{"id":866016,"date":"2026-07-11T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=866016"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:38:14","slug":"food-warning-to-people-in-cape-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/lifestyle\/866016\/food-warning-to-people-in-cape-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Food warning to people in Cape Town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Western Cape Department of Health has reported a concerning increase in confirmed cases of poisoning caused by \u201cDeath Cap\u201d mushrooms in the province. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This mushroom is one of the most dangerous and toxic species in the world. Over the past two weeks, there have been five confirmed cases of poisoning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tygerberg Poisons Information Centre Director Carine Marks has warned South Africans that even a single bite of certain species of these wild mushrooms can be fatal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve recently seen a concerning increase in \u2018Death Cap\u2019 mushroom poisoning in the Western Cape. In fact, we had five confirmed cases in the Western Cape in just the past two weeks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marks explained that with all the recent rain, these wild mushrooms are appearing everywhere in parks, gardens, vineyards, and forests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, mushroom foraging has become increasingly popular, particularly among young people who explore nature and seek edible mushrooms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has cautioned against trying to distinguish poisonous mushrooms from safe ones just by appearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no reliable home test, and you simply cannot tell if a mushroom is safe by just looking at it. Even more concerning is that cooking, drying and freezing these mushrooms does not destroy the toxins,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mushroom wild forager and Mycologist Daniel Sherwood told Radio 702 and CapeTalk<\/a> that the spike in poisoning could be due to misidentification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He explained that people using mushroom identification apps may be misled, as the apps can be inaccurate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople often make mistakes thinking animals or insects eat it, so it should be fine for them to eat it, and sometimes people believe they can cook the toxins out of a mushroom, which is not true,\u201d said Sherwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that the \u201cDeath Cap\u201d mushrooms contain amatoxins, which can withstand normal cooking temperatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only hope is a liver transplant<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Death Cap mushrooms<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t get rid of the compound of amatoxins; it is the deadliest mushroom in the world and the whole fungi kingdom,\u201d Sherwood said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherwood explained that people are becoming more \u201chealth-conscious,\u201d leaning more towards foraging in nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherwood explained that this is dangerous for people who lack experience and knowledge of the fungal kingdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that takes a lot of time, dedication and experience to learn about; you can\u2019t learn about mushrooms overnight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He urges beginner foragers to go out with an expert or someone who has been foraging for a couple of years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith the Death Cap, for instance, it has got a yellow-greenish olive coloured cap and white gills,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherwood said that if someone feels ill after consuming this type of mushroom, it is important to seek immediate medical attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not much that you can do, after ingesting half a cap of a death cap mushroom, you\u2019ve pretty much signed yourself to your deathbed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherwood explained that after ingesting a death cap mushroom, one will feel normal for several hours until the symptoms kick in, which range from severe stomach cramps to non-stop, uncontrollable vomiting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He warned about a false sense of recovery, where all the symptoms start to subside for a day or two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile that is happening, the amatoxins are affecting your liver, kidney and your brain. They shut down and go into organ failure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the only slight hope after this would be to get a liver transplant, but that survival is quite unlikely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cape Town residents are being warned against eating the deadly mushrooms appearing after heavy rains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":866017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2075852854317769037","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9876],"tags":[2279,25796,25795],"class_list":["post-866016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-cape-town","tag-death-cap-mushroom","tag-western-cape-department-of-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866016"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":866023,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866016\/revisions\/866023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}