Fearmongering: wild foragers risk getting a tapeworm
Picking blackberries in the wild is something I look forward to every summer. Delicious—making a blackberry cake with foraged blackberries, or vanilla pancakes with blackberries. But the Netherlands Nutrition Centre is spreading fear: apparently, that self-picked summer fruit can actually kill you. WTF?
Around the corner from my house, an incredible amount of blackberries grows every summer. And if you fill a mushroom container (officially, picking 250 grams of wild blackberries is allowed), especially with the fruit growing high up, so that both the other residents and the animals can enjoy this glorious summer fruit too, there’s nothing to worry about. Or fill two containers—living on the edge!
Wild foraging: deadly?!
You can take that living on the edge literally, by the way, if you believe the Netherlands Nutrition Centre: infection with the dangerous fox tapeworm is lurking when you forage. A fox tapeworm grows to about half a centimeter long and can cause serious liver, lung and brain problems. You only find out that you’re infected at a late stage: ten to fifteen years after eating your foraged fruit.
Although the risk of becoming infected in the Netherlands is very small, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre considers it important to issue a precautionary warning because of the potentially serious consequences. Without treatment, it can even be fatal.
Wash and heat thoroughly
People who only read (often sensationalist) headlines—and unfortunately, there are many of them—will immediately be alarmed. But the fox tapeworm only occurs in border regions (eastern Groningen and southern Limburg), and even then: if you wash the fruit thoroughly and heat it sufficiently, it’s safe to eat.
Don’t let them scare you, happy picking!
Read also:
- Why I’m addicted to Japanese Kewpie’s sesame sauce (and you will be too)
- 16 things that happen when you let someone decorate your house while you’re drunk
- So typical: men who save the last bit for you
Source: RTL Nieuws
