A brief discussion on the health concerns behind the hot barbecue

Recently, a video about barbecue in Zibo has gone viral online, with a lot of positive comments. The government is in good order and people are in harmony. People are releasing the huge pressure of fighting the epidemic in the past three years and enjoying life again. How can barbecue, which is commonplace, become so popular in the whole city? Of course, it is because of its symbolic significance.

As humans have moved from the ancient barbaric era of eating raw meat and drinking blood to a civilized society, the invention of fire and barbecue is an indispensable and important part of the process, which is of great significance. Today, it has a different symbolic meaning of fireworks in the world.

Barbecue smoke ≠ worldly fireworks

Barbecue food is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with an excellent taste. The delicious aroma of the ingredients tempts the stomach and attracts a large number of diners. The hot barbecue brings huge traffic, which is both popular and profitable. Many places have followed suit. However, smoke and fire are not the same as fireworks in the world. Fireworks in the world refer to the scene of cooking smoke when people live, the breath of life, and there are too many scenes that can symbolize this meaning. If barbecue smoke symbolizes fireworks in the world, it is too narrow.

Let’s not talk about the symbolic meaning of barbecue here, and just talk about barbecue itself.

Tradition does not mean science or health

Do not eat some local specialties processed by traditional production methods, such as smoked and grilled meat products, pickled or cured foods, moldy foods, over-fried or fried fish or meat, old soup, etc. Among them, barbecue itself has many disadvantages. First, a large amount of smoke and dust is generated during the preparation of ingredients, which causes a sudden increase in the surrounding PM2.5 value and pollutes the environment; second, the processing method of ingredients is unscientific. Smoked and grilled meat products contain a large amount of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, benzo(α)pyrene, which is a representative strong carcinogen recognized in the world. Excessive frying, frying fish or frying meat, etc., will decompose protein at high temperatures, especially when burnt, to produce strong carcinogens containing benzene rings. Frequent consumption will increase the risk of tumors; third, barbecued meat ingredients are burnt on the outside and tender on the inside, and the temperature difference between the inside and the outside is large, which is either prone to parasitic diseases or infectious diseases, or food poisoning; fourth, eating in diabetes, cough, damp-heat constitution and other conditions will aggravate physical discomfort.

Eating barbecued meat products may increase the risk of contracting cysticercosis. So what is cysticercosis?

Cysticercosis, also known as cysticercosis and pork cysticercosis, is a serious foodborne parasitic disease that is prevalent in my country.

From June 2001 to the end of 2004, my country's Ministry of Health organized a survey on the current status of important human parasitic diseases in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities across the country. A total of 96,008 people were surveyed for cysticercosis, with a positive rate of 0.58%. The population threatened by major foodborne parasitic diseases is mainly women and children, and most of the patients are distributed in western regions, ethnic minority areas and economically underdeveloped areas.

The clinical symptoms of cysticercosis vary greatly, depending on the location of the cysticercosis in the body, the duration of parasitism, the degree of infection, the survival status of the worm, and the host's responsiveness. There have been reports of cases ranging from no symptoms to sudden death.

The above statistics are from 20 years ago. Nowadays, barbecue symbolizes the breath of life and is down-to-earth. Many people love barbecue, regardless of their wealth, and the probability of being infected with cysticercosis has increased.

Depending on the different sites of cysticercosis, cysticercosis can be divided into cerebral cysticercosis, subcutaneous and muscle cysticercosis, ocular cysticercosis, and cysticercosis in other sites.

Cysticercosis should be considered when a suspicious round or oval nodule the size of a soybean is felt under the skin.

If a person has unexplained epileptic seizures and a history of eating raw or undercooked pork in areas where the disease is prevalent, especially if he or she has a history of intestinal tapeworms or subcutaneous nodules, the possibility of neurocysticercosis should also be considered.

Pathological biopsy of subcutaneous nodules and imaging examinations such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can serve as important bases for diagnosis.

Be careful of zoonotic diseases. Although livestock and poultry meat is a delicacy for us and can be eaten, it is not close to raw livestock and poultry meat. Livestock and poultry themselves have their own extensive pathogen group, some of which are zoonotic and can directly infect humans through close contact with humans; due to the destruction of the ecosystem, pathogens that humans are susceptible to carried by livestock and poultry, once directly transmitted to humans through polluted air, soil or water, or indirectly transmitted to humans through rodents, mosquitoes, flies and other human companion species, may cause fatal harm to the infected population. Many zoonotic diseases will directly or indirectly affect human life and safety. Zoonotic infectious diseases and parasitic diseases can be transmitted through contact, or through other means such as eating meat, respiratory tract, and vector insects.

Barbecue is about making the food crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but this is precisely where the risk of zoonotic infectious diseases and parasitic diseases lies. There are many ways to cook, such as frying, stir-frying, cooking, deep-frying, stir-frying, roasting, sautéing, grilling, steaming, burning, boiling, stewing, sautéing, mixing, stewing, braising, pickling, blanching, frying, curing, stewing, boiling, sauce, smoking, brewing, collapsing, stewing, rinsing, air-curing, braising, sticking, and pouring. The cooking principle is to use less pickling, smoking, curing, sauce, frying, frying, and stir-frying, and more steaming, boiling, stewing, and appropriately using stewing, boiling, stewing, mixing, sautéing, sautéing, and roasting. Stewing is the best way to cook meat products, which not only ensures that the processing temperature is not too high, but also ensures that the food reaches a high temperature inside to make it cooked thoroughly. Excessive heating of food in any way will change the properties of the carbohydrates and fats in it, turning it into carcinogens, and the hot barbecue itself should be cooled down.

Health and safety always come first

Don't be a greedy cat, be careful of diseases coming from your mouth. Although you satisfy your appetite, your body will be ruined. A lazy person will not have a good life, and a greedy mouth will not have a good physique.

It is better to eat one fresh peach than a basket of rotten apricots. Prevent food poisoning including bacterial, chemical, animal and plant, and fungal poisoning, as well as heavy metal pollution, antibiotic and hormone residues in the diet, etc.

If you eat something dirty, you will get sick. Don't eat live "meat"; if you take out a bird, you will get a snake! Drink boiled water and eat cooked food, you will not get diarrhea or get hurt.

We cannot control some aspects of livestock and poultry farming, such as whether to add or abuse antibiotics, etc. This requires us to strengthen our self-protection awareness when purchasing livestock and poultry meat, and give priority to purchasing "young" livestock and poultry meat from formal, large-scale markets, brands without complaints, and professional meat companies.

Some strange or overly strong flavors are caused by some food additives and chemical pesticide residues. The premise of satisfying the desire for food is to satisfy the needs of physical health. It is obviously unwise to satisfy the desire for food at the expense of physical health.

Why health and safety always come first?

Without health and safety, nothing else can be done.

How to manage yourself and stay away from danger?

We must strengthen our awareness of self-protection.