildlife refuges. Harvest of wild ginseng is prohibited in most U.S. Forest Service national forests.” Source. The closing dates are what people get wrong, and they range across two months.

State	Season	Notes
illinois	first Saturday in September to Nov 1	Harvester licence required. Illinois requires 10 year old, four leafed plants, which is stricter than any other state.
vermont	Sep 1 to Oct 31	Collector and dealer permits required. Earliest close in the country.
wisconsin	Sep 1 to Nov 1	Harvest licence required, and harvest is banned on all state land.
west virginia	Sep 1 to Nov 30	Harvest is banned on all West Virginia public land. Seeds must be planted at the time and site of harvest.
pennsylvania	Sep 1 to Nov 30	Banned on state parks, state forests and state game lands. Requires three five leaflet prongs and red berries.
new york	Sep 1 to Nov 30	Requires landowner consent or written permission. Seeds must go into mineral soil within 50 feet immediately.
kentucky	Sep 1 to Dec 1	Five years old and three five leafed prongs. Seeds planted within 50 feet by finger only.
virginia	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Five years old, four stem scars, three prongs. Virginia lists wild ginseng as threatened and still runs a regulated season.
north carolina	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Taking ginseng from another person's land with intent to steal is a Class H felony under G.S. 14-79. The underlying regulation is 02 NCAC 48F .0305, which North Carolina publishes only on an insecure http host, so the link here goes to the federal summary instead.
ohio	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Written landowner permission required. Berries must be ripe and replanted immediately.
missouri	Sep 1 to Dec 31	A harvester permit became required in July 2025. Seeds must be planted within 100 feet.
indiana	Sep 1 to Dec 31	No harvester licence; dealers pay $100.
minnesota	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Three prongs with five leaflets. Seeds planted half an inch deep at the site.
georgia	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Banned on both state and federal land in Georgia.
alabama	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Collector permit required. Alabama treats American ginseng as a threatened species and still licenses a season.
tennessee	Sep 1 to Dec 31	Season corroborated only through the state dealer application deadline rather than from the statute text, so treat the closing date as the least certain in this table.

Method

How these windows were built

A drooping cluster of small dark purple elderberries on red stems against green leaves — Ripe American elderberry. A raw count of elderberry photographs in Ohio peaks in June, which is the flower. The fruiting records peak in August. “Sambucus nigra spp. canadensis, American black elderberry close-up, Howard County, MD, Helen Lowe Metzman 2017-07-25-19.35 (38415572135)” — USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab from Beltsville, Maryland, USA — Public domain

The source. Every window comes from iNaturalist research grade observation records for that species in that state, grouped by the month of observation. 204,886 records across 386 state and species pairs.

Correction one, observer effort. A raw count measures the organism multiplied by how many people were outside with a phone. The late April spike in several southeastern states is the City Nature Challenge, not biology. So each species’ monthly count is divided by the total research grade observations of everything in the same state and month. That moves the peak month in 28 percent of the pairs here. Virginia chicken of the woods reads September raw and October adjusted. Both series are on every chart and you can switch between them.

Correction two, plants are not fungi. A fungus is only visible when it fruits, so its raw curve already is its fruiting curve. A plant is photographable all year, so its raw curve times the wrong thing. Every fruit and nut here is counted only from records annotated as fruiting. Ramps are the single exception, because they are harvested as a leaf and photographed when the leaves are up.

The stabiliser. Total observations in a state can fall by an order of magnitude from July to December, which lets a dozen winter records outscore hundreds of summer ones. A month therefore only counts as a peak if it holds at least five percent of that species’ annual records in that state.

What a window is. A climatology of when a species has been recorded, which answers “when should I start looking”. It is not a forecast, not a population estimate, and not a map of where anything grows.

By state

Pick your state

States without a page

A state is without a page for one of three reasons: its season is a different shape, the species do not grow there, or too few records have been uploaded yet. The three groups are separate because they mean different things.

A different shape of season

Washington, New Hampshire, South Carolina. These states have plenty of records and plenty of wild food, but their season does not separate into a year round calendar. Washington resolves ten species but they peak across only five months, clustered in the autumn rain. New Hampshire and South Carolina are borderline on both halves of the rule rather than clearly one thing or the other, and are the two states most likely to qualify next.

The species are genuinely not there

Nevada, Hawaii, New Mexico, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Alaska. Arid, alpine, or tropical states where the eastern hardwood forest species this calendar is built around simply do not grow. Nevada and Hawaii return no qualifying species at all. Several of these do have real foraging traditions built on entirely different species, from pinyon nuts to Alaskan berries. Those deserve their own treatment rather than a thin imitation of an Appalachian calendar.

Not enough records yet, which is not the same as not there

Delaware, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Rhode Island. These states certainly have morels, chanterelles and blackberries. What they lack is the volume of uploaded, research grade observations needed to derive reliable dates: the inclusion rule partly measures how many people use iNaturalist in a state. If you record what you find in these states, you are directly why they will qualify later.

Corrections

Widely repeated claims, checked against the sources

A large rosette of overlapping grey-brown fan-shaped mushroom caps at the base of a tree trunk — Hen of the woods. It is widely believed to have toxic lookalikes. The Missouri Department of Conservation says it has none, and lists the polypore usually named as its dangerous twin as edible when young. “Grifola frondosa 2014 G1” — George Chernilevsky — Public domain

These claims circulate widely. Checked against government, university and mycological society sources, none of them holds up, and the sources say something different in each case.

Hen of the woods has toxic lookalikes in Berkeley's polypore and black-staining polypore. Contradicted. Missouri states hen of the woods has no poisonous lookalikes, and lists Berkeley's polypore as edible when young.
Chicken of the woods growing on conifers or eastern hemlock is toxic. No government, university or mycological society source could be found for this. Widely repeated in the foraging world, traceable to a single contested attribution. Not published.
False chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca) is a chanterelle lookalike to warn about. Only hobby sites. No authority named it. Not published.
Omphalotus and Clitocybe dealbata are oyster mushroom lookalikes. Traces to Wikipedia rather than to any extension service or poison centre. Not published as a pairing.
Children have died from eating Canada moonseed. Blogs only. The toxicity is well sourced; the fatality claim is not. Not published.
Eating pawpaw causes Parkinsonism or neurodegeneration in humans. Not established. The annonacin research concerns a different genus and cultured cells. Not published.
American persimmon has caused documented bezoar obstructions. Every clinical report found concerns the Asian persimmon. Published only as a genus level mechanism.
The pokeweed poisoning outbreak reported by CDC happened in North Carolina. It was New Jersey, 1981. Secondary sources give conflicting case counts, so no numbers are published.
NAMA, CDC or a poison control body has warned specifically against identifying mushrooms with a phone app or AI. No such statement could be found in that form. We publish the authorities' actual framing instead, which is that a human expert must do the identification. NAMA does disclaim its own photographs as an identification basis.
Verpa bohemica is definitively toxic, or definitively edible. Michigan and Missouri state agencies directly contradict each other. Published as a disagreement.
Scleroderma is a giant puffball confusable. Its toxicity is verified and rated high by NC State, but no authority we found paired it with giant puffball. The pairing is not published.
Foraging is banned in all national parks. Prohibited by default, but 36 CFR 2.1(c)(1) lets each superintendent designate fruits, berries and nuts, and many parks have. New River Gorge allows a gallon and a half of mushrooms a day.
Pennsylvania allows one gallon per person. No numeric limit exists anywhere in the Pennsylvania rule. Parks say "reasonable amounts" and the forest rule states no quantity at all.
Great Smoky Mountains allows one gallon of berries per person per day. The compendium says one pound per person per day per species.
Massachusetts DCR land is permissive about edible collection. Contradicted by 302 CMR 12.04(21), which bars removing any natural resource without written authorization. The claim appears to originate in foraging blogs.
North Carolina parks foraging is governed by 15A NCAC 12B. Superseded. Parks moved to 07 NCAC 13B effective April 1, 2017, and state forests are 02 NCAC 60B under the Department of Agriculture.

Foraging calendar questions

What is in season for foraging right now?

In October, the species most often recorded across the states on this site are chanterelle, black trumpet, hedgehog mushroom, chicken of the woods, wild grape, black walnut. That is a national summary and your state will differ, sometimes by a month or more: pick your state below for the dates built from records in your state rather than the country as a whole. None of it is a forecast. It is a climatology of when each species has actually been recorded.

Is a foraging calendar the same everywhere in the country?

No, and that is the main reason this site is built per state rather than nationally. Morels peak in March in Alabama and in May in Minnesota. Chicken of the woods peaks in April in Alabama and in October in Virginia. Oyster mushrooms are a winter species in the Southeast and a spring and summer one across much of the Midwest. A single national calendar would be wrong for almost everyone reading it.

Where do these dates come from?

Every window is derived from iNaturalist research grade observation records for that species in that state, 204,886 records in total across 386 state and species pairs. Raw counts are then divided by the total research grade observations of all species in the same state and month, which removes the effect of how many people happened to be outdoors. That correction moves the peak month in 28 percent of the pairs on this site, so it is not cosmetic. Both series are shown on every chart.

Why are plants and mushrooms counted differently?

Because a photograph means a different thing for each. A fungus is only visible when it fruits, so a count of mushroom photographs already is a count of fruiting. A plant can be photographed all year, so a raw count of elderberry photographs peaks in June, which is when the flowers are out. A forager following that number arrives two months before there is any fruit on the bush. So every fruit and nut on this site is counted only from records that an observer annotated as fruiting, and every mushroom is counted as recorded. Ramps are the one deliberate exception: they are harvested as a leaf, and people photograph ramps exactly when the leaves are up.

Can this page tell me whether a mushroom is safe to eat?

No. This is a timing site. CDC states plainly that poisonous mushrooms often resemble and are difficult to distinguish visually from nonpoisonous, edible mushrooms, and that cooking does not remove or inactivate the toxins. Between November 2025 and March 2026 an outbreak of amatoxin poisoning in northern California produced 39 cases, three liver transplants and four deaths. Where this site names a toxic lookalike it names it and stops there; it does not describe how to tell them apart, because a hint that is right most of the time is worse than no hint. Take a mushroom to a person: the North American Mycological Association keeps a free list of volunteer identification consultants by state.

Is foraging legal on public land?

It depends entirely on who manages the land, and that is the question most people get wrong. On National Park Service land, gathering plants is prohibited by default, but a superintendent may designate fruits, berries and nuts for personal use, and many have: New River Gorge allows a gallon and a half of mushrooms per person per day. On national forests there is no national number at all, because the threshold below which no permit is needed is set regionally. Three adjacent Appalachian national forests give three different answers about ramps. State parks and state forests are frequently different agencies with opposite rules in the same state. Tennessee state parks permit gathering; Tennessee state forests prohibit it.

When is ginseng season?

American ginseng is the one plant here with a real per state legal regime, because it is listed on Appendix II of CITES. The US Fish and Wildlife Service states that in all 19 states that allow harvest, the season starts in September. The closing dates are what people get wrong: they run from October 31 in Vermont and November 1 in Illinois and Wisconsin, through November 30 in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York, to December 31 in most of the rest. Illinois requires ten year old plants, which is stricter than anywhere else. Harvest is banned on all National Park Service land and on all state land in several states.

Which states have a foraging calendar here?

The 29 states whose observation record supports a year round calendar: a state qualifies with at least eight species clearing 40 research grade records, peaking in at least six different months. Those 29 resolve 8 to 18 species across 6 to 9 distinct months, and Georgia is the widest at 9 months. The other 21 states fall into three groups, listed below: a season of a different shape, species that do not grow there, and too few records uploaded yet.

Timing on this page is climatology derived from iNaturalist research grade observation records, not a forecast. Legal summaries are our reading of the cited regulations as of the dates noted and are not legal advice; regulations change and the land manager’s current rule governs. Nothing here identifies a mushroom or tells you anything is safe to eat. See a person: how to get an identification.