How to avoid Listeria during pregnancy

The refrigerator is a good helper for storing food. However, if there are elderly people, pregnant women, children or people with weak immunity in your home, you need to be very vigilant, because there may be a deadly killer in your refrigerator! That is Listeria.

1. What is Listeria?

Listeria is a foodborne pathogen that is widely present in nature. It mainly contaminates raw milk, cheese, meat and meat products, eggs, vegetable salads, seafood and ready-made foods. Once people eat contaminated food, they may get sick. It is divided into 6 types in total, among which the one that can cause disease is Listeria monocytogenes, commonly known as Listeria monocytogenes.

Listeria also has some names, such as "refrigerator killer". This is because, in the ultra-low temperature environment of the refrigerator, most bacteria do not grow or grow slowly. But Listeria is different, its growth temperature range is 2-42 ℃, its optimum temperature is 35-37 ℃, and it can even survive for a year in a refrigerator at -20 ℃. If you are not careful, you may get caught!

2. What are the harms of Listeria?

The main symptoms of Listeria infection are similar to fever and cold, and are also accompanied by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and pain, diarrhea or constipation, and persistent fever. In the later stages, meningitis or sepsis will occur. The patient will mainly show symptoms of high fever, impaired consciousness, coma and paralysis. In severe cases, it may even cause death.

In addition, Listeria also has two major characteristics: one is that the dangerous period is long, generally 4-21 days, and up to 3 months, so it cannot arouse everyone's vigilance; the other is that it "bullies the good and fears the evil." For people with a normal immune system, Listeria usually causes mild symptoms, similar to a cold or gastroenteritis, which can be cured without treatment. If the patient has a weakened immune system, such as the elderly, pregnant women, children or patients with chronic diseases, the adverse effects will be serious.

After a pregnant woman is infected, she may suffer from miscarriage, fetal arrest, intrauterine fetal death, premature birth, etc. After newborns are infected, the mortality rate reaches 30-70%. Even if they survive, they are very likely to develop pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, etc., and cause lifelong problems such as intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, paralysis, blindness, etc. Therefore, we should be very aware of the threat of Listeria in our daily lives.

3. How to prevent Listeria infection?

Listeria is resistant to acid, salt and alkali, but not to high temperature. Therefore, we can refer to the following suggestions:

1. Frozen leftovers and ready-to-eat foods after opening should be completely heated before consumption to kill Listeria.

2. The refrigerator should not be overfilled. Pay attention to the temperature control and storage time of refrigeration and freezing. Clean and disinfect the refrigerator regularly to prevent the rampant growth of Listeria.

3. People with low immunity (such as the elderly, pregnant women, children, etc.) should eat less or no frozen food to reduce the risk of Listeria infection.

4. Parents should thoroughly clean their hands before and after handling food, separate raw and cooked food when cooking, and use safe water and ingredients.

5. It is not recommended to consume unpasteurized raw milk, refrigerated vegetable and fruit salads or raw seafood, as well as unheated soft cheese, ham and other cooked vegetables (except canned fruits).

In a word, the rule of scientific diet is to cook and eat as much as possible, cook as much as you eat, avoid putting leftovers in the refrigerator, and don't treat the refrigerator as a safe for food. In this way, the threats posed by various pathogens to our health can be greatly reduced.