Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Ergotism
c
Ergot, a
parasitic fungus
(
Claviceps
purpurea
)
Fungus of rye
and
occasionally
other grains
Ergot-fungus
contaminated meal
or bread
Gangrene involving
extremities, fingers,
and toes; or weakness
and drowsiness,
headache, giddiness,
painful cramps in limbs
Gradual,
after
prolonged
use of
diseased rye
in food
Do not use discolored or
spoiled grain (fungus
grows in the grain). Meal
is grayish, possibly with
violet-colored specks.
Rhubarb
poisoning
Probably oxalic
acid
Rhubarb
Rhubarb leaves
Intermittent cramplike
pains, vomiting,
convulsions, coma
2 - 12 hr
Do not use rhubarb leaves
for food.
Mushroom
poisoning
Phalloidine and
other alkaloids:
also other
poisons in
mushroom
Mushrooms —
Amanita
phalloides
and
other Amanita
Poisonous
mushrooms
(
Amanita
phalloides,
Amanita muscaria
,
others)
Severe abdominal pain,
intense thirst, retching,
vomiting, profuse
watery evacuations
6-15hr or
15 min - 6 hr
with
muscaria
Do not eat wild
mushrooms; warn others.
Amanita
are very
poisonous, both when raw
or cooked.
Favism
a
Poison from
Vicia faba
bean, pollen
Vicia faba
Plant and bean
The bean when
eaten raw, also
pollen
Acute febrile anemia
with jaundice, passage
of blood in urine
1 - 24 hr
Avoid eating bean,
particularly when green, or
inhalation of pollen. Toxin
not destroyed by cooking.
Fish poisoning
Poison in fish,
ovaries and
testes, roe (heat
Fish: pike,
carp, sturgeon
roe in breeding
Fish: tedrodon,
meletta, clupea,
pickerel eggs,
Painful cramps,
dyspnea, cold sweats,
dilated pupils, difficulty
30 min - 2 hr
or longer
Avoid eating roe during
breading season. Heed
local warnings concerning
