Making soy milk at home has become a trend, but many of the soy milk machines currently in use still require you to cook the raw soy milk yourself, and some people also enjoy buying raw soy milk to cook at home. Here, we want to remind everyone that soy milk must be thoroughly cooked before drinking. If you mistakenly drink "pseudo-boiled" soy milk that hasn't been properly cooked, it can easily lead to food poisoning.
The "pseudo-boiling" of soy milk is caused by a substance called saponin. At a temperature of around 80°C, this substance produces a large amount of foam that floats on the surface of the soy milk, making people mistakenly think it has boiled. However, drinking it at this point allows the trypsin inhibitors in the raw soy milk to enter the body. Trypsin inhibitors can be completely destroyed by high heat, but if the heating is not thorough, it will cause food poisoning. The incubation period for soy milk poisoning is very short, usually 30 minutes to 1 hour. The main symptoms include nausea, vomiting, abdominal distension, and diarrhea, which may be accompanied by abdominal pain, dizziness, and fatigue. If the symptoms are mild, they can heal on their own without treatment. People with severe symptoms or children should seek medical attention promptly.
Therefore, to avoid poisoning from mistakenly consuming "pseudo-boiled" soy milk, you should thoroughly boil the soy milk before drinking it. After you see the soy milk come to a boil, continue to heat it for another 8 minutes. Do not use too high a heat when cooking soy milk to avoid a large amount of foam appearing too quickly. When heating over medium heat and foam begins to appear, you should appropriately reduce the heat and continue heating until the foam disappears. Then, turn the heat back to medium and wait for the soy milk to boil again. If you have a large amount of soy milk or it is particularly thick, be sure to stir it constantly while heating to ensure even heating and prevent it from burning.