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RE: The Amateur Mycologist #24 - Grifola frondosa - The Hen Of The Woods/The Maitake.
The consequences of making a wrong guess or a misidentification about whether a mushroom is edible can be severe, sometimes requiring a liver transplant or even resulting in death. There were 6,429 cases of people eating poisonous mushrooms and two deaths from toxic mushrooms in 2011, the last year for which data is available, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers in Alexandria, Virginia.
Although I can't speak to those specific statistics, as you can see from my copious disclaimers and leaving out entirely any information about edibility, I agree with the sentiments of this comment completely. Don't eat wild mushrooms unless you are 100% sure of the ID, and the safety of the land /growth medium, and are a professional or supported by professionals. Even then, professionals still make mistakes. Mushroom hunting for food is an inherently risky activity.
So only about 1 / 750,000th dangerous as getting in a car. Seems pretty legit to me. I love foraging...besides you know what they say....
I'd rather take my chances living out under the great sky and proud forests, then kill myself slowly on slave food that is very "safe".