In the fall, mushrooms sprout in the woods and meadows. If you want to pick them, you should know the local mushrooms well. This is because there are mushrooms such as the particularly poisonous death cap, which can be mistaken for edible mushrooms.
In Essen, an adult and three children had eaten death caps. The poison had attacked their livers – so severely that three patients needed an organ transplant. Even small amounts of poisonous mushrooms can cause severe liver damage or be fatal. Toxic fungi at least cause severe stomach and intestinal complaints. Several patients are currently being treated for mushroom poisoning at Tübingen University Hospital. This was reported to tuenews INTERNATIONAL on request.
Some mushroom pickers try to identify mushrooms using an app on their cell phone. Mushroom experts expressly warn against this. Even the time of day at which the mushroom is photographed or whether it has rained or the sun is shining can lead to incorrect results. For example, the death cap is often confused with the field mushroom. A distinction: The death cap has white plates, whereas the field mushroom has pinkish to brownish plates.
What can those affected do if they fear they have eaten a poisonous mushroom?
In the cities of Berlin, Bonn, Erfurt, Freiburg im Breisgau, Göttingen, Mainz and Munich, there are poison control centers or poison information centers that can help in emergencies – see: bvl | Poison Control Centers
If you are unsure whether you have picked poisonous mushrooms, you can contact a volunteer mushroom advisor. On the website of the German Society for Mycology (the science of mushrooms) you can find experts for all regions of Germany – see:
dgfm | mushroom experts
If you would like to find out more about edible and poisonous mushrooms, you can find a detailed brochure with explanations and illustrations from the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment at
bfr | risk of mushrooms (pdf)
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Ausgewachsene Exemplare des Grünen Knollenblätterpilzes mit flach aufgeschirmten Hüten | Bild: Dr. Matthias Theiß. Quelle: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mykologie e.V. (Hrsg.): “Pilz des Jahres 2019: Grüner Knollenblätterpilz.” URL: https://www.dgfm-ev.de/pilz-des-jahres/2019-gruener-knollenblaetterpilz. Abrufdatum: 24.10.2024.
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