【Event Courier】
Announcements have been issued in the WHO, the United Nations and other official media, informing that more than a dozen countries have recently found cases of "Salmonella infection" suspected of being caused by Choco in Belgium. Belgium, France, Germany, Spain and 11 other countries have reported 151 cases of "salmonella infection" related to the consumption of "problem" chocolate, of which nearly 90% are children under 10 years of age.
To this end, the Italian Ferrero Group recalled a number of Kinder chocolate series products produced at the Belgian plant. According to the news released by the United Nations, these chocolates have been sold to at least 113 countries and regions, and China is also among them.
After learning of this situation, the mainland also responded quickly, and the General Administration of Customs also issued an announcement reminding everyone to temporarily avoid buying chocolate products produced by Ferrero's Alron factory in Belgium through any channel, if there is such a product at home, immediately stop eating, and you can contact the original purchase channel for return and other matters.
But some people don't understand, why is there salmonella in chocolate? What kind of bacteria is this? What happens to your body if you accidentally eat contaminated food? Let's answer them one by one.
【What is Salmonella?】 】
This is a salmonella bacterium, a very common pathogenic bacteria from food sources, which is currently one of the more common causes of bacterial food poisoning in countries around the world, and is also the first cause of food poisoning in the mainland.
Salmonella in nature is mainly parasitic in humans and animals, especially in the intestines of poultry and livestock, which may spread to the human body with meat, eggs, milk and other ways. It can survive in water for 2-3 weeks, if it can survive for 3-4 months in low temperature environments, such as refrigerators.
【Which foods are susceptible to Salmonella infection?】 】
The more common in life are the meat, eggs and dairy products mentioned earlier, of which meat and eggs are more common. According to statistics, the detection rate of Salmonella in mainland meat is between 1.1% and 39.5%, while the probability of detecting Salmonella in eggs and egg products is between 3.9% and 43.7%, which is relatively high compared with countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, so more people may be infected with Salmonella and pose a health threat.
Poultry and livestock infected with Salmonella may contaminate meat, eggs and milk due to salmonella parasitic bacteria in the intestine. People may also eat these foods, causing Salmonella infections, inducing symptoms of food poisoning.
Salmonella may also be transmitted through fecal-oral transmission until the infected person is completely cured, or during the recovery period. For example, if you don't wash your hands after going to the toilet, you may also inadvertently spread Salmonella.
【What happens if I accidentally eat salmonella-infected food?】 】
Salmonella infection is the most direct inducement to food poisoning, and patients may have gastroenteritis and other problems. The more typical symptoms are fever, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps and other symptoms, but in the clinic, antibiotic treatment is rarely carried out for gastroenteritis caused by Salmonella, and most of them are treated by adding water and electrolytes to patients. For many people, they can get better on their own in about 3-7 days without worrying too much.
But for infants, young children, the elderly, and people with low immunity, salmonella infections may affect more than just the stomach and intestines. Pathogens may travel with the blood, inducing severe bacteremia, and a small number of patients may induce more severe meningitis or osteomyelitis by eating Salmonella-infected foods.
This time there may be a problem with salmonella infection is chocolate products. To know that many children like to eat chocolate, there are also many elderly people in order to avoid inducing hypoglycemia problems will put a piece of chocolate around, if these body is originally more sensitive to salmonella people eat the problem of chocolate, may also bring greater risk to health, this is the key to the global recall of the chocolate.
What else can we do to prevent Salmonella infection? 】
International food safety authorities have issued a global alert to recall the chocolate products involved in this incident, and people should also pay more attention to whether they have these products in their homes in the near future to avoid accidental ingestion. But in addition, we should still focus on our daily lives and do a good job of prevention.
The first is when contacting meat, eggs and milk and other products, you should wash your hands, and eat the food after fully heated and cooked, which can effectively kill certain bacteria. Especially for many people who like to eat loose eggs, they should pay more attention to whether the eggs are hygienic.
Secondly, in the kitchen, the raw and cooked cutting board should be separated, which can effectively prevent raw meat, bacteria in raw food, and parasites from contaminating the cooked food without treatment, and it will also be more likely to have bacterial infection problems and bring food safety problems.
Also, since Salmonella does not react with proteins, there may be no abnormalities after food is contaminated with Salmonella. However, if you start to have symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and fever after eating, you should also seek medical treatment in time and take timely and effective treatment as soon as possible.
There have been cases of Salmonella infection in many countries, and the source may be related to a variety of chocolates produced in Belgium. In addition to avoiding the consumption of related products, we should also have a comprehensive understanding of Salmonella and prevent it in advance.
Resources:
1, there are problems with chocolate in many countries, "some have been sold to China"! · Shangguan News · 2022-04-29
2. Chocolate-related salmonella outbreaks in many countries! Some products have been sold to China, Global Network 2022-04-29
3. Chocolate contaminated with Salmonella has led to cases in many countries! 89% of patients are under 10 years old· CCTV Finance 2022-04-29