The total colony count exceeds the standard by 160 times. Can this common summer delicacy still be eaten?

Although the beginning of autumn has passed, the weather is still so hot that it makes people lose their appetite.

At this time of year, the most popular items on the takeout list, besides milk tea, are definitely cold noodles.

Liangpi is sour, spicy and smooth, and it is also cold, so you won’t sweat easily after eating it. It is a must-have appetizer in summer!

GIF source: SOOGIF

Every time I don’t feel like eating at noon, I just eat a bite of cold noodles and a sip of milk tea, it feels so good!

It feels great, but after eating it... why do I have diarrhea... ?

1. How dirty are the cold noodles sold on the roadside? After a whole day of pulling it, I was almost exhausted. I finally felt that something was wrong and quickly reported the problem to the food technician.

She told me: In the hot summer, these cold dishes actually have some hygiene issues.

In order to verify, she bought four kinds of cold food, including cold noodles, beef tendon noodles, and rolled noodles. After they were delivered, they were sent directly to the laboratory for testing of total bacterial count and coliform bacteria.

Sample fee 198.17 + testing fee 1920 = 2118.17 yuan

After the test results came out, I finally knew why I had diarrhea...

Total colony count

At present, our country has not made any regulations on the microbial conditions of this kind of cold noodles, but we found a local standard in Guangdong Province. Cold noodles are rice and flour products, which happens to be within the scope of application of this standard.

According to the standard, if the total colony count of cold noodles is greater than 100,000 CFU/g, it can be regarded as an unqualified product. The cold noodles we tested this time all exceeded this limit and can be judged as unqualified products.

Even the No. 3 cold noodle with the lowest total colony count had 3.2 million CFU/g, while the No. 2 cold noodle had 16 million CFU/g, 160 times higher than the standard.

Many people think that overnight food is unhygienic, but even the cold dishes that are most likely to breed bacteria (taking cold cucumbers as an example), after being placed in the refrigerator for a day and a night, the total colony count is only 980,000 CFU/g.

Who would have thought that the freshly made cold noodles that look like they were just being eaten are actually dirtier than the overnight cold cucumbers?

Generally speaking, there are several main reasons for the excessive total colony count: poor sanitary conditions in the production and processing process, inadequate cleaning and disinfection of packaging containers, loose sealing of product packaging, improper storage and transportation conditions, etc.

In short, it reflects the sanitation of food during processing, transportation and storage. If this value is high, it means that the environmental sanitation of food during the whole process is poor.

In addition, it also reflects the freshness of the food. If the value is relatively high, it means that the food may be spoiled and there is a potential health hazard.

Coliform bacteria

There is no limit standard for coliform bacteria in ready-made foods such as cold noodles. We found a standard for pre-packaged gluten products as a reference.

According to the standard, the number of coliform bacteria in all samples cannot exceed 1000 CFU/g. However, the number of coliform bacteria in the four samples of cold noodles we tested this time exceeded this value. The actual measured value of one cold noodle even reached 380,000 CFU/g, which is 380 times the limit.

If coliform bacteria are detected in food, it means that it is likely to be contaminated by pathogenic bacteria (such as Salmonella, Shigella, and pathogenic Escherichia coli).

If you eat food that contains excessive coliform bacteria, you are likely to experience symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Many people experience diarrhea after eating cold noodles, and they think it is just a physical problem that they cannot eat raw or cold food. However, they do not know that this is the body's warning about food hygiene.

If you have also tried Liangpi during the epidemic, you will probably understand why its microorganisms are so easily exceeded:

To make a portion of cold noodles, you need to knead the dough, wash it, let it settle, and steam it. Washing the dough needs to be repeated seven or eight times, and letting it settle takes at least four hours. This whole process takes at least six hours.

Therefore, many stores will make it one day in advance and use it the next day; or make a lot at one time and then use it over several days.

During this process, if stored improperly, bacteria will easily grow.

Some vendors use fresh cold noodles produced in factories, which are much more hygienic. However, the cold noodles are not ready to eat as soon as they arrive. They are usually put on the stalls near noon and used until the evening.

The temperature is high in summer. If it is a small vendor without refrigeration conditions and the sanitary environment is relatively poor, it will be easier for bacteria to breed.

Image source: Internet

There was a cold noodle shop near our company. Every morning, they cut the cold noodle and put it in a basket. At noon, they mixed it and served it to everyone. During that time, many of our colleagues had diarrhea...

2. Will eating too much cold noodles cause poisoning? I often hear from the older generation that some unscrupulous vendors secretly add some borax to make the cold noodles/rice noodles taste smoother and look better.

Borax is toxic and difficult to be excreted by the human body. If you eat too much of this food, you may suffer from loss of appetite and indigestion at the least, or acute kidney failure at the worst.

Countries around the world generally prohibit the addition of borax to food. In 2008, the former Ministry of Health of my country also included boric acid and borax in the "List of Non-food Substances and Food Additives that May Be Illegally Added to Food and Easily Abused".

It stands to reason that with such strict control now, there should not be many borax cold noodles on the market. But when we searched on the Internet, we found that in the past three years, a total of 43 cases of illegal borax addition have been investigated and dealt with.

It is true that wherever there is profit, there are people who will take risks.

Well, since some people are still adding illegally, let’s test it.

We bought another batch of the previous 4 types of Liangpi, and also bought 2 pre-packaged Liangpi online. We sent them to the laboratory to test their borax content.

The results showed that none of them were detected. It seems that there will be no problems with the cold noodles purchased from regular brands or channels.

In addition to cold noodles, these foods have also been reported to contain borax:

In fact, we understand:

Liangpi not only carries the memories of many people's hometown, but also the memories of summer. Its significance to summer is probably as important as watermelon, and it is impossible not to eat it.

But how to choose and how to eat is very important.

If you are like me, your life in summer is given by Liangpi, then you might as well take a look at our suggestions:

Have you eaten cold noodles this summer?

If you have had diarrhea after eating Liangpi, or you also love Liangpi, please leave a message to tell us~

References: [1] http://www.nhc.gov.cn/cms-search/xxgk/getManuscriptXxgk.htm?id=51441

[2]http://www.samr.gov.cn/search4/s?searchWord=%25E7%25A1%25BC%25E7%25A0%2582&column=%25E5%2585%25A8%25E9%2583%25A8& pageSize=10&pageNum=0&siteCode=bm30000012&sonSiteCode=&checkHandle=1&searchSource=1&govWorkBean=%257B%257D&sonSiteCo de=&areaSearchFlag=-1&secondSearchWords=&topical=&docName=&label=&countKey=0&uc=0&left_right_index=0&searchBoxSettin gsIndex=&manualWord=%25E7%25A1%25BC%25E7%25A0%2582&orderBy=0&startTime=&endTime=&timeStamp=0&strFileType=&wordPlace=0