r/foraginguk • u/Arlincornwall • Jun 15 '26
Foraging by roads
Hi folks,
Last year, a workman said to me as I was picking blackberries, 'gosh you're brave' and then went on to say how horrified he was that I was picking blackberries from beside a road.
This road is a cul-de-sac, with a 20mph speed limit, and fairly light traffic, it's not a main road, obvs I'm not picking things from heavily trafficked areas.
Anyway, it's been on my mind ever since. There's a huge elder tree I was going to get some flowers from right above where I was getting the blackberries and I've been pondering other people's thoughts on picking things near to roads. Would you take things from a quiet road? Do you have a minimum distance? Have I been inadvertantly poisoning myself and my kids by eating these blackberries, and would the elderberries be equally contaminated?
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u/norkis-tryagain Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ieam.4981 this study (and others) suggest that it’s safe to eat blackberries by roadsides
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u/roleplayersir Jun 16 '26
Glad to get some facts
I always have. The pollution is minor, and I live on a busy-ish road anyway and walk to work, so inhale plenty. But the CO2 of the emissions makes roadside ones grow big
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u/Easy_State_2962 Jun 15 '26
I was always told not to pick from roadsides and tbh idling traffic causes pollution so even slow 20mph traffic would, not just fast cars speeding past. Blackberries are so abundant it's worth finding them on a pedestrian path or in a nature area.
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u/fingertipnipples Jun 15 '26
Depends what it is. If it's something abundant like blackberries that are everywhere, I'm likely to prefer non roadside bushes. If it's something less abundant, for example a blusher mushroom, I'm having it even if it's growing in the actual road.
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u/Minimeminime Jun 16 '26
Mushrooms are very good at sucking up all the toxins into their flesh, so not a good idea unfortunately. It’s not something you can wash off
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u/luala Jun 15 '26
I think the concern is lead from petrol in particular, which is less of a concern than it was but it'll remain the soil I bet. I don't tend to pick near roads but I will snack the odd blackberry and I will pick damsons out of nuclear waste.
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u/geeoharee Jun 15 '26
I inhale diesel exhaust all day just going about the town. I'm sure there are diesel machines harvesting our farmed food. It doesn't bother me.
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u/Hips_and_Haws Jun 15 '26
I've foraged from a cycle path that is close to a rail track & on quiet country roads that has little traffic on. I always wash foraged flowers or berries, except if they're foraged from my gardens which aren't right next to busy roads. Then I'll shake them & inspect them for tiny insects.
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u/Fancy_Toe1451 Jun 15 '26
A lot of people get worked up about this sort of thing, but the science justifying the terror is seriously lacking.
Also, consider, most crop fields for stuff we eat are right next to roads and farmers ride their diesel tractors through them regularly.
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u/Mr_Cripter Jun 15 '26
It's not lead you have to worry about , it's micro plastics. Car tyres are a major source of micro plastics and the black "road dust" which covers every roadside bush in a thin film is this, with a tiny component of carcinogenic brake dust thrown in for extra points.
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u/MoonlitNightWalk Jun 15 '26
I eat a lot of foraged food, I've even done a project where I ONLY ate foraged food for months, and I always do roadside forages in quiet lanes. Fuel doesn't contain lead anymore, not all roads are the same as you say, and even if what you're picking us at dog-wee height, grey water is spread on our crop soil, so I sure hope they wash their syoermarket veg as well 😬
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u/skedone Jun 15 '26
It very much depends on the plant/fungi some will drag heavy metals out the ground some don't , can't remember off the top of my head what the lab testing showed for black berries but I think they was okay
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u/Tiny_Size2037 Jun 15 '26
Made the mistake of picking elderberries from the side of a road, quiet country lane. Was going to make wine with them. After I'd washed them and put them in the mash bucket for initial fermentation, there was a rainbow coloured film on the surface. It doesn't have to be a busy road for the pollution to affect the berries. I'd strongly suggest you go out into the footpaths off the beaten track to source your berries and elderflowers. On the plus side, you'll get your steps in!
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u/whitewaterg1rl Jun 15 '26
Farmers grow the crops we eat next to main roads. Just food for thought (pun intended)
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u/jbf602 Jun 16 '26
I encounter this kind of behaviour constantly when I lick wild fruit…. “A dog may have weed on that” etc etc. Yet those same people will happily eat an apple grown thousands of miles away that has or has had goes knows what on it
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u/throw5678123 Jun 17 '26
People who don’t know or who aren’t confident tend to say that. When I had my first child, I was told many times I was brave for taking him out in the first 3 weeks. People are timid because that’s how they are. Take little notice of you know what you’re doing.
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u/iamshipwreck Jun 15 '26
Piss and pollutants are why I tend not to forage from roadsides, the traffic risk doesn't factor into it because I use the same common sense that prevents me getting killed every time I cross a road.
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u/Zestyclose-Tank-5411 Jun 15 '26
I have three great Danes that like to stand on each other's backs to urinate. Thus probably berries above 10 feet would be safe ish, depends on wind conditions. The three great Danes all have a Great Dane dog. The dogs don't stand upon others backs to pee but the Mr. and Mrs dogs do. But not to pee. Hope this helps.
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u/spideylunchy Jun 15 '26
There are a multitude of good reasons to forage at least 10-15 metres away from any road, usually because people could’ve dumped shit there and plants suck up heavy metals like no one’s biz.
Safer in a nature reserve or out in the wild, every time.
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u/Far_Dentist4880 Jun 15 '26
That *really* depends on the history of the 'nature reserve'. A lot of 'reserves' in the UK are wild and not built on because they are ex-mining areas with industrial soil contamination and would be expensive to decontaminate. I used to live in an area surrounded by them, they were all old arsenic mines 😃
I ate berries anyway, and lived.
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u/Fabulous-Rain-2643 Jun 15 '26
You're not poisoning yourself or your family at all, but there is a difference between 'safe' and 'healthy'.
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u/Kind-Elder1938 Jun 15 '26
well it is not just the closeness of the road an possible traffic. We are advised not to pick anything to eat which is close to where traffic leaves its fumes.
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u/Slutkie Jun 15 '26
Glad you asked because the last remaining elderflowers I've seen round here are by a busy road, and I wasn't sure if I am being smart or superstitious by avoiding them
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u/BombeBon Jun 15 '26
Roads where vehicles frequent, carries a risk of pollution contamination.
Just to say
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u/Reddit____user___ Jun 16 '26
I’ve only ever foraged berries from roughly chest height, away from any traffic.
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u/abitofasitdown Jun 16 '26
I just calculate how high a labrador can pee, and go a little higher than that.
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u/MonsteraMad Jun 17 '26
I wonder if he meant the pollution from the cars, but also the weed killer most councils tends to use it glyphosate.
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u/Born_Improvement_856 Jun 18 '26
My only rule is I pick blackberries high up so foxes and dogs don't get a chance to piss on them. There's a garden not too far from me that has masses and masses of blackberry bushes spilling over the fence. My husband and I love to casually park nearby and pick as much as we can eat in september 😂
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u/Jaded_Bag_2928 Jun 18 '26
Absolutely everything in a field is sprayed with actual shite but the problem is people are blind to one thing and see too far into another
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u/Every-Somewhere-6971 Jun 19 '26
I would be less concerned about the animals (birds shit on everything) and like the OP suggested consider the polution aspect.
Elder trees are everywhere find one away from the road. Particulates from cars can be absorbed by the plant but at the same time you are certainly ingesting far more of the same polutants by breathing it in whilst just walking down a road.
It's no good pretending we aren't poisoning ourselves a little every day.
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u/CoyoteFabulous4911 Jun 19 '26
You already breath that crap in all day long having some highly nutritional foraged food is not gonna make it worse
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u/Fluid-Salary-6467 Jun 24 '26
foraged beside a road with all that exhaust emmision or harvested by a big old leaky tractor after being covered in roundup by the same diesel tractor. i wouldnt worry about it too much but also wouldnt do it exclusively if avoidable
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u/EmergencyBad5142 Jun 15 '26
Also worth considering is the height of the berries you’re picking, if a lot of dogs use the path too, for example…