World health authorities have issued an urgent warning after investigating cases where people have died or becoming seriously ill from eating expired pancake mix.
With some unaware of the dangers of eating powdered pancake mix past their best before dates, the disturbing rise in cases of people dying or coming close to death as a result of eating pancakes made with the expired powder has prompted the warning.
In one case, published in the American Journal of Forensic Medical Pathology, a teen died after eating pancakes which were made from an opened mix that was two years old.
It was reported that after eating a couple of the pancakes, the man died after going into anaphylaxis - a life-threatening allergic reaction that makes breathing difficult.
It reported: 'One morning, he and his friends made pancakes with a packaged mix that had been opened and in the cabinet for approximately 2 years.
'The friends stopped eating the pancakes because they said that they tasted like "rubbing alcohol." The decedent continued to eat the pancakes and suddenly became short of breath. He was taken to a nearby clinic, where he became unresponsive and died.'
The pancake mix was later tested and experts found high levels of two different types of mould - one of which was penicillin, which the 19-year-old was allergic too.
In another case, a woman went into severe anaphylaxis shock on two separate occasions after eating and inhaling cooking fumes from an expired pancake mix. It was reported in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology that the pancake mix was contaminated with dust mites - resulting in the severe reaction in the 52-year-old.
In another case, a mum reports that ‘began having difficulty breathing and his lips turned purple’ after eating expired pancake mix.
And while the victims victims in the latter two cases survived, it prompted an urgent warning from authorities to be mindful of respecting best before dates - especially with opened mixes - when it comes to pancakes. Good to know.
