Risk of eating potato skins with anti-germination treatment
Most potatoes are given a chemical anti-germination treatment to stop them sprouting before we eat them.
With crispy potato skins and baked potatoes seen as a luxury, I wondered what research has been done on the health risks of eating potato skins and what government health advice says about this.
Obviously potatoes need to be washed first, to clean them and to remove residues of treatment. Should they be soaked first? I also realise that potatoes are safer when peeled.
Being told to wash, soak or peel potatoes makes me want to see hard research data or analysis on the food-safety of chemical anti-germination treatments for potatoes. Which is why I see this more as a biology question - where I originally entered this question - than a cooking one.
UPDATE I recently bought a bag of small potatoes which are promoted as "ready to cook in a microwave oven", though marked "With anti-germination treatment". The potatoes are in their skins, in a transparent bag which looks like cellophane. As the instructions on the bag do not mention washing the potatoes, I looked at the supplier's cooking instructions and was amazed that the video says "No need to peel them. They are ready to eat!" This seems to go against all logic.
Best Answer
The toxic stuff enters not only the skin, but even to 1 mm flesh. Washing the potatoes is useless. So, always peel your potato
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Can potato skins be toxic?
Glycoalkaloids occur naturally in potatoes and are toxic to humans at high levels. Glycoalkaloids are concentrated in the peel and prolonged exposure of tubers to light will stimulate the formation of glycoalkaloids near the surface of the potato tuber.Why you should not eat potato skins?
According to Mondy's report, the high glycoalkaloid content of fried potato peels could cause possible toxicity. \u201cThese findings are important because fried potato peels have become a popular snack.\u201dIs it safe to eat potatoes that have sprouted?
The short answer is yes. Potatoes that have sprouted are still OK to eat, but only once you've removed the sprouts.What happens when you eat potato skin?
Skin of Potato Nutrition By eating the potato skin instead of the whole potato, you benefit from an increased wealth of the minerals and vitamins in potatoes. The nutritional content of each potato skin, according to the USDA, is: Vitamin C: 8 grams, or 9 percent DV. Calcium: 20 milligrams, or 2 percent DV.You've Been Eating Potatoes Wrong This Whole Time
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