Author＼Food Editor

When the temperature is high in summer, people often choose refreshing raw foods, but they must also pay attention to unheated lettuce salads, sashimi, and iced drinks. Foods, etc., are high-risk foods for food poisoning; while fish and shellfish and other aquatic products, which are often regarded as good sources of protein, you need to pay attention to risks such as histamine and norovirus.

There were 13 cases of food poisoning from April to June 2019, higher than the same period last year

Taipei City Health Bureau (referred to as "Taipei City Health Bureau") statistics from April to June 2019 *** There were 13 food poisoning notification cases, an increase of 3 cases compared with 10 cases in the same period in 2018. After inspection and investigation by the Health Bureau, no pathogenic microorganisms were detected in 1 food waste sample. The main symptoms of the ingestion included The cause of the rash, itching, facial flushing and allergic reaction was determined to be milkfish histamine, which is a natural poison food poisoning. The cause of the remaining 12 cases could not be determined.

Food poisoning definition: 2 or more people ingest the same food and develop similar symptoms. The cause is mostly viruses, bacteria, and natural toxins.

Aquatic products should be stored in a safe environment to avoid poisoning caused by the production of histamine!

According to the Beijing City Health Bureau, histamine is a compound commonly found in spoiled fish (such as tuna, mackerel, bonito, saury, sardines, etc.) and is stable against heat. Therefore, it is not easy to be destroyed by heating, and once it is produced, it is not easy to remove.

Open and humid storage spaces can easily cause fish to be contaminated by intestinal bacteria, which can produce enough histamine to cause poisoning within 24 hours. The best way to prevent histamine food poisoning is to prevent the production of histamine in fish during storage. You must pay attention to the conditioning conditions, including: keeping the fish at low temperature or freezing in a hygienic environment, and the interval between thawing and cooking of the fish should not exceed 2 hours, sufficient cooking temperature and time.

Recommended reading: Why are you infected with "Chinese liver fluke" and how to prevent it?

Catering operators should strictly control the sources of ingredients and processing procedures and equipment

In addition, the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau also reminded catering operators to strictly control the sources of ingredients, processing procedures, cooking utensils, environmental equipment, etc. The guidelines for good food hygiene practices should be complied with.

The North City Health Bureau reminds group catering operators to strengthen pre-acceptance testing and independent checks to avoid affecting their goodwill. It also calls on catering operators to establish good operating hygiene habits. Patients and medical institutions should preserve evidence and try to retain it as much as possible. Leftover food and vomit or excrement should be reported to the health unit as soon as possible for sampling and investigation to clarify the cause of food poisoning.

Recommended reading: Prevent food poisoning! There were some mistakes before and after the Zhongyuan Pudu Festival

Consumers should grasp the "Five Essentials" principles to prevent food poisoning

According to statistics, the Taipei City Public Security Bureau reported According to the "Food Hygiene and Safety Performance Indicators" reported on food poisoning, the indicator lights were all "green" from April to June 2019. However, the North City Health Bureau emphasized that attention should still be paid to the preservation and handling of food ingredients, and the public can also grasp the "Prevention of Food Poisoning" "Five Principles": Wash your hands, keep it fresh, separate raw and cooked food, heat it thoroughly, and pay attention to the storage temperature to prevent the occurrence of food poisoning.

Reprinted with permission from foodNEXT. Original source: The number of food poisonings increased in the summer of 2019! The Beijing Municipal Health Bureau reminds: Pay special attention to raw food, ice cream and aquatic products!