Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock
Topics: China, Health, Food And Drink
Jess Battison
A family suffered a terrifying death after sharing a breakfast together.
Back on the morning of 5 October, 2020, the 12 relatives in China got together to tuck into some homemade corn noodles, a dish named Suantangzi, to mark a national holiday.
Tragically, however, nine of them were dead within a matter of days.
Intentional poisoning was ruled out by authorities as it was decided the family members had been poisoned by toxic bongkrekic acid found in noodles.
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It sparked a national warning as experts say there isn’t a particular antidote and if poisoned, the fatality rate can be between 40 and 100 percent.
It turned out to be down to the fact the food had reportedly been kept in the freezer for a year.
Only the nine family members had eaten the thick noodles made from fermented corn flour, as the younger three did not like the taste.
It is believed the Suantangzi had been defrosted and prepared after spending a year in the freezer.
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And within hours of eating it, the nine began to feel very unwell, showing symptoms of nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting. They were admitted to hospital for treatment, but all ultimately ended up dying as a result.
It was found that in the process of being frozen and defrosted, the corn noodles had spoiled, causing the high concentration of the deadly bongkrekic acid to develop.
The respiratory toxin had been detected in both the Suantangzi and the gastric fluid examined by doctors.
Bongkrekic acid is a deadly respiratory toxin which forms in certain fermented foods.
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Produced by the bacterium burkholderia gladioli, it is odourless and tasteless - meaning the family would have had no idea of how dangerous the food was while consuming it.
Bongkrekic acid is also heat stable, which means that cooking will not kill it off, and attacks the body by targeting the organs such as the liver, kidneys, and brain.
Director of food safety at the Heilongjiang Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Gao Fei, told China News Service at the time that the results of bongkrekic acid poisoning can often be fatal.
“It can cause serious damage to many human organs including the liver, kidneys, heart, and brain,” he said.
Symptoms develop within a couple of hours of consuming contaminated food, which can cause fatalities in as little as 24 hours.