Thread: Eating Raw Or Undercooked Beans can Kill You

-The nutritional value of beans is well known. What you may not know is that eating raw or undercooked beans is dangerous. It could even kill you. It's estimated that up to 20% of annual food poisoning cases are attributed to consumption of undercooked beans.

According to the CDC, of the 48 million Americans that will become sick from a foodborne illness this year, 128,000 will end up in the hospital and 3,000 will die. Food poisoning can be a serious health risk, especially for those that have a compromised immune system, the very young and the elderly.

And while it can be difficult to protect yourself from pathogens such as E.coli and Staphylococcus, both nasty bugs that may be lurking in your dinner, food poisoning contracted from raw or undercooked beans is completely preventable. Throughly cooking beans will eliminate any risk.

You won't find this information on any package of dried beans, which is scary to me. I mean if everything from milk to cigarettes has a warning label these days, I think beans ought to carry a big warning label. If not cooked properly — Do Not Eat!

Beans contain a compound called lectin. Lectins are glycoproteins that are present in a wide variety of commonly-consumed plant foods. Some are not harmful, but the lectins found in undercooked and raw beans are toxic...

http://wildoats.com/blog-posts/under...ans-dangerous/

Originally Posted by krystian

...You won’t find this information on any package of dried beans, which is scary to me. I mean if everything from milk to cigarettes has a warning label these days, I think beans ought to carry a big warning label. If not cooked properly — Do Not Eat!

100% agree, Sis.

I like to eat green beans straight from the plant.

Originally Posted by John

I like to eat green beans straight from the plant.

Had me wondering about that...found this:

"...Peas and green beans eaten fresh – not dried – are young seeds picked when unripe. The type of legumes we’re wary of are dried beans – beans that are allowed to dry on the vine until they rattle in their pods."

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/are-p...beans-healthy/

Originally Posted by krystian

...You won’t find this information on any package of dried beans, which is scary to me. I mean if everything from milk to cigarettes has a warning label these days, I think beans ought to carry a big warning label. If not cooked properly — Do Not Eat!

Originally Posted by Romans828

100% agree, Sis.

I know...right?? If that many people die from them yearly there really ought to be warnings on the packages!

Frankly...I had no idea...so wht about canned beans...are they cooked from dried beans and should be cooked rather than just warmed to be safe?

When I used to cook dried beans I would "taste" them throughout the cooking process. I didn't know they were toxic.

Originally Posted by Ezekiel 33

I remember my mom and grandma soaking dried beans overnight before cooking them. You can find different methods of this on line. Seems like you can use the whey that forms in yogurt to help, if I can remember correctly.

We always soak overnight before we cook our beans.

Does anyone used canned beans?

Originally Posted by Cardinal TT

Does anyone used canned beans?