Chinese love to eat food, and food is always "fresh". Speaking of "fresh", the most representative ingredient is "fish".
In addition, the Chinese pay attention to good intentions during the New Year and hope to "have more than every year", so there are even fewer fish on the Spring Festival table.
But here I want to remind everyone that you have to keep your eyes open when buying fish before the Chinese New Year, and don't buy them like the following ones-
Buy fish and meat for the New Year, don't give these 4 kinds for free!
Buying fish
(1) Fish that are too large
When it comes to the Chinese New Year, everyone's mentality of buying things is to buy expensive and big, which looks rich and atmospheric. But if you want to buy fish, it's really not recommended to buy something that is too big.
You've probably heard the saying "big fish eat small fish, small fish eat small shrimp, and small shrimp eat mud", which also reveals the reality of the food chain in the aquatic environment.
The larger the fish, the higher the level of the food chain, which means that they accumulate more harmful substances such as heavy metals (such as mercury, copper, lead, cadmium) and other harmful substances in their bodies, and the greater the health effects of human consumption.
Therefore, international health authorities recommend not eating large fish such as sharks, swordfish, swordfish, and tilefish.
In addition, among the same species of fish, the oversized fish generally indicates that the older the fish, the taste is less tender, and the meat is coarse.
Therefore, don't buy "big fish" for the sake of face, delicious and fresh is the "king"!
(2) Fish with "ingredients" added
As mentioned above, only fresh fish can win everyone's favor, so some black-hearted traders will take some "improper" means for dying fish, such as soaking formaldehyde.
Fish soaked in formaldehyde solution look quite "bright", and if you are not careful, it may be deceived in the past.
However, we must know that formaldehyde is extremely harmful to the human body, and it is also listed as a class 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and long-term exposure can induce nasopharyngeal cancer, lymphoma, brain tumor, leukemia, and gene mutations in the nucleus.
What's more, a little diesel fuel is added to the fish pond, so that the air in the fish pond will be reduced, and the fish that have difficulty breathing will swim vigorously out of survival instinct, which looks particularly fresh at a glance.
If a person eats this kind of "added" fish, it will affect the normal function of the stomach and intestines, causing people to have symptoms such as chest tightness and vomiting.
Therefore, when you buy fish, don't just look at it with your eyes, it's best to pick it up and smell it. If the fish is soaked in formaldehyde solution, it will have a pungent smell of formaldehyde, and the "diesel fish" will smell a faint smell of diesel.
In addition to buying fish during the Chinese New Year, meat is also an indispensable food for every family. The following 2 kinds of meat, I advise you to buy as little or not as much as possible-
Buying meat
(1) Chopped minced meat
As the New Year approaches, the minced meat is deeply loved by housewives, whether it is dumplings or fried meatballs.
If you chop the minced meat by yourself, it is time-consuming and laborious, so many people like to go to the vegetable market or supermarket to buy the minced meat to go home.
It's easy and convenient to buy minced meat directly, but there may be certain health risks.
First of all, we cannot guarantee the safety of the raw materials for the meat filling.
In order to save costs, some vendors may mix leftovers, meat with lymph nodes, or leftover meat sold overnight into fresh meat and stir it together into a meat filling, and then resell it.
In this way, it is difficult to distinguish the quality of the meat from a pile of minced meat, and the quality cannot be guaranteed.
Secondly, in the process of making minced meat, its hygienic conditions are also worrisome.
For example, is the meat rinsed before it enters the meat grinder? Is the meat grinder cleaned regularly?Will the prepared meat filling be contaminated by the uncleaned spoiled meat filling in the meat grinder?
We can't get a definite answer to each of these points.
Seeing this, do you still dare to buy such a minced meat home?
Therefore, it is recommended that you should buy fresh meat at home, and it is advisable to chop it yourself, so that the taste is better and it is more safe to eat.
If the demand for minced meat is high, it can also be processed with a home meat grinder, and it can also create wonderful cooking memories with family members.
(2) Frozen meat
During the Chinese New Year, many people like to barbecue with their families, including grilled chicken wings, grilled chicken legs, and grilled sausages. Due to the high demand for this type of ingredient, people usually buy frozen, which is good and cheap.
Frozen chicken wings, chicken thighs, and grilled sausages are not a problem in themselves, although the taste will be a little worse than fresh, but they can also meet people's nutritional needs.
But one thing to note is that when buying, don't buy one that has been frozen for too long.
This is because although freezing can organize the proliferation of bacteria, it cannot completely prevent the oxidation of fats and proteins, nor can it completely prevent the deterioration of meat quality.
If the freezing time is too long, the meat will not only lose nutrients due to oxidation reaction, making the taste hard and woody, but also produce fat oxidation products that accelerate human aging.
So how do we distinguish whether frozen food has been frozen for too long? Here, Xiaobian will teach you a few tricks:
Step 1: Look at the ice slag
When choosing frozen food, look for ice residue or frost on the surface. If so, it may have been repeatedly frozen or thawed, and the food has a high risk of spoilage.
Step 2: Look at the price
If you find that the price is much lower than the market price, there may be a cat, so don't be greedy for cheap buying. This may be due to the poor quality of frozen food, which itself has a low cost.
Step 3: Look at the thaw
If the meat itself has spoiled and is difficult to distinguish when frozen, once thawed, it will be completely exposed, dull in color, and emitting a distinct odor.
Of course, the reliable way is to go to supermarkets, vegetable markets and other formal places to buy, so as to avoid buying "zombie meat" or "three no meat" to a certain extent.
(Health Daily Push)