Tag: Safe bean preparation

According to the Center for Food Safety, eating as few as four or five raw or undercooked beans containing the natural toxin phytohaemagglutinin can trigger symptoms of foodborne illness. This is a critical warning for anyone asking, "Can you eat black beans raw?" as the answer is a resounding no, due to the presence of these toxic compounds.

Raw kidney beans can contain levels of the natural toxin phytohemagglutinin (PHA) that are hundreds of times higher than properly cooked beans. Understanding what beans have PHA is essential for food safety, as consuming inadequately prepared legumes can lead to a severe, but often short-lived, illness.

Raw red kidney beans can contain up to 70,000 haemagglutinating units (HAU) of lectin, a level that causes severe illness, while thoroughly cooked beans have a negligible amount [1]. This dramatic reduction leads to the crucial question: do soaking beans reduce lectin, and is it a sufficient step for safety?