Entering peak season! Urgent reminder: Don’t eat!

Have you heard of this proverb?

"Sugarcane during Qingming Festival is more poisonous than snakes"

Sugarcane is a sweet and juicy fruit

Always popular

But around Qingming Festival

Be careful when eating sugarcane

The editor reminds everyone

Preventing poisoning from moldy sugarcane

Can eating sugar cane cause poisoning? !

Why is that?

Come and find out

Sugarcane is usually harvested around the Mid-Autumn Festival and sold out around the Qingming Festival of the following year. During transportation and storage, it is easy for it to become moldy and produce toxins. Therefore, food poisoning caused by eating moldy sugarcane often occurs in early spring, with the peak period from February to March.

turn out to be

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

But moldy and discolored

“Red Heart” or “Black Heart” Sugarcane

So

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. Once it enters the human body, it is absorbed and the disease develops rapidly, 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 in severe cases; 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. As the temperature rises in spring, mold and other bacteria are suitable for growth and reproduction, sugarcane is prone to mold; 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.

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.

Is sugarcane juice still drinkable? If the sugarcane is moldy, it may produce toxins. 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 freshly squeezed sugarcane juice.

How to choose good sugarcane?

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!

Touch hardness

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

Identify whether there is any odor

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

What should you do if you eat moldy sugarcane?

When the friends are eating sugar cane

Be sure to observe carefully

Once you find it has gone bad, discard it immediately

To avoid causing greater harm

That's not worth it.