Source: Health Guangyuan
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In recent years, the tender meat of bullfrogs has become a sweet spot on the table.
Stir-fried bullfrog in a fragrant pot, grilled bullfrog, fried bullfrog, creamed bullfrog, French garlic bullfrog...... The combination of Chinese and Western ways of eating makes diners flock to it.
However, there is a saying on the Internet that bullfrogs are the hardest hit area of food safety and cannot be eaten. Is that really the case?
Bullfrog drug exceedance?
Some people say that in recent years, it is common to see news on the Internet that bullfrog drug residues exceed the standard. What's going on?
Bullfrogs can also get sick, and most of the wild ones die if no one cares about them. But the farmers still expect to sell the bullfrogs in captivity for money, and if the bullfrogs are sick, they will be treated. Therefore, some drugs are indeed used in the bullfrog breeding process. In addition, there are also cases of artificial addition of illegal drugs in the process of processing, packaging, storage, transportation and sales of aquatic products. Because aquatic products are easy to descale and abrasion during transportation and storage, if the water environment is not clean, it is easy to have water mildew and affect the survival rate. Therefore, some traders will also use some medicines to prevent diseases in the storage tanks where the animals are transported. If someone violates the drug in these links, it will lead to bullfrogs exceeding the drug standard.
In addition, the pollution of the breeding environment may also lead to the detection of veterinary drugs and pesticide residues. For example, some farmers originally used drugs to disinfect the pond, and when they continued to breed, they began to breed other animals without fully cleaning and purifying the pond, which may lead to the accumulation of veterinary drugs.
Photo by Nguyen Quang Feng
However, formally farmed bullfrogs usually have low levels of veterinary drugs. Most people only eat bullfrogs occasionally, so there is no need to worry about harm to the human body.
Food safety is not risk-free. It is impossible to avoid the presence of a variety of known and unknown hazardous substances in the environment. At present, the world has adopted a food safety regulatory system to control possible risks to an acceptable level of safety to ensure people's safety. It is recommended that everyone go to a regular restaurant to eat, because the food safety supervision of regular restaurants is usually better.
Some people may say that bullfrogs have the problem of excessive drugs, so is it better to eat less?
In fact, from the perspective of dietary balance, it is advisable to eat less, which is a one-size-fits-all recommendation.
The basic principle of a healthy diet recommended by the Dietary Guidelines is to eat a variety of foods, but not too much of everything. Ensuring that we eat a variety of foods and eating every food can prevent us from eating only one type of food and lead to excessive intake of possible harmful substances and reduce the risk, and on the other hand, it will also help to consume more balanced nutrition and promote good health.
The Dietary Pagoda of Mainland Residents recommends that we eat 120-200 grams of animal food every day and aquatic products twice a week. Among them, the recommended daily intake of livestock and poultry meat is 40~75g, and common aquatic products include fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish, with a recommended daily intake of 40~75g.
Can you get parasites from eating bullfrogs?
It is said that bullfrogs carry more parasites than you think.
Some bullfrogs do carry parasites, such as wild bullfrogs, wild bullfrogs often have Diegong mansoni tapeworm, the larvae of this insect can parasitize on people, and continue to swim, invading the eyes, face, internal organs and even the brain and other parts, can form lumps and induration under the skin or muscles, and can also cause severe headache, conjunctival hemorrhage, protruding eyes, epilepsy, abdominal pain and other symptoms, and even blindness and life-threatening.
Moreover, Schizocephalus can remain dormant in the body for many years, sometimes several years before being discovered. If you happen to accidentally eat a wild bullfrog that is not fully cooked, you can become infected with the parasite.
图片来源：Wikipedia，摄影：Carl D. Howe
Therefore, eating bullfrogs to infect the parasite usually has to meet two conditions: wild bullfrogs, not cooked.
And now the bullfrogs we have in regular restaurants are generally artificially farmed, which is much safer than wild bullfrogs. When eating bullfrogs, whether it is roasted bullfrogs, boiled bullfrogs, dry pot bullfrogs or bullfrog hot pots, pay attention to fully heating and cooking, so you don't have to worry about parasites.
Is bullfrogs an invasive species?
Bullfrogs are indeed invasive species and belong to the category II severely invasive species.
However, the main harm of invasive species is that they will damage the ecological environment, but not necessarily to human health.
Moreover, because of the tender meat of bullfrogs, humans have been delving into its breeding techniques. With the advancement of technology, bullfrogs are now farmed on a large scale and have become a delicacy on people's tables. Relevant data show that the annual output of bullfrog breeding in the country is more than 300,000 tons. What a pity it is not to eat so many bullfrogs after working so hard?
Oh yes, crayfish were also invasive species when they first entered the mainland. The hairy crabs we like to eat are also considered invasive species abroad, and foreigners don't like to eat them.
How to eat bullfrogs with peace of mind?
If you want to eat bullfrogs happily, it is recommended that you pay attention to:
1
Don't eat wild bullfrogs, and don't catch them yourself.
In particular, be careful not to catch bullfrogs when there are wounds on your hands, and wear gloves if you really want to catch them, so as to prevent your hands from being broken, because the parasite Schizocephalic larvae can enter the body through the skin and migrate to the human eyes, subcutaneous tissues or brain, kidneys, lungs and other organs to cause serious symptoms. If you want to make your own bullfrogs at home, it is recommended to buy artificially bred bullfrogs from regular supermarkets or markets instead of wild bullfrogs.
2
Pay attention to the standardized operation, and separate raw and cooked.
When making bullfrogs and other aquatic products at home, you must pay attention to standardized operation, separate raw and cooked to prevent cross-contamination, such as cutting bullfrog knives and cutting boards should be separated from others, and washing bullfrogs should also be washed in a separate vegetable pot.
3
Eat when cooked thoroughly.
Heating and ripening thoroughly is the most effective way to kill parasites. When eating seafood such as bullfrogs, many people choose to eat them raw in order to enjoy the deliciousness, but the risk of contracting parasites is very high, so it is necessary to cook them thoroughly at high temperatures before eating. In addition to bullfrogs, freshwater fish and shrimp such as yusheng (freshwater sashimi), snakes, and snails may also carry parasites to prevent parasitic infections. The risk of parasites in freshwater aquatic products is much greater, so do not eat raw freshwater aquatic products.
4
Vinegar, soy sauce, wasabi paste, liquor, etc., do not completely kill possible parasites.
Don't think that you can eat these sauces raw by soaking them.
Photo by Zhang Linlin
5
Eat in moderation
The Dietary Pagoda of Mainland Residents recommends that we eat 120-200 grams of animal food every day and aquatic products twice a week. Among them, the recommended daily intake of livestock and poultry meat is 40~75g, and common aquatic products include fish, shrimp, crab and shellfish, with a recommended daily intake of 40~75g.
Planning and production
This article is a work of popular science China-Star Project