Five More BBQ Foods to Avoid at All Costs

Bacteria are not the only potential party crashers at outdoor barbecues. Some methods of cooking and storage are almost sure to cause toxicity.

6. Food cooked over wood treated with arsenic or creosote

"Green" wood usually has been treated with arsenic to prevent decay. "Greasy" wood often has been treated with creosote. Both arsenic and creosote are potent carcinogens, thousands of times more toxic than any chemical that forms in meat when it has been grilled over charcoal. Don't eat foods that that have been cooked over wood taken from buildings or backyard structures.

7. The gut, head, liver, and roe of coral reef fish

Certain tropical fish can carry ciguatera poisoning they get by consuming toxic algae that grows in hot water. The most common problem fish are barracuda, grouper, and jack. The most common locations of ciguatera poisoning are Hawaii and Florida. If you are exposed to this toxin, you may or may not experience common food poisoning symptoms such as diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. You may instead experience neurological symptoms such as cold objects feeling hot or hot objects feeling cold, numbness in the fingers, or tingling in the lips. If you experience neurological symptoms after eating ocean-caught fish, seek emergency medical care.

8. Fish in the the tuna family not stored in proper refrigeration

Tuna, and related fish such as wahoo, that are not held under refrigeration can develop toxicity that is unrelated to bacterial contamination. The flesh of these fish is especially high in the amino acid histidine. At higher temperatures, histidine degrades into histamine, the chemical that causes allergic reactions. You can experience allergies from the inside out if you contract scombroid poisoning after eating these fish. The first symptom is usually a peppery taste in the mouth. Then there may be diarrhea, vomiting, headache, flu-like symptoms, and hives, lasting for several days.

9. Mushrooms not properly identified

Mushroom poisoning occurs every year in northerly locations where people traditionally pick their own mushrooms for summer feasts. Deaths from mushroom poisoning are rare but severe reactions are not unusual. Almost all the "commonsense" rules for avoiding mushroom poisoning are wrong:

• Folklore advises that most poisonous mushrooms are brightly colored. Actually, most poisonous mushrooms are brown or white.
• Folklore advises that insects will avoid poisonous mushrooms. This is not true. The Amanita death cap, for instance, attracts flies.
• Folklore advises that all poisonous mushrooms can be detoxified by boiling, frying, or pickling. While this is true for some mushrooms, it is not true for mushrooms in the death cap family.
• Folklore advises that poisonous mushrooms will turn rice red when boiled, so if a mushroom is cooked with rice that doesn't turn red, it must be safe. Red yeast rice, ironically, is therapeutic. However, at least one person has died after cooking rice with toadstools that did not turn it red.
• Folklore advises that poisonous mushrooms have a pointed cap while edible mushrooms have a rounded cap. The Amanita death cap, however, has a rouned cap.
• Folklore advises that poisonous mushrooms taste bad. Death cap poisoning survivors, however, report that the mushrooms were very tasty.
• Folklore advises that button mushrooms are always safe. This is true in almost all of the world but a few button mushrooms are in fact poisonous.

If you don't know your mushrooms very well, or if the person who picked the mushrooms does not know them very well, just don't eat them.

10. Foods to which you may have an unexpected allergic reaction

Sometimes you may have an allergy to a food you have never even tasted. This is most often the case for people who have latex allergies, who may also have allergies to avocados, bananas, chestnuts, kiwi fruit, mangoes, passionfruit, strawberries, or soy products. If you have an allergy to one kind of shellfish, often you will have an allergy to others, and you may also have allergies to fish.