Will undercooked green beans cause poisoning?

When eating green beans, people may worry about possible poisoning. In fact, green beans poisoning occurs because they are not cooked. If the green beans are cooked, there will be no poisoning. When cooking green beans at home, the easiest way is to boil the green beans in water in advance, or blanch the green beans in boiling water when cooking them. This way, the green beans are cooked and the toxins in them are eliminated.

The method of preventing green bean poisoning at home is very simple. Just cook and stew all the green beans thoroughly. The amount in each pot should not exceed half of the pot capacity. After frying with oil, add appropriate amount of water, cover the pot and simmer for about 10 minutes, and use a spatula to constantly turn the green beans so that it is heated evenly. In addition, be careful not to buy or eat old green beans, and remove the ends and pods of the green beans, because these parts contain more toxins. The green color of the green beans will be lost, and they will not taste beany and will not cause poisoning. Collective canteens and catering units are prohibited from purchasing, cooking and selling green beans to prevent collective food poisoning incidents caused by improper processing and cooking of green beans.

Overview Green bean poisoning is food poisoning caused by eating green beans. French beans, also known as string beans and commonly called kidney beans, are a commonly consumed vegetable throughout the country. It generally does not cause poisoning, but eating beans that are not fully heated and cooked can cause poisoning. The cause of green bean poisoning may be related to saponins, phytohemagglutinins, and trypsin inhibitors. The main symptoms are gastroenteritis, including nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, etc. Necessary symptomatic treatment can be adopted, and the recovery is good.

Cause: Green bean poisoning is a common type of natural food toxin poisoning. It can occur throughout the year, but is more common around the time of frost in autumn.

Poisoning caused by green beans may be related to the variety, origin, season and cooking method. According to actual poisoning investigations, improper cooking is the main cause of poisoning, most of which is caused by insufficient cooking. Uncooked green beans contain saponins, which are highly irritating to the gastrointestinal mucosa. In addition, unripe green beans may contain agglutinins, which have a coagulation effect.

The incubation period for poisoning caused by ingesting uncooked green beans is several tens of minutes, usually no more than 5 hours, and the main symptoms are gastroenteritis, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea. Vomiting can occur a few times or even dozens of times. There are also dizziness, headache, chest tightness, cold sweats, palpitations, and a burning sensation in the stomach. Most patients have increased white blood cell count and normal body temperature. The course of the disease is usually several hours or 1 to 2 days.

The main preventive measures are: green beans are best braised until fully cooked to destroy the toxins they contain. If they are to be eaten cold, they must be cooked thoroughly to lose their original green color, so that they do not have a raw taste or bitterness when eaten.

Do not blanch it in boiling water and then serve it cold, and do not mix it with salt and eat it raw; when stir-frying, do not try to make it too crispy or tender, but heat it thoroughly to make it thoroughly cooked.

Fold to edit this section to identify the shape of green beans: pods are strip-shaped, slightly swollen, 10-15 cm long, about 1 cm wide, green or light yellow before maturity, and generally pink, yellowish white, or yellowish brown when mature. Each pod contains 4-10 seeds, which may be oval, kidney-shaped, oblate, or oblong. The seed coat comes in white, yellow, brown, red, purple, blue, black and other colors, as well as various patterns and spots.