1-Quail
Although quail isn’t commonly found on everyone’s dinner plate, many people still enjoy hunting for and eating this delicacy. Quail themselves do not present any potentially harmful issues. However, what may cause problems is precisely what these birds are eating.
Quail are small scavenging fowl that consume seeds, various grains, and random insects. During migration, they move across the country and add other varieties of foods to their diet—including hemlock. Hemlock is a plant with a high toxicity level for most animals. Quail actually show resistance to the plant and appear to eat it without adverse effects. Unfortunately, humans do not share this trait. As a result, quail poisoning (aka coturnism) occurs when a person eats one or more of these tainted fowl.
Reports of coturnism have appeared throughout history but with very few linking attributions. Unfortunately, many quail connoisseurs don’t realize that they could be eating tainted meat. Suspected cases often report dinner guests as suffering from vomiting, muscle soreness, and pain. These symptoms associated with toxic quail are hard to pinpoint, but many experts have linked them to eating tainted birds. Coturnism is a rarely seen phenomenon. It is familiar enough, though, that it should be recognized in the culinary community. If the tainted quail is eaten in small amounts, a person may experience nothing more than indigestion.
However, the unlucky few who consume too much of the fouled fowl can experience permanent damage to the nervous system and other parts of the body. In the worst-case scenario, coturnism can lead to coma and even death. As a result, experts warn us to be wary of quail in migration mode.
from Listverse.com
