What are the blue particles in the lettuce? Can I eat the blue particles in the lettuce?

Lettuce is a vegetable we often eat. It can be stir-fried or eaten raw. It tastes especially good when wrapped in lettuce when eating barbecue. When washing lettuce, sometimes you will find blue-green particles on it, which looks good. But do you know what these blue particles are?

What are the blue particles in the lettuce?

The small blue particles are a special pesticide used to kill mollusks, such as snails and slugs. Its scientific name is metaldehyde. It is insoluble in water, soluble in benzene and chloroform, and easily depolymerized by heat or acid. It is a selective snail killer.

Metaldehyde is not blue, but white needle-shaped crystals. The blue particles on vegetables are granular pesticides containing 6% or 10% metaldehyde and mixed with bait. When snails are attracted by attractants to feed or come into contact with drugs, a large amount of acetylcholinesterase is released in the snails, the special mucus in the snails is destroyed, the snails are rapidly dehydrated, the nerves are paralyzed, mucus is secreted, a large amount of body fluid is lost, and cells are destroyed, causing poisoning and death of the rods in a short period of time.

This type of pesticides includes snail killer, snail killer, and snail killing amine.

Can I eat lettuce with blue particles?

According to my country's pesticide toxicity classification standards, this is a moderately toxic pesticide. If an adult weighing 50 kg ingests more than 2.5 g, they will have varying degrees of stress reactions, and ingesting more than 20 g will lead to death.

If the leaves are stained with blue particles, it is best to throw them away directly and not eat them. Try to avoid them when buying them. Although they can be washed with water, it is difficult to ensure that the dosage is controlled.

In terms of usage, metaldehyde cannot be sprinkled directly on vegetables and fruits, and a certain distance must be maintained. In addition, when using metaldehyde, poultry must not enter the application area within 7 days, and crops affected by the drug must not be harvested within 10 days.

Is lettuce sweet or bitter when eaten raw?

This is related to the variety of lettuce and the soil and water where it is grown. There are two common types of lettuce: round lettuce and curly lettuce. They both belong to the Asteraceae family and the Lactuca genus. Because both contain lettuce, but there is less in round lettuce and more in curly lettuce, the former tastes slightly sweet and the latter tastes slightly bitter.

Generally, glass lettuce, ball lettuce and emerald green leaf lettuce taste slightly sweet when eaten raw. The darker green leaf lettuce tastes bitter and is rare in the market, mostly in northern China. In addition to tasting slightly sweet, lettuce also has a lettuce smell, which most people can accept, but some people don't like.