Experts remind that seafood, mushrooms, and milk are the three categories of food that people need to pay the most attention to food safety.
Milk: Spoilage Comes Quietly
Spoiled milk
It is understood that milk spoilage mainly occurs during transportation, and it is difficult to ensure that milk is always kept in a refrigerated state. During this time at room temperature, bacteria in the milk have multiplied in large numbers. When put back in the refrigerator, although the rate of bacterial reproduction slows down, the milk is already contaminated. This is why drinking milk now more easily causes adverse reactions.
Seafood: Fresh in the Mouth, Fierce in the Belly
Live seafood
Compared to other foods, eating fish, shrimp, and shellfish can easily cause gastrointestinal problems. On one hand, these foods are particularly prone to spoilage and become stale. On the other hand, they are easily contaminated by pathogens. Thirdly, people prefer the fresh and "fierce" taste of seafood and like to eat it raw, which skips the heating and sterilization process, making it easy to be infected by bacteria. In severe cases, it can even lead to poisoning.
Expert advice: Although fish and shellfish can easily cause food poisoning, there are good preventive methods because the freshness of seafood can be judged by the naked eye. For example, a fresh fish has clear, full, and non-turbid eyes; natural and bright red gills without a fishy smell; shiny scales that are not easily shed; and firm flesh that does not dent when pressed and bounces back.
Mushrooms: Don't Be Poisoned by Curiosity
Toxic mushrooms
The toxicity of poisonous mushrooms is very strong, and the clinical manifestations of poisoning are complex and varied, generally divided into five types: gastroenteritis type, neuropsychiatric type, hemolytic type, visceral damage type, and solar dermatitis type. Among them, the visceral damage type is the most severe with a very high mortality rate. The public has difficulty in identifying whether wild mushrooms are poisonous, and poisoning often occurs due to accidental family consumption. Poisoning mostly occurs during the rainy season when wild poisonous mushrooms grow, is mostly sporadic, and eating dried poisonous mushrooms can also cause poisoning.
Expert advice: Previously, the characteristics for identifying poisonous mushrooms were bright colors, warts, spots, etc., but these cannot be used as standards for identifying them. To avoid incidents of poisonous mushroom poisoning, people must not casually pick or eat unfamiliar mushrooms. If anyone experiences nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, or diarrhea shortly after eating wild mushrooms, they should seek medical attention as soon as possible, thoroughly induce vomiting, perform gastric lavage, and administer laxatives. If possible, blood purification surgery should be performed as early as possible.