Food Poisoning from Foraged Food 2020/21 to 2024/25

Reference: 25-26020

Date response sent: 16/04/2025

Details of enquiry

Please could you provide the following:

 

1. A yearly breakdown of the number of cases of food poisoning due to incorrect identification or inappropriate preparation of wild food.
2. The type of wild food that caused the food poisoning (for example: fungi, plant, berries, etc…). Please include the specific species if known.
3. The symptoms experienced by the patient and the recovery time (for example: overnight stay or discharged within a couple hours)
4. The location where this food was picked.

 

We would define ‘wild or foraged’ foods to be either:

1. Wild, naturally growing food which was picked and consumed by an individual
2. Wild, naturally growing food which was consumed by an individual, but was served in a restaurant environment, having been picked in the wild within the UK.

Response sent

The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust is a specialist NHS mental health trust for outpatients with a focus on training and education as well as providing a full range of mental health services and therapies for children and their families, young people, and adults.  We do not provide acute services, nor inpatient patient services

Café services within our Tavistock Centre are provided for students and staff only by an independent company whose food procurement and provision is independent of the Trust, their contract is based around the demonstration of food providence and is sourced from wholesalers and major supermarkets.

Foraged food is not something that this Trust could serve in the café.  Accordingly, your questions about identification/preparation of wild food and any resulting cases of food poisoning are not applicable to this Trust.