Food safety watchdog issue warning against apricot kernels over cyanide poisoning
Apricot kernels — the seed inside an apricot stone — have been marketed as an alternative cancer treatment.
However, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has stressed medicinal claims must not be made about any food.
“Apricot kernels have been wrongly promoted as having anti-cancer effects. This has led to some people suffering cyanide poisoning after having consumed more than two kernels per day.”
The authority warns consumers to avoid raw, unprocessed apricot kernels — both bitter and sweet — as well as the powdered form.
The FSAI has stressed that children should not eat these products and adults who continued to eat them despite the warning should not exceed one to two apricot kernels per day. The FSAI has previously advised of the dangers of eating apricot kernels but decided to issue a fresh warning after a scientific evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed the risk.
Apricot kernels contain the naturally-occurring plant toxin, amygdalin, which converts to cyanide after eating. Cyanide poisoning can cause nausea, fever, headaches, insomnia, thirst, lethargy, nervousness, joint and muscle aches and pains, and falling blood pressure. In extreme cases, it is fatal.
The authority has told businesses selling apricot kernels the products should be labelled with appropriate warnings. There are no legal restrictions on the sale of apricot kernels, most of which are believed to be imported from outside the EU and sold via the internet, but the matter is under European Commission review. Sellers promote them as a cancer-fighting food and some actively promote intakes of 10 and 60 kernels per day.
However, evaluating the claimed benefits of raw apricot kernels for cancer treatment, or any other use, is outside the EFSA’s remit. The FSAI has published a question-and-answer section on the matter at fsai.ie
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