1 Toxic Plants

Deathcap mushroom Fly Agaric mushroom

Not all plants are safe to eat eg. some mushrooms are toxic.
The deathcap mushroom causes 90% of all deaths from
fungus poisoning.
2 Toxic Foods

Some types of food are

only safe to eat if they
are properly cooked
eg. kidney beans must
be boiled for at least
10 mins to destroy the
toxic haemagglutinins
that they contain. This
is not normally a problem
Kidney beans
as most people buy canned,
cooked beans.
3 Food Allergies
About 1-2% of the population are allergic to foods like
peanuts or shellfish. If they even eat the tiniest amount
of the food, the body reats by producing histamines, which
are special chemcials that cause a condition called
anaphylaxis.

Some effects on the body of food allergies

People with food allergies carry epipens so that they can
inject themselves with an antidote, if needed.
4 Aflatoxin

Foods can be contaminated while they are being stored

before use eg. aflatoxin is a poisonous substance which
may lead to liver cancer. It is produced by a mould that
grows on crops like peanuts and cereals. It is a problem,
particularly in underdevleoped countries. Any foods found
to have this mould must be destroyed.
5 Toxins from food packaing

Chemicals from packaging can sometimes be absorbed by

the food it contains eg. chemicals in cling film can get into
food that are very fatty, such as cheese or pastry, or if
the cling film gets very hot.
6 Using packaging more than once

Packaging is meant only

to be used once, and with
one type of food. This
means that it may not be
safe for other foods as
the chemicals from the
packaging could move I
into these new types of
food eg. bottles in which
water has been sold
should not be used for
fruit juices as the acid
in the juice could react
with the plastic bottle.
7 Food cans

Food cans are made of steel,

coated with tin. The tin can
slowly transfer into food,
making people feel unwell.
To avoid this, biphenol is used
to coat the inside of the can.
When these cans are heated
to kill bacteria, the biphenol
caoting stops the tin from
contaminating the food.
However, biphenols can
interfere with sex hormones.
8 Acrylamides
Some harmful chemicals form as the food is being cooked.
Recently, scientists discovered high levels of acrylamide in
starchy foods that had been cooked at high temperatures.
These included crisps, bread and crispbread. Acrylamide is
known to cause cancer in animals. Although this worried
people, the British Food Standards Agency has so far
advised people not to change what they eat.