Can sprouted potatoes be eaten?

Potato very easy to sprout if left unused for a long time and not stored properly. So how dangerous are sprouted potatoes and can they be eaten with the sprouts removed?

Whether eating sprouted potatoes is harmful to health has long been a matter of controversy. Some people think that just cutting off the sprout on the potato is edible. However, some others warn that sprouted potatoes are very toxic, can cause food poisoning, even death.

How dangerous is it to eat sprouted potatoes?

Potatoes are a natural source of solanine and chaconine. These are two glycoalkaloid compounds found in many different foods. Small amounts of glycoalkaloids may have health benefits, including antibiotic properties, blood sugar and cholesterol lowering effects. However, this compound can become toxic if eaten in excess.

As the potato sprouts, the glycoalkaloid content begins to rise higher than that of a normal potato. Eating sprouted potatoes can cause you to accidentally absorb too many glycoalkaloid compounds leading to poisoning.

Symptoms of poisoning usually appear within a few hours to up to 1 day after eating sprouted potatoes. Common symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. If you consume this compound in larger amounts, you can experience severe symptoms such as low blood pressure, rapid pulse, fever, headache, confusion, and in some cases, death.

According to some small studies, pregnant women who eat sprouted potatoes may increase the risk of birth defects in the fetus. Therefore, pregnant women should avoid eating this type of potato.

To avoid unfortunate poisoning cases, the Food Safety Department (Ministry of Health) recommends that people should not eat sprouted potatoes. If the potato has just sprouted one or two small sprouts, if the whole tuber is wasted, remove all the sprouts, cut out all the sprouts, and at the same time peel off the skin to remove all the solanine that is concentrated here before cooking.

Is there a way to get rid of harmful substances in sprouted potatoes?

In fact, glycoalkaloid compounds are most concentrated in the leaves, flowers, eyes and sprouts of potatoes. In addition to sprouting, potatoes that are crushed or have a green color also indicate that they contain high levels of glycoalkaloids.

Removing sprouts, eyes, greening or bruised parts will greatly reduce the risk of poisoning from eating potatoes. In addition, the processing method also helps to reduce the glycoalkaloid content in potatoes.

Specifically, you can peel off the skin and put it in a frying pan to reduce the amount of glycoalkaloid. However, methods of boiling, baking or using microwaves do not bring significant results.

Note, more in-depth studies are needed to confirm the above results. Therefore, some experts advise to be on the safe side, it is still best to throw away potatoes that have sprouted or turned green.

How to store potatoes to avoid sprouting

– Do not store potatoes for too long, just buy enough to use.

If you want to store potatoes, check and remove damaged ones, make sure the remaining ones are safe and dry before storing in a cool, dry and dark place.

– Buy potatoes if not in mesh bags, you can put them in a vented box, put a newspaper between the layers of potatoes, then cover the box with a newspaper.

During storage, potatoes should be checked weekly to detect early signs of spoilage. One spoiled potato can infect other potatoes.