2023-09-03 11:12:38
Due to the rainy summer, 250 cases of mushroom poisoning have already been recorded since the beginning of August, double the number recorded last year on the same date.
A rural activity but not without risks. Mushroom picking started early this year due to the weather, but it is better to be careful at the beginning of September, which is the ideal season for picking. More than 250 cases of poisoning have already been recorded since August 1, twice as many as in 2022 at the same period.
For the national secretary of the mycological society of France Patrice Lainé, this increase is explained simply by the weather. “There was rain in August, it hadn’t happened for several years,” he explains on BFMTV.
The contaminations, rather than taking place in September, therefore take place mainly in August this year. “If we wait until the end of the year, I suppose there will be the same amount of poisonings,” he said.
Always cook a wild mushroom
In the middle of picking in the national forest of Roumare, in Upper Normandy, the professor of analytical chemistry at the UFR of health of Rouen Philippe Vérité spots a blushing amanita.
“It’s a fungus that is extremely common in our forests,” he explains to BFMTV. “It’s a good edible, but must be well cooked,” he warns.
In fact, cases of poisoning following eating mushrooms are often linked to undercooking.
On its website, the National Food Safety Agency (Anses) recommends “never” consuming raw wild mushrooms. “Cook them for 20 to 30 minutes in a pan or 15 minutes in boiling water,” she advises.
Have the mushrooms checked with a pharmacist
Other walkers can sometimes confuse several species of mushrooms, similar in appearance to the untrained eye.
“We have the yellow citrine amanita, a mushroom which is to be rejected” because it is possible to “confuse” it with “white forms of the phalloid amanita”, a “deadly mushroom”, warns Professor Philippe Vérité .
“Collect only the mushrooms that you know: in the slightest doubt, do not consume the harvest before having it checked by a pharmacist”, indicates ANSES.
Some pharmacists actually have training in mycology and are able to identify potentially dangerous mushrooms.
Be careful with smartphone apps
If smartphone applications have emerged in recent years and claim to help walkers in their selection, experts call not to trust them blindly.
“Unfortunately, at present, there is no mobile application allowing you to eat mushrooms serenely. They should not be used for consumption purposes”, recommends to BFMTV Professor Alexis d’Escatha, director of the Grand Ouest poison control and toxicovigilance center in Angers.
As a precaution, it is better not to give wild mushrooms to eat to young children, whose bodies are more fragile.
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