A foreign brand of ice cream was revealed to contain the carcinogenic substance ethylene oxide. Will you be poisoned if you eat it?

The weather was very hot this summer, and the cold drink industry, which should have had a booming sales, has been in turmoil recently, with news coming one after another. First, Zhong Mou Cake was reported to be insoluble in fire, and these days, the cold drink giant Ha Mou Das also had problems. Pure vanilla ice cream was removed from the shelves because it contained the carcinogenic substance ethylene oxide. What exactly is ethylene oxide, and why does it appear in cold drinks?

(Pictures from the Internet)

Let’s first understand a little bit about ethylene oxide.

I don’t know if you still remember that there was such a rumor on the Internet at the beginning of the year. It said that newly opened masks must be shaken because there are carcinogens on them. The "carcinogen" is ethylene oxide.

To be honest, ethylene oxide is indeed toxic and is on the list of carcinogens, but we don't have to be afraid of it and we still use it widely. Why is that?

It turns out that ethylene oxide has active chemical properties and can react with the proteins and nucleic acids of microorganisms, destroying their functions, thus achieving the sterilization effect. Moreover, ethylene oxide is not picky at all in killing bacteria and is very convenient to use.

Another trick of ethylene oxide is that it can work under "cold and dry" conditions. When the temperature is maintained at around 50°C, the gaseous ethylene oxide can easily penetrate into every corner of the items to be sterilized and sterilize them completely. It will not damage the items to be sterilized, and it has no corrosive effect on most common substances.

Therefore, ethylene oxide has become one of the most important low-temperature sterilization methods at present. It is often used in medical devices such as masks. After disinfection, as long as it is left in a dedicated ventilated room for about 2 weeks, the ethylene oxide content in the disinfected items will become very low and will not cause harm.

However, it is very strange that ethylene oxide ended up in ice cream, because it is just an industrial disinfectant and not a food additive at all. So theoretically it should not appear in food at all, let alone in the vanilla ice cream that is so popular among young people.

According to some investigations and analyses, it may be due to the contamination of raw materials and packaging materials. It is reported that in some countries, ethylene oxide can be used to disinfect food packaging materials, but this is strictly prohibited in China. And this batch of recalled ice cream happened to be produced abroad.

At present, the matter is still under investigation, and the truth will eventually come out. I believe that what everyone is more concerned about at the moment is, if you happen to have eaten this brand of ice cream before, and it happens to be vanilla flavored, what should you do? Will you be poisoned?

(Pictures from the Internet)

Don't be impatient, let me explain slowly. Ethylene oxide is carcinogenic, but most carcinogens have a certain dose effect, that is, only when exposed to a certain amount and for a long enough time will cancer occur. Therefore, even if you have eaten it, or have eaten it several times, it will not cause much impact. The residual amount in ice cream should not be too high, and after all, no one would eat this stuff as a meal.

Some friends also asked, will other brands of ice cream in our country also have this problem? This is definitely not the case. As mentioned earlier, ethylene oxide is strictly prohibited from being used for food disinfection in China.

However, ice cream is still relatively high in calories, so it is recommended that you do not indulge in it too much, as eating too much will still make you fat.