Dietary Hygiene
Dietary Hygiene
As the saying goes, "Diseases enter through the mouth," highlighting the importance of dietary hygiene. Yet some people remain indifferent: "If it's not clean, it's still okay to eat." This mindset persists, especially in rural and remote areas, demanding serious attention.
Chinese people have long valued dietary hygiene. Great educator Confucius early proposed foods to avoid: "Do not eat if food is stale and foul, fish is rotten, meat is spoiled; do not eat if appearance is bad, odor is unpleasant; do not eat if improperly cooked, cut incorrectly..." The most critical rule is avoiding spoiled or rotten food. "Stale and foul" means food left too long and becoming smelly; "rotten fish" means fish decayed; "spoiled meat" means meat gone bad—these must not be consumed. How to judge food spoilage? Confucius advised observing color and smell. "Bad appearance" means unattractive color; "bad odor" means unpleasant smell. Any such food should be avoided, as it may cause food poisoning. Especially foods high in moisture—like fish, meat, eggs, fruits, and vegetables—can quickly spoil, ferment, or mold in hot weather. Many methods prevent spoilage, including low-temperature freezing. Lowering environmental temperature inhibits microbial growth, reduces enzyme activity, and slows chemical reactions in food. However, freezing does not kill microbes or destroy enzymes, so storage duration must be limited. Nowadays, many people stockpile large amounts of food in refrigerators during Spring Festival, but even then, food can still spoil over time.
Dishes and utensils often carry bacteria, viruses, and parasite eggs. Utensils must be regularly disinfected. Before disinfection, wash them thoroughly with hot water or detergent to remove grease, improving disinfection effectiveness. Common methods include boiling, steam sterilization, and bleaching powder disinfection.
Fats or oil-rich foods like pastries, cookies, ham, and sausages may develop a "rancid smell" during storage due to sunlight, metal containers, or microbial action—chemically known as lipid oxidation. Rancid oils not only alter taste and reduce nutritional value but also harm the body, irritating digestive mucosa and causing nausea and vomiting.
Some people like wrapping food in newspapers, but ink on newspapers, magazines, and books contains polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)—highly toxic substances. Moreover, old papers carry numerous pathogens, worm eggs, and viruses. Using them to wrap food contaminates it and harms health.
Generally, do not eat potatoes once they sprout. Sprouted potatoes contain solanine, a harmful alkaloid. Normally, solanine levels are extremely low, but when potatoes sprout, solanine concentration in sprouts, eyes, green parts, and rotting areas increases sharply. Consuming them may cause nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, and severe cases may lead to breathing difficulty and coma. If sprouting is mild, remove sprouts and scrape off green parts, soak in cold water for one hour to dissolve solanine, then add vinegar and cook thoroughly to eliminate toxins.