There are many foods in life that contain toxins, and improper diet can have adverse effects on the body. Therefore, we must pay special attention to these foods that are prone to causing food poisoning. Be extra cautious with the following 9 foods when consuming them.
Common Toxic Foods
1. Fresh Wood Ear Mushroom
Deadly Toxin: Photosensitive porphyrin-like substances
Deadly Mechanism: Fresh wood ear mushrooms contain a type of photosensitive porphyrin-like substance. It is sensitive to light. After consumption and exposure to sunlight, it can cause solar dermatitis. In severe cases, it can lead to difficulty in breathing due to edema of the throat.
Detoxification Method: Not edible.
2. Uncooked Soy Milk
Deadly Toxin: Saponin
Deadly Mechanism: Since raw soybeans also contain toxic components, drinking uncooked soy milk can also cause food poisoning. Especially when soy milk is heated to about 80°C, the saponin expands, causing foam to float to the surface, creating a "false boiling" phenomenon. In fact, at this point, toxic components like saponin in the soy milk have not been completely destroyed. Drinking this soy milk will cause poisoning, with symptoms usually appearing 0.5 to 1 hour after consumption, mainly showing gastroenteritis symptoms.
Detoxification Method: To prevent poisoning from uncooked soy milk, continue heating it to 100°C after the "false boiling" occurs. Cooked soy milk has no foam.
Cold Mixed Wood Ear and Black Fungus
Further Reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Black Fungus
3. Sprouted Potatoes
Deadly Toxin: Solanine
Deadly Mechanism: Potatoes are one of the most commonly consumed vegetables on household tables, but they contain a toxic component called solanine (also known as potato toxin or chaconine). The entire potato plant contains this toxin, but the concentration varies. Mature potatoes contain very little and generally do not cause poisoning. However, the sprouts, flowers, leaves, and the outer skin of the tuber contain higher levels of solanine. The toxin in the sprout part of a potato can be tens to hundreds of times higher than in the fleshy part. Immature green potatoes or tubers with black spots due to improper storage also contain extremely high levels of toxic substances.
Detoxification Method: To prevent potato poisoning, store potatoes in a cool, dry place to prevent sprouting. When preparing to eat, if you find sprouts or the skin and flesh are blackish-green, it is best not to eat them.
4. Cassava
Deadly Toxin: Linamarin
Deadly Mechanism: Although the root of the cassava is rich in starch, all parts of the plant, including the roots, stems, and leaves, contain toxic substances, and the fresh root is particularly toxic. Therefore, special attention must be paid when consuming cassava roots. The toxic substance in cassava is linamarin. Consuming raw or undercooked cassava or drinking its broth can cause poisoning. The reason is that linamarin or linamarase is hydrolyzed by stomach acid to produce free hydrocyanic acid, which poisons the human body. A person can be poisoned by eating 150-300 grams of raw cassava, and it can even be fatal.
Detoxification Method: To prevent cassava poisoning, peel the cassava and soak the pulp in water to dissolve the cyanogenic glycosides. Generally, soaking for about 6 days can remove 70% of the cyanogenic glycosides. After that, it can be cooked and eaten.
Braised Red Snapper with Potatoes
Further Reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Potatoes
5. Bluish-Purple Seaweed
Deadly Toxin: Cyclic peptides
Deadly Mechanism: If seaweed turns bluish-purple after being soaked in water, it means it has been polluted by toxic cyclic peptides while growing in the sea.
Detoxification Method: These toxins cannot be neutralized by steaming or boiling, so it is not edible.
6. Fava Beans
Deadly Toxin: Vicine
Deadly Mechanism: Fava bean seeds contain vicine. When consumed by humans, it can cause acute hemolytic anemia (favism). Improper cooking of fresh fava beans in the spring and summer often leads to poisoning. Symptoms usually appear 4 to 24 hours after eating raw fava beans.
Detoxification Method: To prevent fava bean poisoning, it is best not to eat fresh, tender fava beans, and they must be thoroughly cooked before consumption.
Mashed Potato Seaweed Rolls
Further Reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Seaweed
7. Daylilies
Deadly Toxin: Colchicine
Deadly Mechanism: Daylilies, also known as golden needles, are a beloved dish. However, daylilies contain colchicine. When colchicine is ingested by the human body, it is oxidized in the tissues to form colchicine dioxide, which is a highly toxic substance that can damage the human gastrointestinal and urinary systems, posing a serious threat to health. An adult can be poisoned by consuming 50-100 grams of fresh daylilies at one time.
Detoxification Method: To prevent poisoning from fresh daylilies, boil them in boiling water for a moment, then soak them in clean water to remove most of the water-soluble colchicine. Alternatively, they can be cooked thoroughly before being prepared for eating.
8. Cruciferous Vegetables
Deadly Toxin: Glucosinolate
Deadly Mechanism: Cruciferous vegetables include rapeseed, mustard greens, radishes, etc. Most of these vegetables contain glucosinolate, which is a toxin that can inhibit human growth and development and cause goiter. The content of glucosinolate varies greatly among different vegetables or in different parts of the same vegetable. If not handled properly, it can cause goiter, metabolic disorders, poisoning symptoms, and even death.
Detoxification Method: How should these vegetables be prepared? When cooking these vegetables, you can blanch them in boiling water before eating.
9. Leftovers
Deadly Toxin: Nitrite
Deadly Mechanism: Wild vegetables such as shepherd's purse and lamb's quarters in green vegetables contain large amounts of nitrite. If excessive nitrite is ingested, it can oxidize the body's normal hemoglobin into methemoglobin. Furthermore, nitrite can prevent oxygenated hemoglobin from releasing oxygen, causing hypoxia in the body's tissues and leading to poisoning.
Detoxification Method: How can nitrite poisoning be prevented? It's actually very simple. Make sure your family eats fresh vegetables. Cooked vegetables should not be kept for too long. Pickled vegetables should be washed only after being pickled for a month.
Hubei-style Wood Si Rou (Stir-fried Pork with Eggs and Vegetables)
Further Reading: A Complete Guide to Eating Daylilies
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