Not too big mushrooms for mushroom pickers

Authority instructs Mushroom pickers that may be collected only for their own use

06/10/2014

Thanks to ideal weather conditions, the German forests are offering particularly favorable growth conditions for mushrooms this year. When mushroom picking, however, there are some things to consider. Thus, the main customs office in Lörrach points out that only for own use may be searched. Larger quantities are confiscated by police and customs. The authorities are currently conducting more controls.

Collect mushrooms for your own use
During the mushroom season, it attracts many mushroom pickers into the forest. However, these must adhere to certain rules. So may be collected only for their own use, as a spokesman for the police headquarters Freiburg told the news agency „dpa“ announced. The permitted yield is limited to prevent the trade in mushrooms, as this is prohibited. If a mushroom collector violates these requirements, he must expect fines of several hundred euros. In addition, too much collected mushrooms would be confiscated. Police, customs and forestry and conservation authorities are currently carrying out increased checks on mushroom pickers.

The spokeswoman for the main customs office in Lörrach, Antje Bendel, confirms this to the news agency. The Federal Nature Conservation Act forbids mushroom picking in the forest for commercial purposes. The maximum allowable amount per person per day is usually a maximum of one kilogram. „In the mushroom season we regularly collect collectors who clearly have too much in their basket. "This is often the case with border controls, especially Swiss, who collected too many mushrooms in the Black Forest or Lake Constance Locals fell to the authorities again and again.

The spokeswoman for the nature conservation authority in Lörrach told the news agency that the prescribed amounts should be respected by everyone and that the mushrooms should only be collected for personal consumption. The harvest restrictions should limit the invasion of nature and protect the fungal population.

Mushroom pickers should have fungi examined by experts
For hobby mushroom collectors, it happens again and again that out of ignorance in addition to the tasty and poisonous mushrooms wander into the basket. If these are consumed, it can lead to serious poisoning. For example, Dagmar Eckart from the Poison Control Center in Mainz reports to the news agency that more than 300 cases of fungal poisoning in Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse were registered in 2014 alone. That clearly surpass the previous years. Therefore, mushroom seekers are advised to have the collected mushrooms inspected by experts before they migrate into the saucepan. In Germany, several thousand species of fungi are known, of which about 200 are poisonous.