On August 15th, chrysanthemum yellow crab fat. The autumn wind blows and crabs' legs itch; the chrysanthemums bloom and crabs are heard coming. Autumn is a good time to eat crabs. However, due to poor selection or improper preservation, I found that the crab was dead during cooking, but I was reluctant to throw it away. So, can you still eat dead crabs? How long does it take for a crab to be dead before it can be eaten?

Can you eat dead crabs?

Generally speaking, dead crabs cannot be eaten, especially hairy crabs, no matter how long they have been dead. However, if the sea crab is dead, it can still be eaten as long as it has not deteriorated for a long time. Therefore, when choosing crabs, everyone should try to choose fresh ones, which taste better and are healthier.

Crab

Why can’t we eat dead crabs?

First of all, crabs mainly live by eating rotten dead fish and dead shrimps in the water. In addition, crabs use gills to breathe, and there are often sludge, weeds and other substances in the gill slits. Therefore, there are many bacterial infections in the body. When the crab is alive, the bacteria can be excreted from the body along with the body's metabolism. Once it dies, the bacteria in the body will multiply and decompose the crab meat. Some bacteria will produce toxins. People who eat such crabs are prone to poisoning soon. Phenomenon.

Secondly, after crabs are caught, they often try to break free, which causes an increase in lactic acid in the body. This causes the bacteria in the crab's body to multiply rapidly and spread into the crab meat after it dies. Bacteria will decompose the amino acids in crabs, and then produce a harmful substance "histamine", which can cause allergic food poisoning; another substance that may be produced is "histamine-like", which can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea, so pay attention when choosing .

It is generally believed that adults who consume more than 100 mg of histamine can cause allergic symptoms, such as facial flushing, skin allergies, conjunctival congestion and other symptoms, as well as headache, dizziness, pulse rate, heart palpitations, and oral congestion. Thirst, burning throat, swollen lips, etc.; some may experience numbness of the mouth, tongue and limbs, general weakness and irritability; in more serious cases, asthma, difficulty breathing, dizziness, syncope, etc. may occur.

Crabs

Can you eat freshly dead crabs?

Freshly dead crabs are edible. Although dead crabs will produce some harmful components to the human body, the bacteria of newly dead crabs have not had time to breed in large numbers, and some components such as cadaverine and histamine have not yet had time to be produced, so freshly dead crabs can be eaten.

But the death time is too long. For example, in the current high temperature of more than 30 degrees, the crab dies for more than four hours and is soaked in unclean water. In this case, it cannot be eaten.

How to tell if a crab has just died?

Crabs will lose their original flavor after death. After a crab dies, its intestinal glands will quickly fall apart, and the histidine and digestive enzymes inside will scatter out and break down the crab meat. Therefore, the smell of dead crabs is weird and the taste is greatly reduced. This is why it is said that "crabs smell before they die."