After the uproar over images of sick pigs being reported to be sold on the market in Soc Trang , many people asked: Could sick pork and rotten-smelling pork be quietly "hiding" in familiar everyday dishes?
When diseased pork easily "hides" in processed foods
According to Dr. Le Van Thieu, Department of General Infection, Central Hospital for Tropical Diseases, diseased pork, especially the kind that has a rotten smell and is slightly decomposed, can be mixed by some fraudulent establishments into dishes that require pureeing and strong seasoning such as sausages, Chinese sausages, ham, and sausages.
Content reflecting on the use of diseased pork on social networks (Photo: Screenshot).
The characteristic of these products is that the meat is minced and mixed with many spices, additives, and flavorings, so signs such as pale color and fishy smell of spoiled meat are easily hidden. When eating, consumers find it difficult to recognize whether the raw meat is safe or not just by looking.
Dr. Thieu analyzed that in an environment of fierce price competition, using poor quality meat, diseased meat, and smelly meat to produce processed foods helps to significantly reduce costs.
Not only sausages, Chinese sausages, ham, and sausages, meat-filled pastries such as dumplings, rice cakes, etc. are also in the high-risk group, because the processing involves grinding meat and seasoning it with strong spices, making it difficult to control the quality of input materials.
The risk from diseased pork is not simply bacteria
Dr. Thieu emphasized that diseased or rotten pork not only contains bacteria that cause food poisoning such as Salmonella, E.coli, Clostridium perfringens, but also contains dangerous toxins produced during the decomposition process.
Toxins secreted by bacteria such as endotoxin are highly heat-stable, meaning that cooking or boiling at 100°C cannot completely destroy them.
Consuming foods containing these toxins can cause acute poisoning with symptoms of fever, severe abdominal pain, vomiting, prolonged diarrhea, and in severe cases can lead to septic shock, liver and kidney damage.
Pre-processed, pureed, seasoned foods easily hide the smell of sick pigs (Photo: Getty).
Notably, during the decomposition process, rotten meat also produces toxic compounds such as histamine, putrescine, and cadaverine - toxins that have negative effects on the nervous system and blood vessels if accumulated in the body for a long time.
"It is a misconception that consumers think that cooking will kill all bacteria. With decomposed meat, toxins still exist even when the cooking temperature reaches normal levels," Dr. Thieu warned.
Protect your health from risks
Faced with this situation, Dr. Thieu recommends that consumers need to be alert when choosing processed foods.
Instead of buying floating products of unknown origin and unusually cheap prices, you should prioritize choosing food from reputable brands with clear veterinary quarantine and food safety inspection certificates.
When buying products such as sausages, Chinese sausages, and ham, you need to observe carefully: the product must have a natural color, not too dark or unusually fresh; the surface must not be sticky, and must not have a strong, strange smell; the packaging and labels must have full information about the origin and expiration date.
For meat-filled dishes such as banh gio, banh bao... choosing to buy from hygienic and reputable processing facilities will help limit the risk. In addition, consumers should also process at home if possible, to control the quality of the ingredients from the beginning.
Dr. Thieu noted: "Do not be subjective with processed foods. Beautiful appearance or attractive taste does not mean safety. When you see an unusually low price or a product with strange signs, it is best to consider and avoid buying it."
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/lon-benh-nup-bong-trong-xuc-xich-lap-xuong-nhu-the-nao-20250603153929660.htm
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