The Health Protection Agency’s poisons experts are encouraging people that pick and eat wild food to be very careful when picking mushrooms.
Each year many people pick and eat toxic types of mushrooms and then must seek medical attention. Some mushrooms that grow wild in the UK have proven to be so toxic that results were fatal when the mushrooms were eaten. It is important that people know that cooking the mushrooms does not destroy the toxins in some of the most dangerous mushrooms.
The National Poisons Information Service has already been contacted to provide advice on treating over 120 poisonings this year; 45 of those cases were severe or moderate.
Dr. John Thompson, the Director of the NPIS unit in Cardiff, explains that the mushroom season is now beginning in and people need to be informed of the possible dangers. He further states that many mushrooms that grow wild are safe to eat and are very tasty, it is hard to tell the difference between the toxic and non-toxic types of mushrooms. The NPIS advises that people should not eat wild mushrooms unless they are very familiar with the different types that grow in the UK and are sure that the mushrooms are safe to eat.
The NPIS reported over 300 cases of poisoning associated with eating mushrooms in 2010. That year the later summer and early autumn produced a large crop of mushrooms. A cooler summer in 2011 kept mushrooms from growing quite as abundantly as they did the previous year.
Children under the age of ten account for most cases of accidental ingestion of mushrooms, but do not usually result in severe symptoms.
The Director of the HPA’s Centre for Radiation, Chemicals, and Environmental Hazards, Dr. John Cooper, warned people of the possible dangers when gathering wild food this season. He stated that the key to making sure scrounging for wild food is good fun and not a health hazard is to correctly identify the mushrooms that are safe to pick and eat.
There are many online retailers who sell wild mushrooms that are safe for your health and worth considering.