Professor warns of fatal risks from wild mushroom consumption

Professor Ahmet Aydın, Head of Pharmaceutical Toxicology at Yeditepe University, has issued a warning regarding the dangers of consuming wild mushrooms gathered from nature. He noted that poisonous and edible mushrooms can look remarkably similar, making it impossible to distinguish them based on color, smell, texture, or appearance.

Poisoning cases in Turkey tend to increase during the humid and rainy months of autumn and spring. Aydın warned that symptoms can appear shortly after consumption or even several days later, potentially leading to liver failure and death. He emphasized that cooking poisonous mushrooms does not eliminate their toxicity and advised the public to choose commercially available cultivated mushrooms from markets instead of foraging in the wild.