Food fuels our bodies, but not everything we eat is completely safe. Across the world, some dishes carry hidden (and not-so-hidden) dangers and are packed with toxins that can be fatal if not handled correctly. From toxic plants to deadly seafood, here are three of the world’s deadliest foods.
The first on our list is cassava, a dietary essential for millions, particularly in tropical regions. This dangerous meal provides much-needed carbohydrates. But beneath its harmless, starchy exterior lies a dangerous secret. Cassava’s roots and leaves contain cyanogenic glycosides, compounds that break down into cyanide when eaten.
If not processed correctly, consuming cassava can cause paralysis, cognitive impairment, or even death. That’s quite a rough trio and not something you want to pick up because you chose the wrong ingredient for your lunch.
Despite ways to properly prepare the food—like soaking, boiling, or drying to neutralize the toxins—the World Health Organization (WHO) says cassava poisoning kills over 200 people annually, with thousands more suffering from long-term effects due to lower levels of exposure.
Japan’s famous fugu (pufferfish) is another dangerous delicacy that requires a crazy amount of precision in its preparation. See, this fish contains tetrodotoxin, a poison 1,200 times more toxic than cyanide. Just a few milligrams can cause total paralysis and respiratory failure within minutes. There’s no known antidote, either, which easily makes this one of the world’s deadliest foods.
To prevent fatal mistakes, Japan licenses chefs to prepare fugu, requiring them to train for years to safely remove the fish’s most toxic parts. Despite strict regulations and training, though, dozens of people are poisoned each year, though deaths are now rare. Still, fugu remains a high-risk, high-reward dish for those not afraid to gamble with their lives.
It might look like an ordinary wild mushroom, but the death cap (Amanita phalloides) is actually one of the most lethal fungi on Earth, and death caps are spreading across the U.S. rapidly. Even half of one mushroom can cause liver and kidney failure, leading to death within a matter of days.
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