Two men load a bucket of poisonous bean sprouts onto a van.

Watch out for spring rolls with bean sprout fillings! Forty workshops producing bean sprouts with banned additives were busted in Shunde, Guangdong. According to local police, the workshops were responsible for selling over 30 tons of poisonous bean sprouts to various markets in Shunde and Zhongshan.

Thirty-seven tons of fully-grown bean sprouts and 16 tons of half-grown bean sprouts were seized during a police raid on July 9, reported the Guangzhou Daily. 48 people were arrested

Poisonous bean sprouts are thicker, and have fewer roots and translucent white colour.

Some of the banned additives used include ABP or 6-benzylaminopurine. These chemicals can be used to increase the thickness of bean sprouts and help them grow, thus shortening their natural growth cycle.

Consuming additive-laced bean sprouts can cause dizziness, headaches, uraemia and even cancer, said the report said.

Most of the busted workshops are family-operated. The sprouts are grown in plastic buckets in poor conditions. The smell of ammonia is constant at the workshops, the report said.

The police said there are several methods to identify poisonous bean sprouts. Additive-laced bean sprouts exhibit a greyish-white color and are thicker than natural ones, and have relatively fewer roots. In addition, water normally leaks out when a “fake” bean spout snaps in half.

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Photos: Nandu,tzsnw.com