Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Heated moment in Erin Patterson murder trial as judge is forced to intervene when witness and defence lawyer clash

The Victorian Department of Health’s Sally Ann Atkinson (pictured below) told the jury she believed the death cap mushroom poisoning outbreak was ‘quite unusual’ before messages between her and Erin Patterson were revealed in court.

The health officer also said she wanted to get the deadly mushrooms off the shelves of stores if they ‘existed’.

Patterson has claimed she had purchased button mushrooms from a local Woolworths as well as dried muhsrooms from an unamed Asian store in Melbourne.

Ms Atkinson said she attempted to call Patterson on August 1 before texting her at 3.50pm that same day.

She asked for specific information about the lunch she served her guests including any drinks and ingredients used.

‘I need to know what drinks were served, I need to know what shallots were used,’ the health officer wrote.

Ms Atkinson told Patterson she needed ‘more precise information about the packaging’ of the mushrooms as well as ‘any roads you were parked on or (were) near those stores’.

‘Just things to think about when I need to speak to you again,’ Ms Atkinson ended her message.

Patterson responded at 4.08pm on August 2.

‘Hi Sally I will try to get that information all to you as soon as possible,’ she wrote.

‘I’m just dealing with trying to manage and look after the kids in hospital here and a bit snowed under trying to manage that.

‘I’ll get this info to you as soon as I can but I’ve just been in a couple of meetings with people at the hospital when you’ve been trying to call.’

Ms Atkinson sent a return message to Patterson barely a minute later and asked about the children.

‘Yeah they’re fine thank you,’ Patterson responded at 4.11pm.

‘Very glad to hear that,’ Ms Atkinson immediately replied.

Ms Atkinson said she also attempted to call Patterson later that evening but there was no answer. She said she left a voicemail and received no return call.

Ms Atkinson said Patterson sent a text message again later on August 2.

‘She’d told me she’d bought everything on the Friday evening, (the) texts conflicted with earlier assertions,’ Ms Atkinson told the court.

Ms Atkinson sent Patterson a message back: ‘Hi Erin, I have taken a couple of photos of zip-lock type bags with just white labels on them.’

The jury heard Ms Atkinson then sent Patterson photos of mushrooms in zip-lock bags.

‘Can you tell me please if either of those sizes looks about right and whether the label size seems about right to you,’ she wrote.

The jury heard Patterson circled one of the zip-lock mushroom bag images and responded.

‘Looking at the size and volume of things in the supermarket I realise there’s no way it can have been 100g worth,’ Patterson wrote.

‘I was thinking about the weight of that amount of fresh I think, but dry (mushrooms) weigh a lot less.

‘Yes that store doesn’t look familiar but that style of packaging and labelling is exactly what I meant.

‘They weren’t whole like those shitake mushies in the photos, they were sliced. And yes the packaging was about half the size of that.’

Ms Atkinson then asked Patterson to speak to her on the phone.

Patterson responded: ‘Sure.’

The pair spoke again at about 11.20am on August 3.

The jury heard the pair discussed the cooking process surrounding the lunch she served her guests.

Ms Atkinson and Patterson also communicated about the mushrooms she used in the beef Wellington.

The court heard Patterson said the mushrooms were sliced but not dark.

She said they had a similar colour to button mushrooms.

Patterson also sent two texts to Ms Atkinson describing the pastry she used for the beef Wellington.

‘Hi Sally I used a combination,’ Patterson wrote.

‘It was all Pampas puff pastry from Woolworths. I had some already in the freezer and used that up and I also bought some more from Woolies that week I believe.

‘It was either just the basic Pampas puff pastry or the Pampas butter puff pastry.’

A second text read: ‘Oh I also used filo pastry, it comes as a roll in a blue box from the freezer section of Woolies. I bought that new.’