Food safety from seemingly small but not small things

Those who have lived and worked in Da Nang, especially in the old Hai Chau district, may have known the story of how in 2017, the People's Committee of this district mobilized establishments, restaurants, and street food stalls to use spoons without grooves to help prevent food poisoning. At that time, with the support of businesses and philanthropists, Hai Chau district exchanged more than 9,000 spoons without grooves to ensure hygiene...

Use safety equipment to protect your health. Photo: MH

This seemingly small story has a significant meaning. “Small” because using a spoon without grooves is easier to clean and limits food from sticking to the grooves, reducing the risk of infection, and further ensuring food hygiene and safety.

“Not small” is the policy that shows the local government’s concern for the quality of life. More specifically, food safety and hygiene in every dish, dining table and meal of every family and diner...

Nowadays, as society develops, the process of industrialization and urbanization takes place at a rapid pace, people are also more hurried in work, study and even in eating. Therefore, many people want to use what is fast, convenient, and even in eating and drinking that requires the least amount of cleaning. That is not to mention taking advantage of utensils that are not specifically used to contain food.

This, whether intentional or not, not only pollutes the environment but in the long run also damages health, causing dangerous diseases, typically cancer.

First of all, it is about the use of plastic related to food, food and drinks. The current common situation is using recycled plastic to contain fast food, take-away food and drinks...

According to Associate Professor Nguyen Duy Thinh, former lecturer at the Institute of Biotechnology and Food, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, shared on Vietnamnet Newspaper, we are using mostly recycled plastic bags, causing many risks of lead and cadmium contamination for users.

It is not difficult to see people buying noodles, vermicelli, pho, porridge to take home, but all the broth and filling are put into clear plastic bags in conditions of temperatures up to more than 100 degrees. Without having high knowledge, you can know that with such high temperatures, there will be some kind of thermal reaction that will occur, creating disease-causing substances, including cancer.

It is known that there are 2 types of plastic bags: the type produced from 100% virgin PV and PP plastic particles from pure petroleum (this type is not harmful to humans). The second type is the commonly used plastic bag type, which is recycled from many used plastic products, even paint cans.

During the recycling process, handmade plastic will absorb heavy metals such as cadmium and lead, which are substances that lead to cancer. Notably, the process of toxic contamination from plastic bags occurs strongly when exposed to high heat.

Plastic bags or foam boxes used to store hot foods such as soy milk, soup, broth, rice at 70-80 degrees Celsius will cause the additives to soften, toughen, and toughen the plastic bags, causing side effects and easily releasing toxins into the food. Plastic bags will melt when containing hot soup and many people swallow them without knowing it.

In addition, there are still cases of using used paint cans to store food, which is also one of the causes of cancer...

In fact, there are still beef noodle shops or other dishes that use lemongrass as a spice, such as fake dog meat..., some shops use nylon strings to tie and then drop them into the noodle pot or water to cook the above dishes.

In addition, if there are pandan leaves, they are tied with rubber bands and put into the pot. Especially foods with a lot of acid such as vinegar, pickles, onions, sour garlic, foods containing oil or salty foods such as fish sauce, shrimp paste... when stored in jars, bottles, plastic bags made from recycled plastic are also very dangerous because they contain electrolytes that cause them to dissolve very quickly.

At restaurants, people will easily recognize onions, garlic, and pickled peppers stored in plastic jars or bottles for many days on the table, not to mention the plastic or metal spoons inside.

Regarding food safety, there are many macro issues related to management mechanisms and sanctions...

However, the “micro” issues such as the spoon without grooves to the use of plastic in food processing, packaging and storage mentioned above should be taken seriously. This is not just a temporary movement but must “permeate” into the awareness and habits of each person to move towards a society that is environmentally clean, physically healthy and furthermore, the future of the race.

Source: https://baodanang.vn/food-safety-from-unhealthy-thoughts-3305090.html