General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums3rd person dies from wild mushroom poisoning at Northern California senior care facility
LOOMIS, Calif. A third person has died from eating toxic mushrooms at a California senior care facility, authorities said Wednesday.
The person, whose name was not released, died on Saturday, state Department of Social Services spokesman Oscar Ramirez told The Associated Press.
<snip>
The caretaker who prepared the soup, who was among those sickened, apparently picked the mushrooms from the backyard of the six-bed care facility and did not know they were poisonous.
Investigators were quickly able to pinpoint the soup as the source of the poisonings because the only person living at the home who did not eat dinner that night did not fall ill, authorities have said.
<snip>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/3rd-person-dies-from-wild-mushroom-poisoning-at-northern-california-senior-care-facility/2012/11/21/88df691a-341a-11e2-92f0-496af208bf23_story.html
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)seriously
Cleita
(75,480 posts)Sometimes, I'm even wary of the cultivated ones you buy in the store. I really wish there were labeling laws that tell you exactly which farm they were grown on just to keep the growers honest.
cali
(114,904 posts)catbyte
(34,398 posts)And with fairy rings, never, ever eat a mushroom that doesn't have tan gills! Oh I do eat puffballs if they're small enough but like with fairy rings avoid golf courses etc that might dump chemicals on grass. My dad was a mushroom expert and he would bring shrooms home I would never trust myself to pick.
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)XemaSab
(60,212 posts)A baby amanita looks just like a puffball. For real.
catbyte
(34,398 posts)I don't know if we have Amanitas in Michigan, but I am very careful with mushrooms.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)It's just that the consequences from fucking up can be quite high. There's lots of amateur wild mushroom hunters out there who have no problems whatsoever.
opiate69
(10,129 posts)My friend has been a master forager for i think 30 years..but it looks like the season isn`t turning out.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)It's not something I'm prepared to do on my own, but I don't think it would be that hard to learn. There are field guides which help with identification, but it doesn't strike me as something you can just learn from a book.
opiate69
(10,129 posts)I won't even so much as touch a wild mushroom unless Neal's with me saying it's good to go lol.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,627 posts)This is so very sad...
Scuba
(53,475 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)markets all over the city (Paris, Lyons, other cities). Fresh morels are just delicious.
Some of them are scary looking, orange or weird shapes, but even though they sell lots of them at the markets, not sure that they have much of a problem with food poisoning such as in the opening story here.
oldhippydude
(2,514 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)The bartender says, "We don't serve mushrooms here." The mushroom says, "Why not?! I'm a fun guy!"
tabasco
(22,974 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)... but it's easy to see how they could be confused.
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)If you know what to look for, indentifying the good from the bad isn't all that difficult. If you don't know what to look for, you wind up killing old people.
catbyte
(34,398 posts)stem has white cottony stuff inside. Never saw much difference between those & true morels. They taste the same too. True morels have a meatier texture. I was shocked when I read they were supposed to be poisonous.
Maybe Indians are immune?!?
Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Some of that seems to be related to tolerance and preparation, but their toxins don't appear to be completely removeable and they can kill you.
Response to Major Nikon (Reply #14)
ElboRuum This message was self-deleted by its author.
Berserker
(3,419 posts)there is a variety that is not hollow but solid inside and very slimy that look like morels. They are called false morels. But as a mushroom hunter they are easily detectible if you know what to look for.
[IMG][/IMG]
catbyte
(34,398 posts)I don't recall that white stem tho. What my folks picked was essentially stemless.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)Scuba
(53,475 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)oldhippydude
(2,514 posts)HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)EVERY edible mushroom has a look-alike that's poisonous. The only way to tell is by taking a spore print. Curiously, the opposite is NOT true. There's no edible look-alike for a destroying angel. One lick of a destroying angel will likely knock out your liver and kidneys. DAMN are they pretty though - I actually saw one in the woods illuminated by a sun beam. I know how it got its name now.
Even the psychotropic mushrooms have poisonous (deadly) look-alike equivalents. Still, the "Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms" lists the psychotropics as poisonous. Symptoms include visions, hilarity, unmotivated laughter, etc. and ends with "The victim should be assured that the symptoms will pass."
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)I've told myself this many late nights at a concert or two...
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)old bold mushroom hunters.
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)It's weird, I know, but they strike directly at the most vital organs. There's no cure. BOOM! You're dead.
JaneyVee
(19,877 posts)Looks delicious, tastes like death.
catbyte
(34,398 posts)DiverDave
(4,886 posts)an alien planet.
I expect eyelids to close over the red 'eyes'.
I'm gonna have nightmares about these things...
ElboRuum
(4,717 posts)"apparently picked the mushrooms from the backyard of the six-bed care facility and did not know they were poisonous"
Yes, because it is very difficult for a person untrained at identifying wild mushroom species to know which ones are poisonous and which are not. Many edible varieties bear striking similarity to poisonous ones and unless you know what you're looking for, you can easily poison yourself.
Retrograde
(10,137 posts)but I didn't eat them because of that nagging 5% chance they were something else entirely.
My father's uncle - raised in Poland - like wild mushrooms, and when he was in his 70s used to have me scramble under the trees to fetch the Amanitas. He showed me some of the subtle differences between the edible and poisonous kind, but I was never confident enough to try them on my own, and that was on the other side of the continent anyway.
DiverDave
(4,886 posts)And consume.
They grew all over the cow pastures in the Willamette valley.
We had a few FARRRRRR out parties on these little morsels
I will echo everyone else here, DONT eat mushrooms you cannot identify as safe, even if they "look sorta like" the one in the book in your hand.
Make DAMNED sure before you eat them.