Safe and poisonous wild food in Project Zomboid

In Build 42, poison on wild food is not fixed per item type. For most berries and mushrooms the game rolls poison each time a find spawns from foraging, so two identical-looking mushrooms in your bag can behave differently. A few types are fixed: some berries are always safe and Holly Berry is always poisonous.

Each risky group has a base chance to be poisonous. One data-based guide lists 5 percent for the generic berries and 10 percent for the generic mushrooms (one source), and gives mushrooms a much higher poison strength range than berries. Low Foraging skill makes things worse. Two sources agree the chance rises by about 3 percentage points for every Foraging level below 10, so a level 0 forager faces roughly 30 to 35 percent odds on a risky berry (one source) and worse on mushrooms. At Foraging 10 only the base chance remains.

The full numbers per item are on the foraging table. This page covers what to eat, what to avoid and what to do if you get it wrong.

Without the right knowledge, every berry shows as Unknown Berry and every mushroom as Unknown Mushroom, even the safe kinds. With Herbalist knowledge, safe finds show their normal names and toxic ones show as Poisonous Berry or Poisonous Mushroom. The label is the only reliable warning; the icon and weight look the same.

You get Herbalist knowledge in three ways:

• The Herbalist trait at character creation, which costs 4 points and also gives foraging bonuses toward medicinal plants. See traits and occupations.
• An occupation that includes it. One guide names Park Ranger (one source).
• Reading Magazine: Wilderness Survival, which teaches the knowledge and the plant poultice recipes but does not give the trait itself or its foraging bonuses. Look for it in magazines loot.

Foraging level and Herbalist do different jobs. Herbalist reveals poison on the label. Foraging level lowers the chance that a risky item spawns poisoned in the first place, and decides when the Berries and Mushrooms search focus unlocks (level 3 in two guides). Sources disagree on whether you need a minimum Foraging level before the Poisonous label appears; one mentions a hidden detection level of 5 for generic berries. Treat any unlabeled find as unsafe.

Medicinal herbs such as Plantain, Comfrey, Wild Garlic, Common Mallow, Black Sage and Ginseng also need Herbalist knowledge before you can recognize them. Lemongrass does not.

Cooking does not remove poison from a berry or mushroom in Build 42. A poisoned mushroom stays poisoned in a stew, and worse, it poisons the whole dish. Keep unknown or poisonous finds out of every cooking recipe.

What cooking does fix is the raw-food problem. Raw meat, fish and many insects carry risks or mood penalties that cooking removes or reduces. Insects are a good example: a raw Cricket gives 20 unhappiness for a tiny amount of food (about 20 calories) and cooks in a few minutes. Insects are not rolled for poison the way berries and mushrooms are, so they are a safe if unpleasant emergency food.

Opinion: cook insects in a stew or stir fry with other ingredients to bury the mood hit, and save safe berries for snacks while they are fresh, since they spoil in about a week.

Eating a poisoned item raises your food sickness. You see it first as a Queasy moodle, which can grow into Nauseous and Sick as the poison builds. Strong poison, or several poisoned items eaten close together, can push sickness high enough to drain health and kill. Mushrooms are the usual killer because their poison strength range is so much higher. Read the moodle stages on moodles and how health damage works on health.

There is no antidote item for food poisoning. Treatment is support while the sickness wears off:

1. Stop eating anything wild or unknown at once.
2. Eat Lemongrass if you have it. Its item data lowers food sickness by 12, which helps mild cases but will not save you from a heavy dose.
3. Rest in a safe bed, stay warm and dry, and keep drinking clean water.
4. Avoid fights and long runs while health is falling.

For general care and wound treatment see first aid; for pills and their effects see medicines.

Statuses for berries and mushrooms come from data-based guides for 42.19. Values for the insects and herbs are not rolled for poison but may carry mood penalties.

• Sort finds by label the moment you get home. Drop anything marked Poisonous straight into a separate container or the trash.
• An Unknown label is not a death sentence, but it is not a green light either. Without Herbalist, stick to crops, canned food and hunting.
• The poison roll happens when the item spawns, not when you eat it, so leveling Foraging later does not clean food already in your bag.
• Mushrooms peak from August to October, which is also when a low-skill forager is most tempted to eat them.
• Safe berries feed animals and fill evolved recipes. See the food list and nutrition for how little they add up to.

Opinion: if you plan to live off the land, take Herbalist or hunt down the Wilderness Survival magazine early. Pair it with wilderness survival habits and treat mushrooms as a bonus, never as a staple.