Hot search! You may be eating this illegal meat product exposed by the 3.15 Gala

This year's 3.15 Gala revealed that some pre-prepared food manufacturers used unprocessed trough-head meat to make Meicaikourou pre-prepared food . What is trough-head meat? Can it be eaten?

Screenshot of media reports

What is trough meat?

The trough head meat refers to the meat at the connection between the pig head and the trunk . In some places, it is called "knife edge meat" or "blood neck meat". Generally, a pig weighing about 200 kilograms can produce about 10 kilograms of trough head meat.

Since there are many lymph nodes in the trough head meat, it is also called lymph meat in daily life. Because it contains a large number of lymph nodes, lipomas and thyroid glands, it is a part of pork that must be strictly "repaired". The wholesale price of normal pork belly is about 12 yuan per catty, while the wholesale price of inferior trough head meat that has not been strictly processed is only about 3 yuan per catty.

Lymphatic meat丨Pictures from the Internet

Therefore, there has been a saying among the people that "blood neck meat cannot be eaten because it contains a lot of lymph nodes, some of which are diseased and harmful to the body."

Can trough meat be eaten?

First of all, pork neck meat ≠ lymph nodes .

Many people equate the two, thinking that pig necks are all lymph nodes. In fact, lymph nodes and pig necks are two different concepts. Lymph nodes are distributed throughout the body, not just in the neck, but they are more concentrated in the pig neck.

Secondly, not all lymph nodes are poisonous. Only diseased lymph nodes are poisonous .

The main function of lymph nodes in the animal body is hematopoiesis and immunity. It is an organ that filters pathogens in the animal body. It can retain all pathogenic microorganisms brought by lymph and prevent them from entering the blood circulation. You can think of it as a "filter device" in the animal body. Only diseased lymph nodes will pose a health threat.

According to the requirements of the "National Standard of the People's Republic of China (GB/T 17236-2019) Livestock and Poultry Slaughter Operation Procedures for Pigs", the slaughtered pigs must be "repaired": repairing visible diseased lymph nodes, removing adrenal glands and residual thyroid glands, etc. As long as these are removed, safety can be guaranteed.

If the three glands are not removed, there is a risk of poisoning or even death . Previously, a person died of thyroid poisoning due to eating pork that did not completely remove the three glands. This is also part of the reason why the folk saying "blood neck meat cannot be eaten" is spread.

In general, it does not mean that all pig necks are inedible. As long as the pig neck meat has been slaughtered in a standardized manner and has passed the quarantine, it is completely safe to eat. The reason why people don’t eat it now is mainly because the trough meat is not delicious **. **

What is the real problem?

The problems found during this 3.15 campaign were mainly illegal manufacturers selling inferior products as good ones and serious violations of food production hygiene standards. The main problems were:

First, the raw materials do not meet the standards . In this case, some of the raw meat used by the company may not have been through the "three glands removal" process, which is a substandard product. Whether it is used for pre-prepared dishes or other foods, as long as it enters the market, it is a violation.

Second, the company's production process is not standardized . Food safety production must comply with corresponding good production procedures, but from the situation exposed in the program, the factory environment, raw material stacking and other dirty and messy conditions obviously do not meet the requirements and are illegal.

However, these are not unique to pre-prepared meals. Any food company that uses substandard raw materials and whose production process does not meet the requirements of good manufacturing practices will produce substandard products and should be severely punished.

According to reports, the State Council Food Safety Office, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the State Administration for Market Regulation will deploy a " special campaign to severely crack down on illegal and criminal activities involving meat products " across the country this year.

Screenshot of media reports

We also look forward to the effective crackdown on illegal businesses by the relevant national departments under the strong law enforcement, which will provide us with a safer dining environment.

References

[1] GB/T 17236-2019 Rules for the slaughter of livestock and poultry - Pigs

[2] GB/T 19479-2019 Good Manufacturing Practice for Slaughter of Livestock and Poultry - Pigs

[3] GB/T 17996-1999 Specification for Quality Inspection of Pig Slaughter Products

[4] Xia Xiuli, Deng Liqun. A case of death from thyroid poisoning in food animals[J]. Chinese Journal of Forensic Medicine, 2007(06):425-426. DOI:10.13618/j.issn.1001-5728.2007.06.008.

Planning and production

Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center

Review丨Zhang Yu, Researcher, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Doctor of Medicine

Planning丨He Tong

Editor: He Tong

Proofread by Lin Lin