Consumers may mistake daffodils for Chinese vegetable, UK stores warned
Shoppers in Britain cautioned against confusing poisonous decorative plants with edible flowering chives after serious of health scares
Health officials in Britain have a message for unaware consumers: Daffodils can make you ill.
The authorities have asked supermarkets to keep flowers far from fruit and vegetables, in case customers mistake the poisonous blooms for food.
In the past six years 63 people have become ill and last year the National Poison Information Service answered 27 calls about daffodil poisoning.
Public Health England says it has seen cases of consumers mistaking daffodil bulbs for onions and the stems for garlic chives popular in Chinese cuisine.
Professor Paul Cosford, director for health protection, said: “Daffodils are dangerous if eaten and poisoning can occur as a result.
“We are aware of an incident in Bristol a few years ago in which some shoppers, for whom English was not their first language, bought daffodils and cooked the plants believing them to be something else.
