Fears That There May Be Another Mass Daffodil Poisoning Outbreak,

have surfaced in England,

in 2012, Bristol's Chinese community was urged not to eat daffodils after 10 people had to be treated in hospital, it was thought they may have mistaken the green parts of the flower for a chive used in Chinese cooking, Daffodils contain toxic alkaloids that can cause severe vomiting, only last year there were 27 cases of poisoning linked to daffodils and narcissi, so Prof Paul Cosford, director for health protection at Public Health England, wrote a letter to stores headed "steps to avoid daffodil poisonings this spring", in it shops and supermarkets have been urged to keep daffodils away from fruit and vegetable aisles this spring in case they are mistaken for food, he said: "each spring stores such as yours provide a wide selection of flowers, particularly cut daffodils and daffodil bulbs, unfortunately there are rare occasions when the bulbs are mistaken for onions, and the stems or leaves are mistaken for a type of vegetable popular in China, as I'm sure you are aware, daffodils are dangerous if eaten and poisoning can occur as a result." still it could be worse, imagine arriving at your mother-in-laws holding a bouquet of flowers only to find they are a bunch of onions! which is why I have posted the picture above, so now you know, (onions on the right).