"If I knew this was the case, I wouldn't have touched a bullfrog with chopsticks!"
Now people are eating more and more boldly, from deep-sea seafood at the beginning, to various invasive species;
Especially in recent years, the dishes with bullfrog as the main ingredient have emerged in an endless stream - hot pot bullfrog, pickled pepper bullfrog, beautiful frog fish head, etc., these fragrant bullfrogs are fragrant and mouth-watering.
But when you are confused by the "deliciousness" in front of you and take a bite of them, you don't know that you have already taken the "danger" on them together......
The statements in this article are based on reliable sources of information and are detailed at the end of the article.
Appalling cases of parasites
In July of this year, there was an alarming bullfrog food safety incident.
On the same day, Mr. Li happily ordered a new product of the fast food restaurant, "Bullfrog Taco", for delivery.
When the wrapper is opened, the fragrant bullfrog meat exudes an attractive aroma, the skin is crispy, and the meat is tender and smooth when you bite into it, which makes Mr. Li full of praise.
Just as he was about to eat the last taco in one bite, Xi habitually checked the meat inside, but was horrified to find that there was actually a small piece of raw meat inside!
Mr. Li's face turned white, and he quickly spit it out, staring at the bullfrog meat in his hand in disbelief.
He hurriedly asked the waiter for feedback, and the waiter looked embarrassed and said that he could reissue two taco and refund the compensation.
But Mr. Li is completely unable to continue eating, this is simply playing with his life, who knows if this raw bullfrog has parasites? This reminds Mr. Li of some recent rumors about bullfrogs.
In June 2004, researchers found that there were as many as 129 species of parasites in bullfrogs.
One of the most common and dangerous is called the Schizocephalus larvae, which can cause serious damage to internal organs and even cause blindness or death when it infects the human body.
What's even more creepy is that many bullfrog farms abuse antibiotics and hormones in pursuit of higher yields, and the chemicals left in the bullfrog's body will also enter the human body through the consumption of bullfrogs, causing invisible damage to health.
Thinking of this, Mr. Li couldn't help but clutch his stomach, glad that he had discovered the problem in time to avoid eating parasites or chemical residues.
At the same time, he also woke up and would never eat bullfrog meat again. Mr. Lee's case is not an isolated case.
In 2022, a 12-year-old boy who loves to eat bullfrogs on weekdays was infected with the parasite Schizocephalic larvae......
All kinds of incidents show that there are definite safety hazards in bullfrog food.
Invasive species from North America
In fact, bullfrogs have been served on the table as early as when we were children. It's just that at that time, bullfrogs were relatively small, commonly known as "field chickens".
This kind of field pheasant is a kind of frog native to China, which is more adapted to land life and often haunts the fields and other places with dense vegetation.
However, with the increase in demand for bullfrogs in recent years, the size of bullfrogs on the market has become larger and larger, and some can even grow to more than 15 centimeters and weigh up to 4 catties. This is not the little field chicken we know at all.
At this time, you may have to ask, where did these big fat bullfrogs we eat now come from?
In fact, almost all of these giant bullfrogs are American bullfrogs, native to North America.
In order to meet the needs of the domestic market, merchants began to introduce this bullfrog for artificial breeding in the late 80s and early 90s.
Due to its rapid growth, large size and delicious flesh, the American bullfrog soon occupied a major share of the domestic bullfrog market.
Nowadays, the bullfrogs eaten in many places in the south are basically American bullfrogs.
Compared with our native field chickens, the American bullfrog is not only huge in size, but also has a completely different living environment.
Pheasants are more adapted to life on land and often haunt the fields. Whereas, American bullfrogs mainly live in freshwater areas such as rivers and lakes. The two frogs can be distinguished at a glance.
However, we know that any species entering a new habitat that is not native to the country will have a certain impact on the local ecosystem.
The American bullfrog is no exception, and it has even been listed as one of the continent's invasive alien species.
The American bullfrog can be said to be the "little tyrannosaurus of the frog world", and their feeding and predatory abilities are very strong. They dare to eat almost anything, from plants to various insects to small vertebrates, and in large quantities.
When I was a child, the American bullfrog mainly fed on various plankton and algae. When they reach adulthood, their diets change dramatically, and they begin to eat a variety of animals smaller than their size, including fish and poultry chicks.
The American bullfrog, which is very large, even preys on snakes and mice.
What is even more shocking is that the American bullfrog has little compassion for its own kind.
Experiments have found that 80% of their gastrointestinal tracts are the remains of the same kind. This shows that they will also prey on each other, and can be said to be the "carnivorous cruel master" in the frog world.
Such a strong predation ability allows the American bullfrog to easily prey on other populations and disrupt the original balance of the food chain.
On top of that, their fecundity is also outstanding.
Once the annual breeding season arrives, adult bullfrogs begin to go on a mating frenzy. Each cowfrog lays tens of thousands of eggs at a time, and these eggs hatch into tadpoles after a few days of floating in the water, and they grow at an astonishing rate.
Therefore, in the right environment, their populations will skyrocket rapidly, forming a strong pressure on other species to survive. This has also made the American bullfrog a "fertility champion" among invasive species.
It is precisely because of this easy-to-feed characteristic that many black-hearted bullfrog farms in China, in order to greatly reduce costs, raise thousands of bullfrogs in a pool of less than 40 square meters, with an average of 200 to 300 bullfrogs per square meter.
With such a high breeding density, the consequences are also extremely terrible.
Because bullfrogs can reproduce and have strong environmental adaptability, the breeding environment of bullfrogs can be described as extremely disgusting.
Tens of thousands of bullfrogs are crowded together in the airtight pool, and the excrement, food, and mosquitoes seriously pollute the water bodies they rely on for survival, but because of their strong vitality, they can still survive in a heavily polluted environment;
But the trade-off is that bullfrogs are highly susceptible to parasites and pathogens.
Researchers have conducted experiments and found that each American bullfrog contains at least 129 parasites, which is a chilling number;
One of the most common and dangerous is the Schizocephalus.
If this parasite enters the human body, it will cause irreversible damage to internal organs, and may also cause symptoms such as bleeding, necrosis, and in severe cases, it may lead to blindness and even death.
Over the years, there have been endless news about eating bullfrogs infected with parasites.
Of course, the horror of bullfrogs is not just about parasites, there are even more creepy potential dangers behind them.
Bullfrogs with excessive veterinary drug residues
As bullfrogs have become a delicacy in China, in order to meet market demand, there are more and more large-scale bullfrog farms in China, and at the same time, corresponding food safety problems have gradually emerged......
The bullfrog you just ate may still have a lot of veterinary drug residues!
The market supervision and administration bureau of a certain place in Zhejiang Province conducted random inspections of bullfrogs sold in local farmers' markets and restaurants, and the results showed that 30% of the samples contained veterinary drug residues exceeding the standard! This means that one out of every three plates of bullfrogs in the region may fail to pass the standard.
What is even more shocking is that the provincial sampling results of the Zhejiang Provincial Food and Drug Administration found that banned veterinary drug ingredients were detected in all the bullfrog samples taken.
Not only that, but the authority later compared bullfrogs with other farmed animals, and finally found that only bullfrogs have a very serious residual problem, and the failure rate is even 5.6 times that of pork or chicken!
After discovering this, the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau immediately carried out spot checks and sampling on a larger range of bullfrog farms;
The results showed that these samples not only exceeded the level of veterinary drug residues at times, but also detected some veterinary drug ingredients that are strictly prohibited from use.
In addition to veterinary drugs, there are also serious over-the-top antibiotics, and bullfrogs have been sampled and tested in a certain area for several years, and the sample monitoring results directly point to the amount of prohibited drug residues in bullfrog samples, which is more than 5 times that of other common meat samples!
Later, Beilun District of Ningbo City also experienced the serious problem of bullfrog veterinary drug residues, and the area also conducted random tests on bullfrogs for three consecutive years, and the results showed that two to three percent of the bullfrog samples had enrofloxacin content seriously exceeding the standard.
So, why is the problem of drug residues in bullfrog breeding so prominent? The main reason is that the breeding environment of bullfrogs is too bad.
Many bullfrog farms are overly productive, and a large number of bullfrogs are crowded in small ponds, resulting in serious breeding intensification.
High-density feeding makes bullfrogs extremely susceptible to disease, and in order to prevent disease outbreaks, farms can only use veterinary drugs in large quantities. Some farms have poor water quality conditions and long-term pollutant discharge, which increases the probability of bullfrogs being infected with various diseases, and they also have to rely on drugs to maintain.
There are even some farms that abuse chemicals such as hormones and antibiotics in order to grow bullfrogs quickly, which eventually leads to excessive drug residues.
If these drugs enter the body, they may cause dizziness, headaches, and bone development in children.
What's even more terrifying is that some veterinary drugs that have been strictly banned, such as nitrofuran, once the residue enters the human body, it is very likely to cause lung and eye necrosis, and even cause cancer!
In the face of the potential safety hazards of drug residues in bullfrogs, the relevant departments have begun to take action.
Taking Fuding Qiangxi in Zhejiang Province as an example, the local government has repeatedly organized forces to investigate bullfrog breeding points in its jurisdiction, signed a deadline retirement agreement with farmers, and resolutely cracked down on illegal bullfrog breeding.
However, individual farmers are still lucky, and the law enforcement department can only use an "iron fist" to resolutely dismantle their breeding facilities.
You may still ask, is the bullfrog I usually eat unsafe?
If a reasonably sized farm does a good job in epidemic prevention and drug management, its products are also delicious and safe. So the key is consumer safety awareness.
It is wise to pay attention to the origin and relevant test reports before purchasing, avoid suspicious low-priced products, and eat them in moderation.
Sources of information in this article:
1. Southern Metropolis Daily: KFC's new bullfrog tower can be exposed to eating raw bullfrogs!
2. A 12-year-old boy suffers from a rare Schizocephalus infection, which is related to eating frogs!
3. Answer the "Examination Papers of the Times" in Longchuan, Ecology! It is strictly forbidden to illegally breed bullfrogs and protect the ecological environment
4. Taizhou bullfrog farm breeding method is not environmentally friendly, facing the dilemma of shutting down-City Channel-Zhejiang Online
5. Eat less bullfrogs! Eat less bullfrogs! Eat less bullfrogs!
6. Zhejiang Provincial Administration for Market Supervision Food Safety Supervision and Sampling Information Notice (Issue 41, 2022)
7. China Quality News Network "Sichuan Emergency Release: Four Batches of Bullfrogs Have Been Detected with Veterinary Drug Problems, Polishing Your Eyes If You Love to Eat!", https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1683681540702617686&wfr=spider&for=pc
8. Red Star News ""Dangerous Bullfrog": Behind the Excessive Detection of Veterinary Drug Residues in the American Frog Restaurant, the Breeding Chaos of Abuse of Antibiotics and Prohibited Veterinary Drugs" https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1758534075657533501&wfr=spider&for=pc