The four heaviest words in the world are nothing but "misfortune".
Such a cruel thing happened to a family in Jixi City, Heilongjiang.
On October 5, 12 members of Wang’s family had a dinner at home, and 9 people became unwell. After being sent to the hospital urgently, 8 people died due to ineffective rescue, and the only remaining person is still being rescued. .
How could a good meal harm someone like this?
The fatal "sour soup"
Before the accident, Wang's family was eating "sour soup", a common local staple food.
This is a thick noodle-like staple food made from corn milled and fermented. Many Northeasterners are familiar with it.
The pure sour soup is smooth and refreshing, and tastes appetizing.
But the "sour soup" that the family ate that day had been frozen in the refrigerator for more than a year.
Except for the three young people who did not eat it, the other nine people all developed symptoms of physical discomfort after eating it, and eight people died one after another in just a few days.
Experts quickly conducted tests and initially suspected aflatoxin poisoning produced by fermentation. However, due to its toxic characteristics, the risk of death in a short period of time was not high.
After further analysis, experts initially determined that the tragedy was a food poisoning incident caused by Pseudomonas cocotoxin contamination and the production of oryzae.
Homemade fermented rice and noodle foods such as sour soup are easily contaminated by bacteria in the environment during the fermentation process, causing Pseudomonas cocotoxin to take advantage of the situation.
Pseudomonas cocotoxin itself is not heat-resistant, and the temperature during cooking is enough to kill it. However, the rice yeast acid it produces cannot be decomposed and destroyed during cooking. .
After rice fermentation enters the body, it will enter various organs of the body along with the blood, causing extensive damage to internal organs.
At present, there is no specific treatment for this kind of poisoning, and the fatality rate is as high as over 40%.
The Wang family, who suffered greatly, ate sour soup that had been stored in the refrigerator for a year.
It is conceivable that in their philosophy, the food placed in the refrigerator is safe and hygienic, even if it has been left for a year.
But in fact, over time, the extremely vital rice fermentation acid has been growing continuously, and its scale has been immeasurable.
Food in the refrigerator cannot be kept fresh forever. If left for a long time, it will become a breeding ground for bacteria to grow wildly.
I am afraid that many people are not aware of this fact.
Your refrigerator may be dirtier than the toilet
In everyone’s eyes, the refrigerator is a symbol of safety, cleanliness, and hygiene, especially the freezer. After all, "With such a low temperature, no bacteria can survive."
But the reality is surprising.
The Global Health Council conducted a survey of 180 families in nine countries including Australia, Canada, and Germany. The results showed that refrigerators are the second most polluted place in the home (the first is bathroom sealant) .
Bacteria inside 46% of household refrigerators seriously exceed the standard, and the amount of bacteria in the refrigerator drawer is even 750 times the safety standard.
Different from people's impression that "low temperature can kill bacteria", the refrigerator can only slow down the growth of bacteria and cannot completely remove existing bacteria.
In particular, some psychrotrophic bacteria like low-temperature environments.
The existence of refrigerators just provides good conditions for their survival.
For example, Listeria monocytogenes, which is widely found in cooked meat and seafood, is a typical psychrophilic bacteria and can survive for about a year in an environment of -20°C, while the temperature in the freezer of a refrigerator is generally All at -18℃.
If you are accidentally infected with Listeria monocytogenes, you may suffer from vomiting and diarrhea, and in severe cases, it may induce complications such as meningitis and sepsis, which may even be life-threatening.
Pregnant women are more likely to be infected with Listeria, about 20 times more likely than the general population. Once infected, it will affect the fetus in the abdomen and even lead to miscarriage and stillbirth.
Many other bacteria, such as Salmonella that often appear in meat and eggs, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, etc. that often appear in leftover milk and leftover rice, are only "dormant" in the refrigerator. status.
Once the food is taken out of the refrigerator and placed in a room temperature environment, these bacteria will revive and accelerate their reproduction.
The fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator are not absolutely safe. For example, uneaten watermelon in summer may contain Shigella, which can cause bacterial dysentery and is also contagious.
Some studies have investigated the contamination of pathogenic microorganisms inside the cold compartment of household refrigerators.
The results showed that among 90 refrigerator cold room samples, the detection rate of Staphylococcus aureus was 7.78%, and the detection rate of Escherichia coli was 4.44%. In addition, 49 opportunistic pathogenic bacteria were also isolated. .
Some people may wonder, how come there are so many bacteria in a refrigerator that looks clean?
In fact, it is because of the various foods placed inside.
Things that require refrigeration and freezing, such as raw meat, seafood, eggs, milk, fruits and vegetables, contain various pathogenic microorganisms and can easily breed bacteria.
There are also many people who are accustomed to waiting for leftovers to cool down before putting them in the refrigerator, which creates conditions for the growth of bacteria.
When eating, the bacteria and saliva picked up by the chopsticks have contaminated the food, and the room temperature is extremely suitable for the growth of bacteria.
As the food cools down, microorganisms continue to breed. If you put them in the refrigerator at this time, various bacteria will begin to set up camp inside, and may even spread to other clean foods.
If things go on like this, the bacteria in the refrigerator will accumulate more and more, and if they are not cleaned, it will become a large bacterial petri dish, unknowingly endangering people's health.
After food is contaminated by bacteria, the taste and appearance may not necessarily change significantly.
Many pathogenic bacteria have multiplied to dangerous levels before food spoils visible to the naked eye.
In other words, sometimes the food in the refrigerator looks fresh on the surface and tastes normal, but it is contaminated internally by pathogenic bacteria.
If the content of pathogenic bacteria is high, it can easily lead to food poisoning.
An analysis report on the epidemic characteristics of food poisoning incidents in my country in the third quarter of 2018 shows that the number of people suffering from bacterial food poisoning accounted for 69% of the total number of people poisoned.
People put food in the refrigerator to take advantage of the low temperature to inhibit the growth and reproduction of bacteria and keep the food clean and hygienic.
But the reality is that the cleaning of the refrigerator is often ignored, making the refrigerator a home base for bacteria and posing huge health risks to the family.
The correct way to open the refrigerator
As an essential appliance in the home, the refrigerator cannot be used without it, but it cannot be used blindly.
If you want to store food well while ensuring good health, you must learn to "set limits" and provide reasonable time and space for food.
Storage period of various common foods
Generally speaking, the temperature of the refrigerated layer is 4°C. It is recommended to place eggs, vegetables, and cooked meats on this layer.
Among them, fresh eggs can be refrigerated for 30 days, green leafy vegetables can be refrigerated for about 3 days, leftovers should not exceed 2 days, and cooked meat can be stored for 3-4 days.
The lower-temperature freezing layer is suitable for keeping raw meat fresh for a long time, but it also needs to be eaten as soon as possible.
Because after long-term freezing, meat will suffer from fat oxidation, protein texture deterioration, vitamin content reduction and other problems, resulting in poor meat quality and poor taste.
Also, the specific shelf life will vary depending on how the meat is processed, the type of meat, and the temperature of the refrigerator.
Aquatic products can be frozen for 3-6 months; livestock meat can be frozen for 3-6 months; poultry meat such as chicken, duck, and goose are slightly longer and can be frozen for 6-9 months.
In addition to the possibility of bacterial growth if meat has been frozen for too long, when it is thawed, the damaged tissue cells will leak out a large amount of water and protein, promoting the reproduction of bacteria.
In the process of their reproduction and decomposition, they will also produce some small molecular substances that are harmful to the human body. People are likely to experience symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea after eating them.
How to store food correctly
In addition to the shelf life of food, storage methods also deserve our attention.
Before putting it in the refrigerator, try to keep the food as clean as possible, especially food such as poultry, seafood, and river fresh food. The internal organs should be removed, and the inside and outside should be washed before freezing.
At the same time, pay attention to packaging raw and cooked food in fresh-keeping boxes or bags.
Raw food that has not been processed generally has more bacteria.
In the closed environment of the refrigerator, even if raw food and cooked food are not placed directly together, bacteria will wander and spread along the cold air.
Using fresh-keeping boxes or fresh-keeping bags adds another level of safety. This can not only prevent moisture loss and odor transfer, but also save space in the refrigerator and facilitate storage.
The temperature will be different in different locations of the refrigerator, and the best locations for storing various types of food are also different. It can be summarized as the following three rules:
The bottom is low and the top is high, the inside is low and the outside is high, the wall is low and the middle is high.
Foods that are not easy to spoil and are commonly used, such as eggs and spices, can be placed on the side door shelf of the refrigerator;
Put cooked food on the upper shelf, and foods that are easily frostbitten, such as fruits and vegetables, should be placed on the side door shelf of the refrigerator. It should be placed as far outside as possible on the lower floor.
Clean the refrigerator regularly. Picture source "Please give me a lift"
Failure to clean the refrigerator for a long time will cause the frost to thicken, which will promote the growth and proliferation of bacteria in the refrigerator.
Because this layer of frost will block the spread of cold air, thus affecting the cooling effect of the refrigerator, indirectly making food more likely to spoil.
If conditions permit, the refrigerator can be cleaned and disinfected about once a month according to the frost situation in the refrigerator, so that germs have nowhere to hide.
During the cleaning process, you can pay more attention to the shelf life of milk and quick-frozen foods, throw away spoiled food decisively, and avoid eating expired food.
The refrigerator is not a universal shelter for food. The food placed in the refrigerator may also become a life-killer.
I hope that everyone can also learn to store food rationally on the way to cherishing food.
Cleaning the refrigerator in time and finishing the food on time as much as possible is a responsibility for yourself and your family.
A healthy life starts with a new understanding of the refrigerator.
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[2] Shen Jin, Wang Jiaqi, Li Yan, Sun Huihui, Zhao Weixia, Li Tao, Liang Chen, Zhang Jian, Zhang Liubo. Investigation on the current status of pathogenic microorganisms in refrigerator cold storage rooms. Environmental Hygiene Magazine, 2015, 5(6): 530-533.
[3] Ren Jinghuan, Wang Xiaoye, Wu Xiaomin, Wang Rui. Analysis of the epidemic characteristics of food poisoning incidents nationwide in the third quarter of 2018 [J]. Disease Surveillance, 2019, 34(08):741-745.
[4] Wang Bin, Yan Binbin, Lu Binbin, et al. Research progress on foodborne pathogenic bacteria [J]. Journal of Jilin Medical College, 2019, 040(005):376-378.
[5] People's Daily Online. A survey by the Global Health Council shows that the refrigerator is the second dirtiest home.
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[6] "Science China Expo", Fu Shufang, Master of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University? /s/mPHOcBGBxgI5wpk6hEifQA