After mushroom poisonings, California says don't forage.' What to know about death caps

"The California Department of Public Health is urging people to avoid foraging for and eating wild mushrooms this season after 21 people have been hospitalized with severe liver damage from a toxic mushroom known as the death cap and one person has died. CDPH issued the blanket advisory after detecting what the agency called two significant clusters of poisoning cases in Monterey and San Francisco counties, caused by the amatoxin found in the fungi."

"The death cap mushroom, whose Latin name is Amanita phalloides, is particularly dangerous because it can easily be confused with different, safe-to-eat mushrooms because of their similar appearance and normal taste, said Bruch Reed, chief operating officer at the North American Mycological Association. The state has warned that cooking, boiling, drying, or freezing these mushrooms will not make them safe to eat, either."

"As a rule, he urged foragers at any time to never consume a mushroom they aren't 100% sure is safe meaning, if you're reading this article to try to decide if you should eat a mushroom that might be a death cap, don't. If you can't distinguish between the two, if you have any doubt whatsoever, it's not worth dying over, Reed said."

Twenty-one people have been hospitalized with severe liver damage and one person has died from poisoning by the death cap mushroom (Amanita phalloides). The California Department of Public Health detected two significant clusters in Monterey and San Francisco counties linked to amatoxin from the fungi and issued a blanket advisory to avoid foraging and eating wild mushrooms this season. Death caps grow associated with oak trees and have been unusually abundant in the Bay Area. Amatoxins can cause liver failure, and cooking, boiling, drying, or freezing does not neutralize the toxins. Foragers are advised to never consume any mushroom unless 100% certain it is safe.

Read at www.berkeleyside.org