Two women aged 66 and 68 ended up in the Tempio Pausania emergency room after consuming a poisonous mushroom, Omphalotus olearius, known as the "olive mushroom," for dinner. They mistook it for the edible Cantharellus cibarius, the more common "chanterelle."
What would have misled them was a search engine used to check their edibility.
The poisoning, fortunately not serious, was confirmed last night by the Mycological Inspectorate of the Gallura Local Health Authority, alerted by emergency room staff who requested a consultation after the patients, both with gastrointestinal symptoms, arrived. The two women also brought some of the mushrooms they had consumed with them, allowing the technicians to quickly identify their poisonous nature.
"Our mycologists intervened immediately," explains Maria Adelia Aini, director of the Food Hygiene and Nutrition Service, "enabling health workers to administer the appropriate treatment. Unfortunately, the use of websites and apps that cannot guarantee the necessary reliability is increasingly widespread. It is essential to consult our facilities and certified mycologists before consuming wild mushrooms."
Ada Careddu, head of the Mycological Inspectorate, agrees, reiterating that the two species are often confused: "The olive mushroom and the chanterelle may seem similar to non-experts, but a mycologist can immediately distinguish them. If the women had brought the harvest to our counters, the mistake would have been avoided."
(Unioneonline/Fr.Me.)
