I believe that everyone still remembers the food safety problems such as "Old Altar Sauerkraut" and "Shuanghui Production Workshop Chaos" exposed by 315 not long ago. Recently, the incident of "pork coloring pretending to be beef to sell" has been on the hot search.
Sodium nitrite is often used in the processing of canned meat or other meat products. On the one hand, it is used to maintain the bright red color of meat and avoid "browning". On the other hand, it can also inhibit the proliferation of microorganisms in meat products, avoid meat spoilage, and also have a certain effect on improving the flavor of cured meat.
But many people know that sodium nitrite has a certain toxicity.
GB2760-2014 "China Food Safety Standards" Food Additives Use Standards clearly stipulates:
The maximum amount of sodium nitrite used in meat products is 0.15g/kg; the residue of Western-style ham (smoked, smoked, steamed ham) is ≤ 70mg/kg, and the residue of the remaining meat food types that are allowed to be used ≤ 30mg/kg.
In the meat sold by the couple involved in the news exposure, the sodium nitrite content is as high as 201mg/kg, exceeding the national standard by 7 times!
What does this mean? It is that the oral intake of excessive sodium nitrite in a short period of time can easily cause acute poisoning; if the intake exceeds 3g, it can cause death; if the long-term excessive intake, it will even lead to esophageal cancer and stomach cancer!
Although, the exposed unscrupulous traders have been caught. However, we must not take it lightly, and we must polish our eyes, carefully distinguish and carefully select when buying meat for our families, especially our babies.
How to cleverly identify water-injected meat?
First, look at the signs
When purchasing, be sure to pay attention to whether there is a quarantine seal on the meat, if not, please pay attention to the following three points.
Second, look at the color
Normal beef or pork is generally bright red, and there is a clear line between the red color of the flesh and the white color of the fat. The red color of the water-injected flesh is relatively light, or even white, and the red of the flesh and the white of the fat are not obvious.
Third, try the feel
After the normal meat is naturally put for a period of time, due to the air drying action, the surface will form a thin film, which is slightly hard to the touch, the wetness after the touch of the hand is poor, and there is obvious resistance and stickiness when moving. Due to the high moisture content, the water-injected meat is not easy to form a film, and there is a clear sense of wetness after the touch of the hand, and it feels smoother and less resistant when moving.
Fourth, press the fat
Normal subcutaneous fat has no denseness, and it feels soft, elastic and water-free when touched by the hand. The subcutaneous fat of the water-injected flesh is significantly thickened, especially the chest and abdomen are weak, there is a pronounced feeling of edema, the surface is moist, the elasticity of acupressure is reduced, the recovery is slow or unrecoverable, and it is often accompanied by watery fluid exudation.
How to identify "Clenbuterol"?
Clenbuterol is difficult to accurately identify with the naked eye, but clenbuterol accumulates the most in internal organs such as the liver, so try to eat less animal offal.
How to choose safe meat?
Currently, the meats on the market are sour meat, frozen meat and hot fresh meat/regular meat, and we will talk about it one by one.
1. Drain the sour meat
Acid drainage meat is actually cooled meat, refers to the slaughtered livestock and poultry in the cold storage for 4 hours cooling, and then 0 ° C ~ 4 ° C workshop for segmentation and finishing, after the packaging, storage, transportation and sales are also controlled in this temperature range, such meat is called acid meat.
Acid drainage meat in the cooling processing process, after the "post-cooking" process of destention and autolysis, the muscle fibrous connection structure becomes fragile and breaks into small pieces, at the same time, muscle protein is normally degraded by the action of autolysin, and the muscle fibrils are decomposed into peptides and amino acids, becoming the components of meat extract, making the meat tender and juicy and has a good taste and smell, and the taste is better.
2. Frozen meat
Frozen meat is pre-cooled after slaughter, and then frozen below -18 °C, deep meat temperature below -6 °C meat, in this environment, bacteria and other microorganisms are not easy to survive, high safety, but after thawing due to a large amount of water loss will lead to the reduction of some nutrients, nutrition and taste are not as good as ordinary meat and acid wicked meat.
This is because the main component of muscle is water, and the volume of ice is larger during the freezing process, and the ice crystals formed are easy to damage the cell membrane, resulting in the loss of juice after thawing. The juice is rich in protein, vitamins and other components, and their loss is easy to make the meat rough and tasteless. And if it is not the use of quick-freezing technology, the slower the formation of ice crystals, the higher the concentration of the solution in the uncrystallized part, which will affect the colloidal properties of soluble proteins in meat, reduce the ability of proteins to bind water, and thus affect the quality of meat.
3. Hot fresh meat/ordinary meat
After an animal is slaughtered, the meat goes through a stiff and mature period. The fresh meat we usually eat is actually meat in the stiff period. Freshly slaughtered meat, its muscle cells stop the supply of oxygen, the accumulated lactic acid will make the myosin coagulate, muscles quickly contract and harden, joint fixation, this meat is also known as "immature meat", the taste is relatively hard.
Once the meat has passed the corpse stalemate period, its self-degradation effect will increase, considering the temperature and bacterial pollution in the circulation and trafficking environment, it is easy to lead to the corruption of the meat surface and affect the flavor.
Overall, both sour meat and frozen meat are safer than hot fresh meat. Therefore, it is recommended that you prefer sour steak or frozen meat. The domestic frozen meat requirement is within one year, so when we buy it, we should buy it from regular channels, it is best to buy a branded product, and pay attention to the production date, shelf life, and whether the packaging is complete, so as to avoid buying smuggled frozen meat or expired frozen meat.
Eating the right meat is also important
The meat we eat can be roughly divided into three categories according to different species:
Livestock: poultry meat such as pork, beef and lamb: fish, shrimp and crab shellfish such as chicken, duck and goose: grass carp, yellow croaker, sea shrimp and scallops
According to the different colors of the lean meat part, it can be divided into red meat and white meat. Livestock meat belongs to red meat, poultry meat and fish, shrimp, crab shellfish belong to white meat.
Nutritional characteristics of different meats
As can be seen from the table, beef has the highest protein content, sea shrimp and scallop fat content is the lowest, yellow croaker has the lowest cholesterol content, scallop iron and zinc content is the highest, duck meat has the highest vitamin A content, and sea shrimp have the highest selenium content... Parents can choose according to the needs of the baby, and balanced intake is king.
What are the specialties of adding meat to your baby?
First, the choice of meat is exquisite
For babies in the early stages of complementary food addition, iron-rich meat is preferred. Babies can be added according to the characteristics of local food, such as mothers in coastal areas can prefer scallops, sea shrimp, etc., and mothers in inland areas can choose beef.
Second, the amount of meat eaten is exquisite
How much meat should children of different ages eat per day?
Infants 6 to 12 months: 25 to 75 g / day 1 to 3 years old: 50 to 75 g / day 3 to 6 years old preschool children: 60 to 100 g / day
Third, the cooking method of meat is exquisite
It is recommended to cook at low temperatures such as steaming, boiling and stewing, which can better retain the nutrients in the meat.
If your baby doesn't like meat, you can try to fish with some fresh natural ingredients during the production process, such as ginger, green onion, lemon, hawthorn, etc.
In addition, the meat should also be soft enough to fit the baby's chewing and swallowing ability, so that the baby can fall in love with eating meat.
Fourth, the part of the meat is exquisite
Even if it is the same kind of meat, not all parts are suitable for children, take pork as an example:
Pig head, pig tail, pig trotters these parts of thick skin, less meat, rich gelatinous, high fat content. Not suitable for cooking for babies. Plum meat, front and back legs, back buttocks, waist willow, tender ribs, small ribs relatively small fascia, tender meat, suitable for cooking for babies.
Warm reminder, excessive intake of meat will bring a burden to the baby's digestive system that has not yet developed, so eating meat and meat in moderation is the most reasonable!
What meat have you given your baby? How? What meat does your baby love to eat? Let's talk about it in the comment area
About author:Wang Bin, child nutritionist, China registered dietitian, national second-level public nutritionist, national senior nutrition lecturer. Good at combining medicine with modern nutrition knowledge, focusing on the field of maternal and infant nutrition and health, teaching you to feed your children scientifically.