Feeling bad after heating a chard gronth in aquaponics

[Fabrizio Borrello]

hello everybody, anyone has news about toxicity of aquaponics veggies?

A friend of mine got sick after he ate a boiled chard growth in aquaponics.

He got intense sweating, tachycardia, anxiety and dysentery.

[Rob Nash]

I personally have never heard any like this before..

how are they so sure it was the chard? especially if they "boiled" it..

I would have to know more about all other variables.. source water, handling of the produce, before and after harvest, etc.

was chard all they ate? surely it was with some other food,, if so, how are they sure its not the other food.

please reply with more details if you can.  this is a very important issue to the Aquaponic community, and would be an interesting case study.. and hopefully figure out what the issue is.  ...Im pretty sure its not the chard :-)

[Rob Nash]

Been growing Chard for years in AP, never had a problem.. 

the Fordhook Giants just make me smile!

[Keith Rowan]

we've eaten lots of chard from our system in salads with no cooking.. i'd suspect another cause as well

[Alex Veidel]

And they're makin' me jealous...I'm turning as green as the chard ;)

Rob Nash said:

Been growing Chard for years in AP, never had a problem.. 

the Fordhook Giants just make me smile!

[Alex Veidel]

Unless something was seriously messed up with the aquaponic system, I'd doubt it was the chard that gave him those problems. I've eaten chard from my system as well with no problems. Or maybe he just doesn't like his vegetables :)

[Robert C. Wood]

I was just reading that it could take 1 to 3 days before the signs show themselves for  dysentery

 

[Glenn]

I do hope your friend has since fully recovered. There doesn't seem to be any alerts or recent reports by any of the international health organizations/authorities regarding any food poisoning event as a result of aquaponically grown vegetables.

Please update us if there is any reoccurrence or updated finding of the cause of your friend's illness.

[Steve R]

aquaponics is a closed system so unless it was introduced by a reptile or a bird which niether are normally in a system then i would fair to guess he got sick from other food he ate that day. I almost never wash anything from my systems and have never had an issue. Its still a good idea to wash your food but Id be willing to put money down that he didn't get sick from the char. The tachycardia wasn't from food thats not how that works. I know about that because my sister has SVT. The anxiety is almost definitely from the tachycardia and so could the dysentery. Your friend has heart issues not food issues. I think your friend needs to lower his blood pressure and see a good heart doctor but i assure you that wasn't caused by char.

[Rob Nash]

I would  like to reword my reply... if it was the chard that made him sick, it was not because it was grown in an AP system, but because somehow the chard and or system water was tainted and the chard was not washed.. I would look into the handling of the food and the bio security of the system.. but don't blame it blindly on AP.  :-)

am I the only one who cant get smiley faces to work??

[Alex Veidel]

Good point Rob.

Having a hard time with the emoticons? Drop the nose and the site should render it as the animation. Personally, I like your way better. Animated emoticons are kind of a pet peeve of mine :/

Rob Nash said:

I would  like to reword my reply... if it was the chard that made him sick, it was not because it was grown in an AP system, but because somehow the chard and or system water was tainted and the chard was not washed.. I would look into the handling of the food and the bio security of the system.. but don't blame it blindly on AP.  :-)

am I the only one who cant get smiley faces to work??

[Fabrizio Borrello]

I have done some research about this case and likely my friend got nitrates toxification.
Infact chards tend to accumulate nitrates when the ph is hight and the biological filter is forced to work to full regime.
When Nitrates get in the human metabolism they are transformed into substances that inhibits blood to carry oxygen.
So symptoms are identicals and my friend risked to get into big trobbles. :(

[Steve R]

So this article post has me curious and after hours of research i can only find one case of people getting nitrate poisoning from a single meal.  It was a family in china who thought they were putting sugar on there food and it was nitrate fertilizer. I really really doubt that your friend for it from his char. From the looks of it it looks like he lives near farms or livestock production and id be willing to bet his tap water has nitrates over 60ppm.  Please have your friend test his tap water.