Qu Jing, a news commentator
Recently, a netizen found the blue-ringed octopus in the dishes of a hot pot restaurant, which attracted the attention of netizens. On October 7th, a netizen in Shenzhen posted that his family bought a box of frozen octopus in Futian store in Sam a few days ago, and opened it and found a blue-ringed octopus in it. The staff of Futian Store in Sam said that all the octopus in the store are farmed artificially in China, so the probability of blue-ringed octopus is very low, and the parties concerned will be contacted to verify the situation.
Video screenshots of related news reports
Before the blue-ringed octopus appeared in the hot pot restaurant dishes, some netizens had found the suspected blue-ringed octopus while eating barbecue. Now, it is reported that this octopus is found in the frozen food in the regular supermarket, and the poisonous blue-ringed octopus appears in series, which is hard to prevent and makes seafood diners panic. Some netizens said: "Is this the nest of the blue-ringed octopus?" Some netizens also said that in order to cherish their lives, they would never eat octopus again.
The natural history magazine, which helped identify the blue-ringed octopus online before, simply published a comparative popular science because it received too many private messages from people who were worried about meeting the blue-ringed octopus, reminding everyone to raise their awareness of prevention, but at the same time, there is no need to be unprepared. It can be seen that this kind of incurable super poison has appeared in dining tables and supermarkets generously, which has had a great impact on everyone's sense of security.
So, although the business staff repeatedly stressed that the probability of blue-ringed octopus appearing in the store is very, very low, it feels like I can't wait to say the next sentence, this octopus may not be from our store, but it may also be a netizen Zhang Guan Li Dai. Of course, before the relevant information is verified, it is really impossible to draw a conclusion about the source of the blue-ringed octopus, but you should know that a small blue-ringed octopus carries enough toxins to kill 26 adults at a time in a few minutes, and there is no effective antitoxin to prevent it at present. Such terrible things are mixed into food in various forms, even if the probability is lower, we should be more vigilant, because once someone eats by mistake, the consequences will be unimaginable. The food safety defense line should be impregnable, and we can't talk about "probability" as soon as there is a problem.
What is certain is that the blue-ringed octopus is definitely not a common creature, otherwise there will not be so many people who don't know it. However, the blue-ringed octopus, which had a very low probability of appearing, has appeared frequently recently, and it is indeed worth asking and being vigilant. At present, whether in regular restaurants, supermarkets or roadside stalls, this highly toxic creature may appear. Is this the same batch of goods? Are there any other blue-ringed octopus still circulating in the market? Which link was lost, which led to the poisonous octopus mixed with edible octopus? Food safety is a matter of great importance. Now it seems that not only the hot pot restaurants and supermarkets involved need to trace back to the source to investigate the goods, but also the market supervision departments in the developed areas of seafood industry should take action to thoroughly investigate the hidden dangers of food safety risks, find and plug possible loopholes, and relieve people's anxiety caused by poisonous octopus.
China has completely fasted wild animals, but catching natural fishery resources such as fish is an important mode of agricultural production, so aquatic wild animals such as fish are not included in the fasting range, which opens a gap for many toxic marine creatures to "swim" to the table. However, the law still clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to operate foods that do not meet food safety requirements, especially toxic and harmful foods. Catering service providers should formulate and implement raw material control requirements, and must not purchase food raw materials that do not meet food safety standards. This requires that suppliers and merchants engaged in seafood catering have professional identification ability and a sense of responsibility to ensure safety. It cannot be said that customers can "save themselves" by relying on multiple minds or wide knowledge.
Fortunately, the characteristics of the blue-ringed octopus are very obvious, and it is easy to find that after this wave of popular science, I believe the risk of eating by mistake will be greatly reduced. But in the long run, the relevant departments still need to pay enough attention to the problem of this highly toxic creature appearing in the market circulation. For this highly toxic creature, there should be corresponding regulations on how to distinguish it when fishing, how to avoid being hurt, how to deal with it after it is found, and so on. Only by letting more people, especially food operators, know the serious harm of these highly toxic organisms, and know what to do if they find out, and what serious consequences they will have if they don't do it, instead of saying things with "probability", can we strengthen the supervision of the whole chain, effectively build a defense line for food safety and ensure people's lives, health and safety.
Further reading:
When eating hot pot, I met the poisonous blue-ringed octopus, and many foods were hidden.
Yesterday, a news about the blue-ringed octopus attracted attention.
While eating hot pot, a netizen found a suspected blue-ringed octopus species in the dish, took photos and asked the popular science blogger, and was later confirmed as blue-ringed octopus, which was highly toxic.
This incident also quickly rushed to the hot search, which triggered a heated discussion, and some netizens teased that it was "knowledge that changed fate".
But more netizens are curious, what is the blue-ringed octopus? How did it end up at the dinner table? What other foods are hidden "killing"?
The blue-ringed octopus rushed to the hot search
"Is this the blue-ringed octopus? Can I cook? Waiting online is a bit urgent! "
On October 6th, a netizen posted in Weibo that he saw an octopus-like creature with spots in a hot pot restaurant and asked the popular science blogger @ Natural History Magazine.
Picture/Weibo screenshot
Subsequently, @ Museum magazine replied: "It is indeed leopard octopus, and their toxin is river toxin, which is very toxic and will not decompose when heated. Don't eat it even if you take it back as a souvenir. There are records in the literature and on the Internet that the octopus is mixed with the blue-ringed octopus, but the probability is not high, so it can be regarded as a long-lived sight."
under the reminder of the blogger, the netizen also said that he didn't eat this dish and had asked the boss to withdraw it. Netizens also commented: "This is a brush with death!" "I want to remember what this octopus looks like."
According to relevant data, the blue-ringed octopus belongs to the Octopus family, commonly known as the blue-ringed octopus, the leopard octopus and the leopard octopus. It is widely distributed in the Taiping sea area between Japan and Australia, and it is a very small octopus species with an arm span of less than 1.5 cm. In the ocean, the blue-ringed octopus is one of the highly toxic creatures, and being bitten by this small octopus can cause death.
The toxicity of the blue-ringed octopus can be shown by its color. In different environments, it will become a protective color similar to the environment. Once it feels threatened, its skin color will become gorgeous. When the blue ring flashes, it is also the most dangerous time, and it is in a state of alert. Generally speaking, the blue-ringed octopus is gentle, but it also stings and bites when threatened.
The toxins secreted by the blue-ringed octopus contain tetrodotoxin, hyaluronidase, histamine, tryptamine, hydroxyphenylamine, taurine, acetylcholine and dopamine, among which tetrodotoxin is the main toxic substance. This toxin can block the sodium channel of muscle, paralyze muscle and lead to respiratory arrest or cardiac arrest.
At present, there are no relevant regulations on the sale and transportation of poisonous wild animals such as the blue-ringed octopus in our country, and the relevant regulations on rare and endangered wild protected animals do not include the blue-ringed octopus.
On the contrary, because of its charming appearance, the blue-ringed octopus was once the "darling" of the pet industry. As early as 2116, there were media reports, and some netizens said that they could buy live blue-ringed octopus, one of the most toxic marine creatures in the world, in the e-commerce platform.
Seafood and wild mushrooms are the "hardest hit areas"
Besides the blue-ringed octopus, what other poisonous creatures that are easy to appear but unfamiliar in life need attention? Yue Yisong, operation editor of Natural History Magazine, said in an interview that seafood and wild mushrooms can be described as two "hardest hit areas".
When it comes to poisons in seafood, the most famous one is puffer fish. Yun Wuxin, a doctor of food engineering and a popular science writer, said that tetrodotoxin is an amino tetrahydroquinazoline compound, which is one of the most toxic neurotoxins found in nature. "The toxicity of tetrodotoxin is about 71 times higher than that of arsenic, and a few milligrams can poison a person. It can inhibit sodium channels in the human body, making people unable to breathe, and poisoning people by affecting muscle contraction. Tetrodotoxin can attack in just a few minutes or ten minutes, and the longest is only a few hours. "
Many toxic organisms may lose their toxicity after being heated and cooked, but tetrodotoxin is different. Yun unintentionally said that tetrodotoxin is a non-protein toxin. No matter how it is heated, its toxicity reduction is very limited. Even if the food is cooked and cooked thoroughly, it will still lead to poisoning after eating.
In addition, shellfish and seafood we eat every day may also become potential assassins, such as Haihong. The scientific name of Haihong is mussel, and there are mussels, shell vegetables, mussels and other names in different places. Haihong is a kind of cheap seafood, which often appears on people's tables everywhere.
The sea rainbow itself is nontoxic, and it can be eaten by routine cooking under normal circumstances. The reason why the toxin appears is mainly related to a famous phenomenon-"red tide". When the red tide strikes, Haihong eats phytoplankton containing toxins, and it will not be poisoned by itself, but it can concentrate the toxins into the body. People may be poisoned after eating such sea rainbow.
Haihong is not the only seafood rich in toxins, but also seafood such as scallops, oysters and clams that feed on plankton. Experts suggest that the internal organs such as digestive glands should be removed when eating shellfish, and the frequency of eating should be reduced as much as possible, and the single consumption should not be too much.
In addition to seafood, food poisoning caused by eating poisonous wild mushrooms by mistake is also common. There are many kinds of toxic species in wild mushrooms, and the toxic components are complex. Some methods circulating among the people to identify wild mushrooms have proved unreliable.
In June 2121, the article published in China Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed that from 2111 to 2121, 11136 cases of food-borne mushroom poisoning were reported in China, resulting in 38676 diseases, 21967 hospitalizations and 788 deaths. Among them, Yunnan reported the largest number of poisoning incidents, diseases and deaths.
More food poisoning occurs in family scenes
Liu Shaowei, a doctor of food safety and a member of the expert group of Shanghai Food Safety Research Association, told China Newsweek that on the whole, the probability of consumers encountering toxic seafood and fungi is still relatively low, and what really needs to be careful is bacterial food poisoning caused by improper cooking or preservation. Such cases abound in real life.
on October 5, 2121, a family in Jixi, Heilongjiang province ate sour soup, which led to food poisoning, eventually killing 9 people.
It is reported that the frozen sour soup was taken out of the refrigerator and left in a cool and humid place for a few days because it could not be put in the refrigerator, and finally produced rice yeast acid. At present, there is no specific medicine for rice fermentation acid, and the mortality rate after poisoning is 41%-111%.
Auricularia auricula soaked for a long time is also easy to cause poisoning. According to the report of Wuhan Evening News in 2119, a mother and a daughter in Wuhan began to have abdominal pain and vomiting after eating mixed vegetables with black fungus, which had been soaked for two days and nights. It turns out that auricularia auricula may breed Pseudomonas cocoanum in the process of long-term foaming, and also produce rice yeast acid, which leads to poisoning.
aflatoxin is also one of the common toxins. As early as 1993, aflatoxin was classified as a kind of carcinogen by the World Health Organization Cancer Research Institute. It is a highly toxic and highly toxic substance, and 1 mg is the carcinogenic dose.
Aflatoxin likes to hide in moldy foods, especially peanuts, corn, beans and other foods with high starch content. In high temperature and humid environment, aflatoxin causing liver cancer will breed. If a peanut is mildewed, the whole bag of peanuts should be thrown away, because Aspergillus flavus spreads in the form of spores, and food is easily involved in mildew.
Because ordinary people are prone to problems in the control and production methods of food safety, families have become a high-incidence scene of food poisoning. According to media statistics, the places where food poisoning incidents occurred in China in 2118-2115, the probability of accidental discovery of food poisoning at home was as high as 46.5%.
"At present, the year is approaching, which is the node of buying and making vegetables and meat in large quantities, so we should be more careful about food safety." In this regard, Liu Shaowei suggested that in the process of food processing, raw and cooked foods should be treated separately, using different chopping boards and different knives, and never mixing raw and cooked foods; In the process of food cooking, proper treatment of temperature and time, lack of sufficient cooking temperature and time may lead to the failure to kill germs in food and cause food poisoning; Expired food and some leftovers must not be reluctant to throw away because of thrift and fear of waste.
Author: Yu Yuan