Andalucían Man Dies After Eating Poisonous Mushrooms

ANDALUCIAN man dies after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms
Foraging for wild ingredients is a popular past-time all throughout Spain but it can prove to be a risky business for the uninitiated. A 61-year-old man from Valverde del Camino in Huelva, Andalucía tragically died when he picked two wild mushrooms he believed to be edible before cooking and eating them. The man, who was an experienced wild mushroom enthusiast, ingested the highly toxic fungi after confusing them with gurumelos, an edible variety typical of the area.
The victim’s son spoke of the ordeal to Radio Valverde Cadena Ser in an attempt to raise awareness about the dangers of foraging for mushrooms. The young man explained that his father began to feel unwell a few days after eating the plants and was admitted to hospital. Tragically, he passed away and doctors attributed his death to the high level of toxicity in the mushrooms.
The likelihood of dying from ingesting toxic mushrooms is only around 1 per cent, according to Spanish daily Lavozdelsur. However, every year some thirty deaths and 300 poisonings are reported in Spain. For this reason, the Junta de Andalucía published a manual in 2013 which helps those interested in foraging identify the edible varieties of mushrooms in the community.
“The identification of mushrooms must be carried out in a meticulous and prudent way, so this guide intends to serve as a support for the collector who, after carefully examining the specimens, be firmly and completely convinced that the species is edible. In no case is it a matter of looking at the photographs that appear in this guide and collecting the mushrooms of any resemblance. You have to observe the mushroom and read the descriptions carefully, and check that all the described characteristics coincide. The experience of observing many, will really be the one that allows us to know them”, explains the guide.
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