Tom O'Dea wants a public health campaign that will prevent future fatalities from the poisonous death caps, which claimed the lives of chef Liu Jun, 38, and kitchenhand Tsou Hsiang, 52.

Mr Liu and Ms Tsou died from liver failure after eating the death cap mushrooms in a stir-fry Mr Liu prepared after work at the Harmonie German Club in Narrabundah on New Year's Eve.

Speaking after a memorial service for the pair at the weekend, Mr O'Dea said, ''We've got to make sure this never happens again.

''The message has got to be do not pick wild mushrooms.''

Signs warning people about death cap mushrooms already exist in parts of the ACT where the world's most deadly mushrooms are known to grow.

ACT Health issued a reminder on New Year's Day that Canberra residents should steer clear of death caps, and runs education campaigns in schools about the dangers of wild mushrooms.

Fact sheets about the mushrooms are also available on the Health directorate's web page, and last year were published in a Chinese publication available in Canberra.

Representatives of ACT Health, including its chief officer Paul Kelly, met with members of Canberra's Chinese community last week to begin discussions about whether public warnings about death cap mushrooms could be improved.

At Saturday's memorial service, Chief Minister Katy Gallagher said further meetings would determine what steps could be taken. Canberra Multicultural Community Forum chairman Sam Wong, who is part of the consultations, said the ACT Government might have to consider more focused campaigns that target new Canberra residents, recent migrants or specific age groups, such as the elderly.

He said the message about the dangers of wild mushrooms could be made clearer through new multimedia advertisements, or by changing warning signs around the ACT so they could be understood by residents and visitors who did not speak English.

An ACT Health spokeswoman said the Health directorate was finalising the message for a campaign that would target both high risk communities and the general community.

The spokeswoman said ACT Health was also investigating how it could expand on public awareness raising it already conducted in schools and during mushroom season.

''We are now looking at enhancing the communication activities by extending them to tertiary institutions, targeting new arrivals to Canberra and international students,'' the spokeswoman said.

''We are also writing to food businesses to ensure that no wild mushrooms are at their premises.''

Five people have died from eating death cap mushrooms in the ACT over the past decade.

Death cap mushrooms often grow near oak trees and are found when there is warm, wet weather.

In Canberra this usually occurs in autumn, however, the toxic mushrooms have been thriving as a result of recent summer rains, according to ACT Health.

One mushroom can be enough to fatally damage the liver.