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Re:Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getti... by Alex3917 on Thursday October 27, 2016 @11:53PM (#12812918)
> There are a limited number of ingredients, all of which are surely well documented and tested.

There isn't really any bright line between edible and poisonous. E.g. if you buy a bunch of field guides, the exact same plants and mushrooms will be listed as edible in some books and poisonous in others. There are lots of species that are widely considered poisonous, but many people eat them anyway without any ill effects. And others that are widely considered edible that people get very sick from eating.

Some of the best advice I got from a well-known mycologist is when in doubt about whether something is edible, set up a TV in the bathroom first.

Re:Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getti... by dspillett on Friday October 28, 2016 @05:56AM (#12814433)
> the exact same plants and mushrooms will be listed as edible in some books and poisonous in others

"Every mushroom is edible, but some only once." -- Czech proverb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_hunting#Safety_issues)

Re:Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getti... by Laforet on Friday October 28, 2016 @12:34AM (#12813122)
> the exact same plants and mushrooms will be listed as edible in some books and poisonous in others.

Are you serious? Any mycologist or survivalist worth their salt will tell you to avoid any mushrooms you could not identify with 100% certainty because there is no regret if you had them. Some manuals may advocate (in very desperate situations) eating a small piece of an unknown species to see if you have a reaction before consuming more, but that is still pretty dodgy since not all toxins have a short incubation period.

Re:Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getti... by taejo on Monday October 31, 2016 @09:53AM (#12836672)
Let's take something else: vodka. Poisonous or edible? Clearly poisonous: if you drink a litre, you may feel nauseous, lose your balance, slur your words, throw up...

On the other hand, generally recognized as edible: many people consume it regularly, most doctors wouldn't tell you to never consume it, recipe books include recipes using it, etc.

Many (identified!) mushrooms are on a similar level of toxicity: one is fine, a kilo will make you nauseous, twenty kilos can kill you. Whether this is toxic or edible is to some extent a cultural construct. The dose makes the poison.

Re:Soylent halts sales of its powder as customers keep getti... by Alex3917 on Friday October 28, 2016 @05:23AM (#12814272)
Whether something is safe to eat has nothing to do with identification. If you don't know what something is then obviously you shouldn't be eating it.