The following 12 common foods are certainly familiar to everyone, but at certain times, they can be as toxic as arsenic and must never be eaten.
Green Tomatoes
Green tomatoes contain a toxic substance—solanine. Eating these unripe green tomatoes can cause a bitter taste in the mouth, and symptoms of poisoning such as nausea and vomiting may occur afterward. Eating them raw is even more dangerous.
Rotten Cabbage
After eating rotten cabbage, a person can suffer from oxygen deprivation, leading to headaches, dizziness, nausea, and abdominal bloating. In severe cases, it can cause convulsions, coma, and even be life-threatening.
Rootless Bean Sprouts
In the production process, herbicides are applied to make the bean sprouts grow without roots. Herbicides contain harmful substances that can cause cancer, birth defects, and mutations.
Fresh Daylilies
Fresh daylilies are extremely toxic, while the dried variety is not. This is because fresh daylilies contain colchicine, a toxin that can cause poisoning symptoms such as a dry throat, a burning sensation in the stomach, and hematuria. If the fresh daylilies are first scalded in boiling water, then soaked in cold water for more than 2 hours (with the water changed once), they become non-toxic.
Sprouted Potatoes
The sprouts and green skin of sprouted potatoes contain a high level of solanine, which can easily cause poisoning if consumed. Therefore, sprouted potatoes with green skin should not be eaten.
Rotten Ginger
After rotting, ginger produces a highly toxic substance called safrole. Even a small amount of this toxin can cause poisoning and degeneration of liver cells in humans.
Brown-Cored Sugarcane
The inside of spoiled sugarcane turns black or brownish, and it has an alcoholic taste. This is caused by an infection with *Fusarium moniliforme* and the production of toxins.
Sweet Potatoes with Black Spots
Black spots on sweet potatoes are caused by an infection with *Ceratocystis fimbriata*, and eating them can easily lead to poisoning.
Yellowed Tremella
Yellowed, spoiled tremella (silver ear fungus) is caused by contamination with *Flavobacterium*. Eating it can cause poisoning symptoms such as dizziness, stomach pain, and diarrhea.
Unpickled Preserved Vegetables
If the amount of salt used for pickling is insufficient or the pickling time is less than 8 days, it may lead to nitrite poisoning.
Discolored Seaweed
If seaweed turns bluish-purple after being soaked in cold water, it means the seaweed was contaminated by toxic substances before it was dried and packaged. This seaweed is harmful to the body and should not be eaten.
Fresh Broad Beans
Some people may suffer from an allergic hemolytic syndrome after eating broad beans, experiencing symptoms such as general weakness and anemia.