22 Foods You Should Never Eat Raw

Castor beans

Castor oil can be used for a variety of medical reasons, like easing constipation or even inducing labor. And while it’s fine to consume castor oil, you should never, ever eat raw castor beans.Castor beans contain high concentrations of a harmful lectin called ricin — the same ricin poison you may remember from the show Breaking Bad. It’s easy to distill ricin from castor beans. In fact, a Texas actress tried to poison President Obama and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg with castor beans in 2013.Even cooked castor beans aren’t considered safe to eat. The oil is safe because ricin is water soluble, so it won’t stay in the processed castor oil as long as it’s prepared properly.