INBAR is involved in an active research programme to develop new food products from bamboo shoots. The objective of the research programme is to stimulate new uses of bamboo shoots in existing markets and to assist developing food security in food-poor areas. A concern in this project is that, although cyanide is unknown as a problem in the Chinese bamboo shoots food industry, there are several reports elsewhere of bamboo species containing significant, potentially very toxic, amounts of cyanogenic glycosides in their shoots.