How to preserve banh chung from getting moldy and ensure hygiene during Tet

How to preserve banh chung to prevent it from getting moldy and to ensure hygiene? Experts recommend not eating moldy banh chung because it will produce toxins.

How to preserve banh chung to prevent it from getting moldy and to ensure hygiene? Experts recommend not eating moldy banh chung because it will produce toxins.

How to preserve Chung cake from getting moldy and hygienic during Tet is a problem that many people think about because Chung cake is a traditional dish during Tet, however, if not preserved properly, it will easily get moldy. Many families have the habit of cutting off the moldy part and using the remaining part. However, experts recommend not eating moldy cakes because it will produce toxins. Below is how to preserve Chung cake from getting moldy and hygienic.

Many families have the habit of cutting off the moldy part and using the remaining part. However, experts advise against eating moldy cakes because it will produce toxins. So what is the way to preserve Chung cakes from getting moldy and to ensure hygiene?

Eating moldy banh chung can easily cause food poisoning.

According to Dr. Truong Hong Son - Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Medical Association, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Medicine, although banh chung is an indispensable traditional dish in Tet meals, overweight and obese people should limit eating this food.

According to recommendations, an obese person should only eat 200-250g of carbohydrates per day, equivalent to 2 pieces of banh chung divided into 8 parts. At the same time, when eating banh chung, it is necessary to reduce other starchy foods.

One issue that worries many people is how to preserve banh chung during Tet. In the North, the cake gets moldy easily, in the South, the cake gets spoiled easily.

In the Northern weather, cakes get moldy easily; in the Southern weather, cakes get spoiled easily.

To preserve banh chung from getting moldy and rancid, Dr. Truong Hong Son advised families right from the processing stage to the selection of ingredients. The leaves used to wrap the cake need to be cleaned and dried thoroughly.

After cooking, the cake should be washed with clean water, pressed with a heavy object to remove all the water and make the cake firmer; store the cake in a dry, airy place to prevent the cake from getting moldy.

Experts also said that nowadays, vacuuming method to preserve banh chung is also very popular. This method not only helps to store the cake hygienically but also limits insects and dirt. With vacuum preservation, banh chung can be preserved for 5-10 days under normal conditions.

However, the best way to preserve banh chung is to keep it in the refrigerator. Banh chung can be kept at room temperature for 3-4 days and the time will be reduced in humid weather. Meanwhile, if kept in the refrigerator, it can be kept for 15-20 days.

If you don't have time to eat all the banh chung, you can store it in the freezer. However, when defrosting, you should thaw it slowly in the refrigerator and then boil or steam it again to make the cake less hard.

In January, the weather is often hot and humid, and banh chung is a highly moist dish containing meat and fat, which is a suitable environment for bacteria and mold to grow. If you eat banh chung that is spoiled or moldy, you can get a stomachache, diarrhea or food poisoning, which is harmful to your health.

“People should discard banh chung that has mold on the leaves or has just a corner molded, and should not eat it because the aflatoxin produced by the mold can penetrate the inside of the cake and cause poisoning. In addition, some types of bacteria and mold, after death, still secrete toxins that cause poisoning to the user,” Dr. Truong Hong Son warned.

How to preserve banh chung from getting moldy

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh - former lecturer at the Institute of Biotechnology and Food, Hanoi University of Science and Technology said that with many ingredients combined in banh chung combined with the humid weather of the Northern Spring, banh chung is very susceptible to spoilage and mold, which can cause food poisoning, digestive disorders... seriously affecting health.

When banh chung gets moldy, the mold will produce toxins, especially aflatoxin. This toxin is very dangerous, can cause liver damage, even liver cancer if eaten for a long time.

Eating moldy banh chung can cause digestive problems such as stomachache, diarrhea, nausea... Common symptoms when eating moldy banh chung: food poisoning, liver damage...

Some people, when seeing signs of mold on their banh chung, often cut off the moldy part and keep the remaining part to eat or fry it. However, experts warn that even if the moldy part is cut off, the toxin can still spread to other parts of the cake, making the whole cake unsafe to eat.

Experts also recommend that when banh chung shows signs of water leakage, rancid smell, slime on the crust, etc., it should not be boiled again but discarded because at this point bacteria have penetrated and spoiled the cake. Eating it can easily lead to poisoning.

Storing banh chung in the refrigerator is the best way to keep the cake from spoiling during Tet because the weather during this time is often hot and humid, making the cake susceptible to mold and spoilage when left outside.

Storing banh chung in the refrigerator is the best way to keep the cake from spoiling during Tet.

However, this way of preservation will make the banh chung lose its rice faster, so it must be steamed or fried again when used. Tet banh chung can be preserved in the refrigerator at about 5 - 10 degrees Celsius. If you cannot eat the whole cake, you should only peel off the part of the cake that can be eaten, and wrap the rest tightly with plastic wrap.

To preserve the delicious banh chung during Tet, the Food Safety Department, Ministry of Health has given instructions to people on how to boil and preserve delicious banh chung during Tet. If you want banh chung to have a long shelf life, you need to pay attention right from the processing stage. Dong leaves used to wrap the cake must be washed thoroughly and drained, dried with a clean towel; wash the banh chung after cooking; press the cake; hang the cake in a cool place; store in the refrigerator.

Source: https://nongsanviet.nongnghiep.vn/cach-bao-quan-banh-chung-khong-bi-moc-an-toan-ve-sinh-dip-tet-d419414.html