I think this gives people the wrong impression that mushroom foraging is dangerous. It isn't. Anyone can quickly learn to identify the safe edible species around them. But the key is, you have to understand that you should know upfront what species around you, in your current season, are edible and eat only exactly those species.
For example, almost anyone can learn to identify chicken of the woods, morels, oysters, and maitake and safely pick them with very minimal training.
Trusting some app without context is an obviously stupid move IMO though and not surprising that people are getting hurt if that's how they are approaching foraging.
> the key is, you have to understand that you should know upfront what species around you, in your current season, are edible and eat only exactly those species
This is missing a very important factor, which is that there are some edible species with highly toxic lookalikes. These lookalikes are quite common in Ohio, hence why poisonings from misidentified mushrooms are also common.
There are two, but I'm guessing you're not basing this off of actual knowledge. If you avoid those two, you can forage dozens of other edibles easily. It's not hard to avoid those two (and their entire genus, though there are some easily-distinguished edibles in the genus as well).
The whole point is you shouldn't just run around picking stuff up, taking a run at an identification, and then popping it in your mouth. You should go out already knowing what you are willing to pick based off of what can safely be picked in your area. Safe here means no edible look a likes (or that you know how to differentiate with confidence)
For example, almost anyone can learn to identify chicken of the woods, morels, oysters, and maitake and safely pick them with very minimal training.
Trusting some app without context is an obviously stupid move IMO though and not surprising that people are getting hurt if that's how they are approaching foraging.