Fungi for Dogs: Friends and Foes

7/29/2026

There’s a lot of confusion about good fungi and bad fungi for dogs, and in this episode I’m joined by certified mushroom expert, Magda Chiarella to untagle this confusion.

The fungi kingdom includes mushrooms and yeasts that are super beneficial for us and our dogs. Mushrooms have properties that boost whatever food your currently giving your dog. Certain yeasts, such as the yeast found in Kefir scoby also have the ability to boost the nutritional content of other foods.

But mold is also in the fungi kingdom, and mold often is quite harmful. So those good mushrooms and yeasts sometimes get a bad rap by association. But that’s just a misunderstanding.

Tune in and find out more about beneficial mushrooms, yeasts and how to safely prepare and feed them to your brood bitches, puppies, and dogs.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, and subscribe so you never miss an episode!

To read the transcript for this episode, click the link below.

Transcript - Fungi For Dogs: Friends And Foes

Jane Messineo Lindquist

I'm Jane Messineo Lindquist, and this is Madcap Radio.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Today I'm joined by my good friend and fellow dog breeder, Magda Chiarella of Dig and Pop, Norwich terriers. Welcome, Magda.

Magda Chiarella

So happy to be here.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Today we're going to talk about fungi. And the inspiration for this podcast came from a student writing in on the Puppy Culture discussion group. And she had a lot of egg whites left over from making mother's pudding. And she'd been going to the farmers market getting mushrooms locally grown, adding them to the egg whites and making omelets for herself.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And she wanted to know if she could give the mushrooms to her puppies. And she wanted some suggestions for the best ways to prepare them for puppies. And then somebody wrote in the comments,

Jane Messineo Lindquist

“I was advised by my repro vet to stop mushrooms with my dam during pregnancy. And avoid with young puppies as I could not guarantee against any mycotoxins on them. Thoughts?”

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And yes, we have some thoughts. Magda. Let me. You know what? Hang on one second before you jump into that. Because you guys all know Magda as the nutrition guru. But Magda is uniquely qualified to answer this particular question. What is the thing?

Magda Chiarella

First of all, I'm Polish. I grew up in Poland, and Poles are a nation of foragers. Shrooming is a national pastime. During the peak mushroom season. The woods are crowded.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

But you are an uber Polish mushroom shroomer, an uber shroomer.

Magda Chiarella

Because I was always fascinated with mushrooms. Both loving the taste, but also wanting to identify them. You know, I needed to be that nerd that tells everybody whether it's the right mushroom or not, to put in the basket. So I went through certification program that allowed me, as a young person in high school and then, college during summertime to work at the place that was buying mushrooms.

Magda Chiarella

It was a government run place where people would bring mushrooms and certified assessors like me would look at those mushrooms, each particular one, and say, this is a chanterelle, that goes here, and this is a bolete, that goes here. And this is, you know, not edible mushroom that you confused. And then I got additional certifications to be overseeing situations where assessors were not sure.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So safe to say we're safe in your hands, Magda.

Magda Chiarella

You are.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Okay. Let me just go back to that question, then. So this repro vet is telling this woman to stop giving mushrooms to her damn. And not to give them to the puppies because of mycotoxins.

Magda Chiarella

We should define what mycotoxins are and not confuse them with what edible mushrooms are.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Which is?

Magda Chiarella

Which is like talking about apples and oranges.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Okay.

Magda Chiarella

So first, mycotoxins are toxins produced primarily by molds to defend themselves, but also by molds that are parasitic or mushrooms.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Molds?

Magda Chiarella

Mushrooms are fungi and molds are fungi.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

But it's different.

Magda Chiarella

But they are very different.

Magda Chiarella

Mushrooms, what we call mushrooms, are fruits of an organism that lives underground, primarily underground, sometimes in, decaying wood matter. But basically it is, fruit of mycelium. Mycelium is absolutely critical to life on Earth. The way mycelium sustaining itself is by taking organic matter, decomposing it, and then using it as nourishment. And that decomposition is also what allows plants to take some nutrients through their root system, and what builds the rest of us our sustenance.

Magda Chiarella

So without mycelium, without fungi, the truly wouldn't be no life on Earth.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So they break down organic matter and make it available for uptake by plants.

Magda Chiarella

Exactly.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And then we eat the plants.

Magda Chiarella

Yes.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Sometimes the mycelium. The fruit of the mycelium.

Magda Chiarella

Fruit of the mycelium, what we call mushroom.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So just to get to get to the direct answer, the direct answer is that a mycotoxin, is that what it's called?

Magda Chiarella

Mycotoxins

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Is an actual

Magda Chiarella

Toxin.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And it's like a, it's a what's the word.

Magda Chiarella

Poison.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Excretion from mold.

Magda Chiarella

Right?

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's it's the waste product of the mold?

Magda Chiarella

Well, not only waste. Sometimes they are specifically parasitic mold, specifically makes it.

06:01:04 - 06:02:03

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Oh. It's different.

Magda Chiarella

Yes. Has its defense or its aggression towards whatever they want to eat.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So just to put this to rest, a mushroom is not in and of itself capable of making a mycotoxin unless it has mold on it.

Magda Chiarella

Well, specifically when mushrooms, mushrooms can be poisonous. We all know ...

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Different question though.

Magda Chiarella

But truly, mycotoxins is a substance produced by mold. And mold is not the same as mycelium that produces mushrooms.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

This one's getting edible mushrooms. Farmers market. Wants to know about feeding it to our puppies is being told no. You know, there might be mycotoxins. And it's pretty easy answer. Pretty straightforward. No, that's just simply not true.

Magda Chiarella

That's simply not true.

Magda Chiarella

In addition, actual mycotoxins, those bad toxic substances that really can hurt you, they're mostly molds that feed on sugars of grains,

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Grain.

Magda Chiarella

So they are in grains. They are in kibble. They could be.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

There's a lot of cases of mycotoxins poisoning. I mean, it's it's a thing.

Magda Chiarella

It's a thing with kibble. Right.

Magda Chiarella

Also grains in human, you know, food production, it's an issue. Moldy, moldy food.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Just sidebar. This is why in the Weaning Course, when I'm showing you how to ferment, and I'm saying that if there's mold like the kahm yeast is not a problem, but if there's mold on top, it doesn't matter. You can't scrape it off. You got to throw the whole thing out. It's because mold will create a toxin that will infect the entire batch. You can't just remove the mold.

Magda Chiarella

And you cannot just boil it because it's not degrading with temperature.

Magda Chiarella

So can I volunteer some information? I will tell you mind boggling things about mushrooms and why they are fabulous as an addition to a diet for humans and for dogs.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Absolutely. Let's hear it.

Magda Chiarella

We relatively recently discovered that mushrooms, specifically mycelium, that organism that produces mushrooms, has evolved to be extremely cooperative with other organisms. So it allows trees to communicate with other trees. It takes messages about drought, about pests, about whatever trees want to communicate to other trees, and passes this information through its underground network of its cells.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's like neural connections.

Magda Chiarella

It's like neural connections. Mushrooms express. What mycelium does, which is connect synergistically with other substances, with other organisms.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Oh, so even in your diet, it does that.

Magda Chiarella

It's exactly what it does.

Magda Chiarella

So what we know about mushrooms is that they have what people call medicinal properties. And those medicinal properties we are discovering is binding with other parts of diet, of, consumption, nutritional components and making them into something else. It's not even chemistry. It's something else.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Interesting.

Magda Chiarella

And understanding how mushrooms work medicinally is still in its infancy. We do not know exactly. We know some aspects of it, but we are constantly discovering something else. It's like as if the mushroom that you consume were was trying to do some good for you. It works with the other organisms within your GI tract that are beneficial organisms.

Magda Chiarella

It helps them. It's it communicates with them somehow. What do you need? What can I get you?

Magda Chiarella

One of the things within fungi world, that's not specifically edible mushroom but edible yeast, is working to make folate more potent.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Interesting.

Magda Chiarella

Something we talk about in early pregnancy. Folate is so important for development of neural pathways and brains of embryos.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It avoids midline closure defects in some cases.

Magda Chiarella

Right. And recent studies have pointed to something they term bio fortification, new word, yeast can take a little folate and make a lot of folate out of the blue.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

I just want to take a break here, because there's so much interesting new science that you brought up. And I know that our listeners are on the edge of their seats saying, but what can I feed my dams and my puppies? So let's talk about mushrooms briefly. First, give us some ideas for mushrooms for our dams and our puppies. What do you think? How would we best prepare them? Magda, what are your recommendations?

Magda Chiarella

So my first recommendation is to look at mushrooms, the way you look at fermented foods. A little goes a long way. You do not need to make a mushroom meal. A little mushroom works. Not so much as a provider of specific nutrition. Again, it's like a helper. It's like this little.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's an agent.

Magda Chiarella

Agent that will agent of good health.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Let's use your dogs because then we can multiply up.

Magda Chiarella

I would say that this size really doesn't matter as much if you get a cap of shiitake.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeah, which is pretty small.

Magda Chiarella

Pretty small.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Tablespoon chopped up.

Magda Chiarella

You must cook it. It cannot be fed raw. Any mushroom for a dog should never be fed raw. Cook it. And if you give just a sliver with the whole meal that will have some beneficial effect.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Okay. So that mushroom cap might last your damn a couple days is what you're saying.

Magda Chiarella

Absolutely.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Or you could put it in a bone broth.

Magda Chiarella

So for example when I cook for my dogs, when I make a batch of meatballs, one shiitake cap for, like, a batch for the whole week.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So to sum it up, let's say you're saying it really doesn't matter too much what size dog it is because you're never going to give more than like a quarter of a mushroom of a shitake mushroom top or white button mushroom, I mean white button mushrooms can vary a lot, but let's say half a teaspoon, probably about half a teaspoon would be what it all boils down to, no pun intended, because you do have to boil it.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Now, what I tend to do is put it in a little ramekin with water and put it into the microwave and boil it until it's really quite well boiled through. It's because you're dealing with such small amounts, is that a fair way.

Magda Chiarella

Well, I just because I cook for my dogs, I just mix it.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

You mix it in.

Magda Chiarella

The whole thing before prior to baking.

14:55:11 - 14:57:08

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeah, I'm doing raw, so I'm not cooking.

Magda Chiarella

Right. So so yeah, I would say that that sounds right.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

That sounds right. So whatever you got at the grocery store and you can do the exotic mushrooms at the grocery store, right? I mean, it can be the what do they have normally, like a lot of times there are.

Magda Chiarella

Some mushrooms that are specifically recommended as medicinal mushrooms for dogs, like lion's mane.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Interesting.

Magda Chiarella

Which are very delicious for people too. And you can get them at farmer's market.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

What is there a particular medicinal application or medicinal in the sense of just being, again, that agent of.

Magda Chiarella

It's something that strengthens immunity.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Interesting. Do you want to strengthen immunity in pregnancy because it is an immunosuppressed state?

Magda Chiarella

Again, it is something that you can think of it as a friend that knows.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Oh, interesting. A friend that knows.

Magda Chiarella

So it's going to support your dog's gut health.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And the gut has intelligence to know what it needs. Wow. That's great. Okay, we're going to talk a lot more about how to add mushrooms and other fungi to your dogs and puppies diets. But before we do, I just want to drop some resources here for further information. Our website is puppyculture.com and we have lots of free resources videos, articles, podcasts they're all great and worth reading, watching, and listening to.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

But I just want to point out three of our free resources that go really well with this podcast and are relevant. First, definitely check out the free short video on making Kefir. We're going to be talking about making kefir in a minute, but suffice it to say, it's a powerhouse food that you definitely want to include in your dog's diet and your diet for that matter.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Second, we have a free short video on making fermented vegetables that you'll want to check out. And third, we're going to be touching on folate for pregnant bitches in this episode, but not really going into it. However, I do have an article on giving folate to your brood bitches, and whether that can help with cleft palate. I highly recommend you check that one out. It clears up a lot of confusion.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

If you're looking for more specific instructions. We also offer courses, videos, and books on a wide range of topics, from new puppy owner courses to weaning and puppy nutrition, to show handling videos. And of course, there is the original Puppy Culture film itself, which, if you haven't seen it yet, you're in for a treat.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So if this podcast is interesting to you and you want more, head over to puppyculture.com and check out all those resources. And one more thing I can't recommend enough that you join our Puppy Culture discussion group on Facebook. It's a gathering of knowledgeable, kind, and interesting people, and it's very tightly moderated, I promise. It's like a breath of fresh air and proof that with the right incentive, people really can behave well and form a positive, intellectually nourishing group.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Okay, back to mushrooms.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's very interesting about the mushroom cooking. I had no idea, and

Magda Chiarella

About cooking.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

About cooking mushrooms and I'd never eaten raw shiitake just because I hadn't. And I was cooking and I said, I don't think it would taste like raw. And I ate, oh, just like a one little slice of one raw. And I got a terrible sore throat from it and, you know, and then I looked it up, I'm like, oh, you have to cook them and cook them really well.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Not not just slightly. You know, it's one, I think we, Magda and I are very into not sort of killing the food by overcooking it. But mushrooms are one of those things that you really you do want to cook them well.

Magda Chiarella

You do.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeah. Yeah. So very beneficial. Now then you talked about yeast.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yes.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeast being another one of those agents that can boost folate I'm sure among other things. What are some food sources. How do we get yeast into our dogs?

Magda Chiarella

So yeast is a term for a lot of organisms. And some of them are beneficial. Some of them aren't. Edible yeast is present in fermented foods, overripe fruits and vegetables. They have the good. They have these beneficial yeast strains that aid in our health.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

That's a really good observation, I think, because yeast gets a bad rap because of candida, right? Overgrowth of yeast, which that's a whole other thing. But dietary yeast is actually quite good for us. So okay we have fermented foods. So that would be your sauerkraut, your pickles, your fermented radishes.

Magda Chiarella

Kefir.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Because Kefir has, it's a because it's a Scoby right. It's both.

Magda Chiarella

Yes.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Kombucha.

Magda Chiarella

Kombucha.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Let's see what else.

Magda Chiarella

Actually kefir specifically yeast in kefir are extremely good for you.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Okay.

Magda Chiarella

And these are the ones boosting folate

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Okay. So kefir would be one to give your brewed bitches at the beginning of their pregnancy.

Magda Chiarella

Well, in my folate shakes I use kefir interchangeably with some other mediums. Like like, coconut water. Fantastic.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

What about the difference between water and milk? Kefir. Can you use either one? Yes. Okay, so water kefir also was a Scoby. I didn't realize that.

Magda Chiarella

It has some yeast strains.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It does okay. It's not a Scoby though. It's something else. Yeah but it has some new strains.

Magda Chiarella

Yeast strains within apple cider vinegar with mother.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Oh also also also good. So we have fermented foods in general, veg, fermented vegetables, kefirs particularly milk kefir with the Scoby probably the strongest. And then also apple cider vinegar with the mother. But you have to get the one that has with the mother on the label. So those are good yeast.

Magda Chiarella

Sources.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Sources and.

Magda Chiarella

The right yeast.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

The right yeast. Any other yeast sources?

Magda Chiarella

Well, there is a whole nutritional yeast, which is another wonderful, form. This is not alive. That yeast has been killed, to be shelf stable and to be like this.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

They can sell it.

Magda Chiarella

Yeah, you can sell it. But similarly to post biotics, which is, probiotics that have been killed by cooking, it still has, retained some positive properties.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So this brings me to the next thing, which I know our listeners are on the edge of their seats with, which is what supplements can I give? Or I heard that there's a great supplement for this. What do we think about that?

Magda Chiarella

I'm not a great person to ask that because I really prefer fresh foods to anything that’s processed. Supplements are processed. Pet food industry is notoriously un scrutinized and not well regulated, so a lot of claims on the label do not live up to what you're buying. I personally do not use any supplements. Nothing will be as good as the natural source. Nothing.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Why is that?

Magda Chiarella

Because you have to compromise what it is to make it shelf stable.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And what it what is it? What is it in the food that is so much better than what is in a supplement?

Magda Chiarella

All the co-factors you have these very complex compounds, naturally occurring, bioavailable, are recognizable by our organism.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's the food networks, right?

Magda Chiarella

It's the food networks. It's lack of compromisation by manufacturing process.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's so interesting to me because it's a, again, a very 20th century concept that, oh, we're going to extract the beneficial part from this thing that has a million moving parts, and we're going to take it out and we're going to put it into a pill, and we're going to give it to you. And you know, that is better than baseline in a lot of cases.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

But the food, it's just you can't say I'm going to take the yeast that's in kefir and take it out of this complex Scoby, which is thousands of different microorganisms living together.

Magda Chiarella

Work together.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Working together to create this thing. And then the milk and how it's interacting and this is, this is the 21st century nutritional model is it's the next big thing is everything, as I say, eating the whole food.

Magda Chiarella

All those co-factors, all those naturally occurring things are constantly interacting. And if you removing one element and try to make it shelf stable and sellable and use it, the effect will be very different. A good example is how people learned that curcumin has health benefits, and extracted it, and started giving it to people from turmeric and found out that no, it needs piperine, which is a substance within black pepper, to be of any benefit health benefit to humans.

Magda Chiarella

And guess what? Turmeric with black pepper is how it's been used for millennia in cuisines and in food, right?

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So eat it. Look, I think, how can I say we need a little bit of a position statement on this, which is that we have a definite position about what's best and what's right, and it's food that it just you can't beat food. There's no argument. Food is best.

Magda Chiarella

And when we say food, we don't mean something packaged.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Processed.

Magda Chiarella

Processed. We mean something that we make from fresh ingredients. That's what we mean, you and I, by food.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

By food. Now that having been said. It's hard really to monetize that statement because it means that everybody goes out and makes their own food and there's no big money to be made.

Magda Chiarella

So such a good point.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Right. So what has happened is that companies have said, well, I can give it to you in a pill form and I can sell it to you and I can. And here's the thing is that, again, if you're coming from a baseline, really barren diet for your dogs where they're eating a highly processed food made from basically non-nutritive ingredients, yeah, sometimes adding those highly processed supplements can be helpful.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So it's not like I'm hating on it entirely. However, it's 100% true that the food is going to be better. The food is going to be better. It's not as convenient. You have to make it. You have to give it a pill is easier if a pill is all you can handle. Give the supplement pill. But really, not only is the pill form not better because it's the concentrated thing that's supposed to be beneficial, that actually can have detrimental effects, when you start loading the system with a highly concentrated, artificially concentrated.

Magda Chiarella

Absolutely.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Not only is more not better or more concentrated forms, not better, it can disrupt the balance. And that's what it's all about is like all these organisms sort of holding hand and being diverse. And so if you start dumping in huge amounts of a very narrow band of probiotics, what kind of effect does that have on your.

Magda Chiarella

Well, it can displace variety.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Why is that a bad thing.

Magda Chiarella

Well we know the diversity of organisms within our gut is one of the most important parameters for healthy G.I tract.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

But I mean when you look at the bottle it says it has, you know 30 different kinds of probiotics.

Magda Chiarella

Well 30 is nothing, I'm talking thousands, thousands.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeah.

Magda Chiarella

In practical terms you can take apple cider vinegar with the mother. Pour one teaspoon of it over your dog's food and your delivering some amazing organisms that are going to be again, not strictly nutrition. It's not that we can say so much iron, so much vitamin so-and-so, but those organisms will help your gut absorb it better, process it better, and make some compounds that we do make because we do make some things. A teaspoon of kefir a day or pouring a little bit of vinegar is already doing something better.

Magda Chiarella

Little changes you do.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It doesn't take much, doesn't take much.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

All right. I have a few follow up questions. We talked about mycotoxins. I think we've established they are of concern.

Magda Chiarella

They are.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

What about, like, the mold in blue cheese?

Magda Chiarella

Oh, that's a great question. So mold in blue cheese is a, penicillin type. Not exactly the same penicillin that you think you in, an antibiotic, but they are related. It's penicillin roqueforti, actually. That particular strain has zero toxins, and it's used to enhanced flavor of cheese. It's injected into the cheese, and it has some health benefits.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So it's good for our puppies and dams.

Magda Chiarella

A little bit blue cheese is not a bad thing.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Not a bad thing. So then what about penicillin? Where did penicillin. Because penicillin also is mold.

Magda Chiarella

Penicillin is mold. There are so many strains of mold that are beneficial. Some of them have antibacterial properties like penicillin. And going back to the penicillin injected into blue cheese, it displaces pathogenic bacterium. Again it's that.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Meaning to say let me just plain English that. When they inject that mold which is a type of penicillin mold not like the penicillin your doctor gives you, but it's a type of penicillin mold. When they inject that mold into the cheese, it actually is antagonistic to things that might make you sick like bad, bad guys in the cheese. So it actually...

Magda Chiarella

It’s bad guys. It has slightly antibacterial properties. Again, being smart goes up after bacteria that are bad for your pathogenic, not beneficial bacteria that are some symbiotic with the yeast for the fermentation process.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Oh interesting.

Magda Chiarella

Well, I think important thing for us to know is that yeast has some antibacterial properties.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeast being ...

Magda Chiarella

They, yeast, edible yeast. There are some bad yeast, but also there are good yeasts and those that are involved in fermentation, those that for thousands of years have been used by people for brewing things, for fermenting things have some antibacterial properties that the yeast targets, those bacteria that are detrimental to us, while leaving those that are beneficial to us.

Magda Chiarella

That's why you can actually, the yeast can create Scoby, which is symbiotic colony colony with other bacteria that are good for us.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Yeah. Scoby actually is an acronym for Symbiotic colony of.

Magda Chiarella

Yeast.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Bacteria and yeast. Yeah.

Magda Chiarella

So again, my point from earlier is that for some reason, in the ways that we don't even understand yet, yeast is able to recognize what is beneficial to us and what isn't and work with us or to our benefit.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So let's talk about some general food safety issues again. Circling back to the original question, where the querant was worried about.

Magda Chiarella

Mycotoxins.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Mycotoxins and we've established mushrooms per se. That's not a problem. But food safety in general, you just don't feed anything moldy. You inspect everything.

Magda Chiarella

As good as some yeasts are, certain molds are terrible. They produce toxins. Those toxins can be extremely dangerous. They are not easy to get rid of. It's not something that you boil now. Something that got moldy. Oh, it's going to be okay. I'll just boil it. Boiling kills some things.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Bacteria.

Magda Chiarella

Mostly bacteria. Some toxins are, you know, can die neutralized. But mycotoxins are resistant to heat. They are these toxic substances that are still there. So anything moldy, you just have to throw out.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

It's maybe slightly rhetorical question at this point, but why can dogs stomachs like, as we are always talking about they're carrion eating machines, right? They eat rotten meat with no problem. But yet moldy food is going to hurt them.

Magda Chiarella

Okay? They don't eat rotten meat. They cannot eat rotten meat. They shouldn't eat rotten meat. But slightly decomposing meat, meaning meat that already is in the stage of enzymatic process as opposed to rigor mortis process. They can eat that the minute anaerobic bacteria enters the picture that is a very dangerous thing. So dogs also shouldn't eat spoiled meat.

Magda Chiarella

Dogs can eat aged meat, and there is a distinction between aged meat and spoiled meat. Just like we can have yeast that is beneficial yeast, but should never have anything with mold.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

But they can. The stomach acid can neutralize some bacteria that we as humans would get sick from.

Magda Chiarella

Absolutely.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Right.

Magda Chiarella

Salmonella for example. However. They cannot neutralize mycotoxins.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Toxins, right? The acid is not going to kill. Nope. The toxin. No. So that's the difference.

Magda Chiarella

That's the difference.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

So if we have to sum it up, give a little mushrooms to definitely to your pregnant bitches and to your puppies. Cook the mushrooms well.

Magda Chiarella

Cook the mushrooms well. Yes. And don't mix apples and oranges. Mycotoxins are bad, but they have nothing to do with mushroom, which is a fruit of mycelium.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

And stay away from moldy foods.

Magda Chiarella

Yeah.

Jane Messineo Lindquist

Perfect. Thank you. Magda.

Magda Chiarella

My pleasure.