Taro leaves (left) are similar to aunt taro (right), which may cause people to eat by mistake. (Photo courtesy of the US Food and Drug Administration) Lin, head of the investigation and inspection team, said that two poisoning cases occurred at the end of February. Two people in New Taipei City ate soup and hot and sour hot pot. After one hour, their mouths were numb, swollen and vomited. The bottom of the pot was identified to contain the roots of aunt taro, which led to poisoning.
Aunt taro, also known as taro, sweet potato, Guanyin lotus, Tianhe and so on. , containing calcium oxalate, is a plant toxin. Because the appearance is similar to that of taro, the poisoning incident of eating taro by mistake has been heard from time to time in Taiwan Province Province. It should be noted that the whole plant of aunt taro is poisonous, so no matter the roots, stems or leaves, it is not allowed to be eaten.
As for Nantou County, five people collected wild vegetables by themselves, but mistook bitter potato for yam. After cooking it into yam ribs soup, they were poisoned. After one hour, they also had symptoms such as vomiting, nausea and numbness of hands and feet. Lin said that bitter potato, also known as sweet potato and sweet potato, is a poisonous plant containing alkaloids. Severe poisoning may even cause convulsions and breathing difficulties.
Lin reminded that the characteristic of these two food poisoning incidents is that the appearance of poisonous plants is similar to that of ordinary edible plants, which is easy to cause misjudgment. In addition to calling on people not to eat plants of unknown origin, it will also cause irreparable harm to health; If you feel unwell, you should seek medical advice as soon as possible and keep samples of the food you eat for correct diagnosis and treatment.