Changes

The department has completed a review of import policy for mushrooms and truffles for human consumption and spawn, cultures, and fruiting bodies for propagation. The review considered:

• permitted and prohibited species
• country of origin differences
• target and hitchhiker pests
• substrates approved for use; and
• sterilisation requirements.

Outcomes of the review included:

• Addition of several species of mushrooms to the permitted species list for both consumption and propagation.
• Updating naming with current taxonomy.
• Extension of existing permitted mushrooms for consumption and propagation to include all countries (except Agaricus sp. which remains permitted from New Zealand only).
• Merging of the wild harvested and commercially produced cases.
• Simplification of additional declarations for commercially produced mushrooms for consumption.
• Minor formatting changes to the BICON case structures to create consistency across the pathway.
• Updating the dried and medicinal mushroom cases to reflect newly permitted species.

Note: The changes will be reflected in import permits, and the department will contact all affected importers directly to discuss options and allow a transition period for the additional declarations.

Changes to additional declaration for commercially produced mushrooms:
The previous declaration, “The product was grown on a substrate totally free of animal products including animal by-products and faeces”, has now been amended to: “The product was grown on a substrate totally free of animal products including animal by-products and faeces and has not been subsequently contaminated with animal by-products or faeces.”

Changes to permitted species:
The following species are now permitted to be imported fresh, dried or frozen, for both human consumption and propagation:

Who does the notice affect?
Importers of mushrooms, truffles and restricted medicinal medicines for human consumption and/or for propagation.

Further information:
Please contact the Horticulture Imports Program on 1800 900 090 or email imports@agriculture.gov.au.