Research has found that acute poisoning caused by mold-contaminated food can lead to severe poisoning symptoms in a short period of time, or even death; regular consumption of mold-contaminated food can cause liver cancer in consumers. In addition, the occurrence of various gastrointestinal diseases and tumors is also associated with mycotoxin contamination of food. So, how to identify and prevent mold contamination?
In daily life, foods that are more prone to mold include: rice, peanuts, corn, grain-processed pastries, rice, steamed buns, and other cooked foods.
Identify by color and smell
So, how can you tell if food is infected with mold? Generally, you can judge by changes in the food's properties, such as color, texture, and smell.
Changes in color are the most important and most directly observable aspect of the appearance of moldy food, followed by texture. Taking some common types of easily moldy food as examples: moldy rice may appear light yellow, light gray, or green on the surface, and its texture also becomes loose and crumbly; leftover steamed buns and meals, after being stored for several days, may grow grayish-white, yellow, or green, wool-like mold on their surface; pastries that have been stored for too long may develop green, white, or black spots on their surface; when peanuts become moldy, after removing the red skin, the color turns yellow.
Many moldy foods have a musty smell.
If you observe these changes in the food's properties, you can preliminarily determine that the food has been contaminated by mold and should not be consumed.
Ensure ventilation, moisture-proofing, and prevent contamination
Mold prevention is a series of tasks. In addition to mold prevention during the production, transportation, and storage of food, attention should also be paid to it in daily life.
We know that humid, poorly ventilated, enclosed environments are conducive to mold reproduction and toxin production. Therefore, when storing foods like rice at home, the most important thing is to pay attention to ventilation and moisture-proofing, which is the top priority of mold prevention. High temperature is not a feasible method for removing mold
For foods that have already become moldy, you should learn to handle them correctly and treat them differently.
Some people believe that obviously moldy food can still be eaten after being boiled at high temperatures. This is a very wrong idea. Because normal cooking cannot destroy mycotoxins such as aflatoxin, therefore, obviously moldy food must not be eaten.
For slightly moldy grains and other foods, more effective detoxification measures can be adopted, including thorough washing and rinsing, such as scrubbing with hands more, rinsing with water, or adding alkali, or using a pressure cooker to cook rice.
It is particularly worth mentioning that commercially sold rice in plastic bags will also become moldy if the storage temperature and humidity meet the conditions for food mold, and it should still be washed and rinsed before being cooked.