Don't eat! Don't eat! Don't eat!

Sugarcane is a sweet and juicy fruit

Always popular

But around the Qingming Festival

Be careful when eating sugarcane

Have you heard of this proverb?

"Sugarcane during Qingming Festival is more poisonous than snakes"

ah?

Can eating sugar cane cause poisoning? !

Why is that?

The truth is——

It's not the sugarcane itself that's more poisonous than the snake

But moldy and discolored

“Red Heart” or “Black Heart” Sugarcane!

Spring temperatures warm up

The air is relatively humid

This is when plant pathogens become active.

Sugarcane pathogens

They can also invade the sugarcane stems through knife wounds or insect holes.

In severe cases, it can cause the internal tissues of sugarcane to

Turns red or reddish brown

Moldy sugarcane will produce a lot of toxins

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Can sugarcane poisoning be fatal?

Only during Qingming Festival is sugarcane more poisonous than poisonous snakes?

Can I still eat it after cutting off the moldy parts?

Let’s understand these issues together

↓↓↓

Can poisoning from eating moldy sugarcane be fatal?

Sugarcane mold will produce a neurotoxin, which is a toxic metabolite of 3-nitropropionic acid produced by a few species of Penicillium and Aspergillus. 3-Nitropropionic acid is a powerful toxin, toxic to many animals, and is absorbed by the human body, causing rapid onset, usually within a dozen minutes to a dozen hours.

In a short period of time, it causes damage to the central nervous system, leading to cerebral edema, headache, convulsions, stiff limbs, feet like chicken claws, and dilated pupils; severe cases can lead to ischemia and respiratory failure and death. Some patients poisoned by sugarcane toxins also have sequelae such as language and movement disorders.

Is it only around the Qingming Festival that sugarcane is more poisonous than snakes?

If there is a connection between Qingming Festival and sugarcane poisoning, it is related to the warming weather. The temperature continues to rise in spring, which is suitable for the growth and reproduction of mold and other bacteria, and is also the reason why most foods are not easy to preserve at room temperature. Sugarcane in this season is prone to mold, and moldy sugarcane has the risk of producing toxins, so most sugarcane poisoning incidents occur from February to April every year.

It is worth noting that as long as sugarcane is moldy, whether it is around the Qingming Festival or in other seasons, it will cause poisoning.

Which sugarcanes cannot be eaten?

Can we eat the remaining sugarcane after cutting off the moldy parts?

It is not recommended to eat sugarcane that is soft, discolored, smells like alcohol, has hair, or has a red heart.

If you find that the sugarcane has become soft, the core is darker than normal sugarcane, such as brown or red, and it smells moldy or lees, this is moldy red-heart sugarcane. Do not buy it. If you find that it is rotten after purchase, discard it immediately.

Many people think that it is okay to cut off the moldy part of the sugarcane and eat the rest. In fact, this is a fatal misunderstanding. After the bacteria invade the sugarcane, the hyphae can extend. Even if the moldy part is cut off, the remaining sugarcane will contain a large amount of toxins that are invisible to the naked eye.

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Can you still drink sugarcane juice? If the sugarcane is moldy, it may produce toxins. The seller may not know the harm of toxins produced by moldy sugarcane, and may not want to throw it away, so they squeeze the juice directly. Such sugarcane juice may contain higher amounts of toxins, and the risk of poisoning is greater. Therefore, it is best not to drink the "finished sugarcane juice" that has been squeezed. Of course, if the sugarcane is fresh and not moldy, it is fine to buy and squeeze the sugarcane juice. If you want to drink sugarcane juice, it is best to choose it yourself and buy it freshly squeezed.

How to choose good sugarcane?

01

Look at the exterior and center

Sugarcane with a black, red, smooth, and white frost-covered skin is relatively fresh. If the sugarcane has a poor color, has flocculent or hairy white matter at the end, and has reddish-yellow, brown, or dark blue spots on the cross section after cutting, it means it has gone moldy. Don't buy such sugarcane!

02

Touch hardness

Fresh sugarcane is hard, while moldy sugarcane is soft. If the texture of sugarcane is soft, you should pay attention.

03

Identify whether there is any odor

The juice squeezed from normal sugarcane is sweet, crisp and refreshing, with the unique fragrance of sugarcane. If you smell any sour, moldy or wine lees odor, it means it has deteriorated and such sugarcane cannot be eaten.

This kind of thing also requires everyone to pay special attention

Those are wild mushrooms!

Spring and summer are the seasons for mushrooms

The peak season for the growth and reproduction of poisonous mushroom sect members

It is also caused by humans accidentally eating wild poisonous mushrooms

High season for food poisoning

Remember these reminders! Remember!

Do not eat wild mushrooms

Some wild poisonous mushrooms are similar in appearance to edible mushrooms. Identification requires professional knowledge and the use of certain instruments and equipment. They are difficult to distinguish with the naked eye or based on appearance characteristics such as shape, smell, and color. They are very easy to be accidentally ingested and cause poisoning.

In the wild, non-toxic mushrooms often grow together with poisonous mushrooms. Non-toxic mushrooms are easily contaminated by poisonous mushroom hyphae. Even some non-toxic mushroom species growing on poisonous plants may be contaminated with poison. Therefore, even if you eat non-toxic mushrooms, there is still a risk of poisoning.

The toxins contained in poisonous mushrooms are complex and may vary depending on the region, season, variety and growing conditions. The incubation period of poisonous mushroom poisoning is 2 to 24 hours, and sometimes only about 10 minutes. The most dangerous type of poisoning caused by eating poisonous mushrooms is liver damage, which manifests as nausea, vomiting, pain in the liver area, and some patients may have mental symptoms.

There is currently no specific treatment for poisonous mushroom poisoning, and the symptoms of poisoning are severe, the onset is acute, and the mortality rate is high.

Remember these three "no's"!

1. Do not pick.

During the spring outing, the general public should not pick wild mushrooms or mushrooms of unknown origin or wild plants out of curiosity or to satisfy their appetite. As for wild mushrooms in the grass by the roadside, it is not easy to identify poisonous mushrooms, so the general public should not easily pick mushrooms they do not recognize.

2. Don’t buy.

Do not buy mushrooms from roadside vendors. Even when buying wild mushrooms in a regular market, do not let your guard down, especially if you have never eaten or do not recognize wild mushrooms. Do not blindly believe them and buy them for consumption.

3. Do not eat.

To avoid food poisoning, families should be cautious when eating wild mushrooms. Group gatherings, catering services, folk tourism, etc. should not process and eat wild mushrooms to ensure food safety.

Spring is warm and humid.

Suitable for the breeding of various bacteria.

Everyone must pay attention to food hygiene.

Be careful to prevent diseases from entering the body through the mouth!

Source: Science Popularization China WeChat Official Account

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