Seminar on the identification of edible mushrooms

In recent years, “mycophilia” in Greece, as in the rest of Europe, is growing at a rapid pace, resulting in more and more collectors searching for mushrooms in the forest. Mushroom picking as a dynamically expanding activity is associated with other economic activities such as gastronomy and tourism and take advantage of a forest resource, which until today remained largely untapped.

In June 2019, as part of the INCREDIBLE project ('Innovation networks for cork, resins and edibles'), an interregional meeting was organized in Ioannina, entitled Mushrooms and truffles: ways to improve the quality and state of the market. The meeting was attended by key stakeholders from most of the value chain both from Greece and from other Mediterranean countries. Present were representatives of the Ministry of the Environment, the General Directorate for Forests, the Regional Administration of Epirus-Western Macedonia, the Municipality of Zagori, the University of Ioannina and the local forestry services. The meeting was also attended by mushroom clubs and collectors and by entrepreneurs from all over Greece.

Furthermore, on July 5, 2019, a proposal for legislation on the management and certification of wild edible mushrooms was released, the result of the work of a group of specialists under the aegis of the Ministry of Environment and Energy from 2015 - 2019, aiming to formulate new rules to update the existing forestry, rural and commercial legislation. One of the first necessary actions for implementing the new legislation is the training of forest employees in the identification of mushrooms in order forestry services to participate actively in the process of checking, certification and traceability of the product before it is promoted in the market chain. The aim of this seminar is to inform the employs of the forestry service about the recent developments in the sector and to familiarize them with mushrooms identification, so as to be able to recognize common edible and poisonous species.

Check here the programme in ENGLISH / in GREEK.

Addressed to: Forestry employees of Ioannina

Venue and practical information: Forestry Service of Ioannina and visit to forests in the area of its responsibility.