Prevent Kidney Bean Poisoning
Kidney beans are also known by different regional names such as small sword beans, white rice beans, cowpeas, snap beans, Mei beans, hyacinth beans, etc. They are pod-shaped, slightly swollen, 10-15 cm long, and about 1 cm wide. They are green or light yellow before maturity and generally粉白 (powdery white), yellowish-white, or yellowish-brown after maturity. Each pod contains 4-10 seeds, which can be oval, kidney-shaped, flat-round, or long-round in shape. The seed coat comes in various colors such as white, yellow, brown, red, purplish-red, blue, and black, as well as various patterns and spots. Kidney beans themselves contain two types of toxins: saponins, saponin, and trypsin inhibitors. These are irritating to cell membranes and can destroy red blood cells. They are also irritating to the gastrointestinal tract, causing local congestion, swelling, and hemorrhagic inflammation in the stomach and intestines, and can cause human red blood cells to agglutinate and undergo hemolysis.
However, these toxins are not frightening. As long as they are heated to over 100°C and thoroughly cooked, the toxins will be destroyed. If the processing method is improper and the toxins are not completely broken down, kidney beans can easily lead to poisoning after entering the human body. In some collective canteens, the wok is small but a large amount of kidney beans are processed, leading to uneven stir-frying and uneven heating, which makes it difficult to remove the toxins. Some chefs like to blanch kidney beans in boiling water first and then stir-fry them in oil, mistakenly believing that two rounds of heating are safe. In fact, neither heating process is thorough, and the toxins cannot be destroyed. Other chefs, in pursuit of a better color and for fear that the beans will become soft and not crispy enough when thoroughly cooked, do not heat them through. These are all common reasons for insufficient heating of kidney beans leading to poisoning.
The incubation period for kidney bean poisoning is generally 30 minutes to several hours. It mainly manifests as gastroenteritis symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, accompanied by nervous system symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and cold sweats. Sometimes, there is also limb numbness, a burning sensation in the stomach, palpitations, and back pain.
Treatment for Kidney Bean Poisoning:
1. For those with mild poisoning, it is only necessary to lie down and rest, and to drink sugar water or strong tea in small, frequent amounts.
2. For those with severe poisoning, if vomiting is persistent and causes dehydration, or if there are signs of hemolysis, they should be sent to the hospital for prompt treatment.
3. A folk remedy is to use an appropriate amount of licorice and mung beans to make a decoction and drink it as tea, which has a certain detoxifying effect.
Prevention
The method for preventing kidney bean poisoning is very simple: just cook all the kidney beans thoroughly. The amount of beans in each wok should not exceed half of the wok's capacity. After stir-frying with oil, add an appropriate amount of water, cover the wok, and simmer for about 10 minutes, while constantly stirring the kidney beans with a spatula to ensure even heating. Additionally, it is important not to buy or eat old kidney beans, and to remove the ends and the pods, as these parts contain more toxins. If the kidney beans lose their original raw green color and have no bean-like taste when eaten, there will be no poisoning. Collective canteens and food service units should be prohibited from purchasing, cooking, or selling kidney beans to prevent the occurrence of mass food poisoning incidents caused by improper processing and cooking.