Urgent reminder: Don’t buy, don’t eat! Excessive toxins have been found!

People who love to eat seafood, don't touch this stuff recently! Recently, Qinhuangdao City detected that the level of paralytic shellfish toxins exceeded the standard in clams!

Haihong is also called mussels, which are commonly known as green mouths. After being cooked and processed into dried products, they are also called mussels. Mussels are a bivalve mollusk with a dark brown shell. They live on coastal rocks and are distributed along the coasts of the Yellow Sea, Bohai Sea and East China Sea in China.

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Previously, incidents of paralytic shellfish toxin poisoning caused by mussels and oysters contamination have occurred in Hebei, Fujian, Tangshan and other places!

Qinhuangdao Municipal Market Supervision Administration

Issue an emergency alert

Recently, the Qinhuangdao Municipal Market Supervision Administration issued an urgent reminder through the "Food Safety Qinhuangdao" WeChat public account:

There is a high risk of excessive levels of paralytic shellfish toxins in clams recently. It is recommended that the general public do not catch, purchase or eat clams, as severe cases may cause respiratory arrest.

It is reported that from April to June every year, there are a large number of single-cell algae containing toxins in the sea water, which accumulate in the body after being eaten by clams and other shellfish.

These toxins are relatively heat-resistant and cannot be eliminated by cooking. There is a high risk of excessive levels of paralytic shellfish toxins in shellfish such as clams.

Recently, the Qinhuangdao Municipal Ocean and Fisheries Bureau collected three scallop samples in the waters of Shanhaiguan District to monitor paralytic shellfish toxins. All three samples exceeded normal values.

Among them, the maximum value of paralytic shellfish toxin content in one sample exceeded the judgment limit by 4.68 times, posing a serious risk to food safety.

What are Paralytic Shellfish Poisons (PSP)?

Paralytic shellfish toxin (PSP) is one of the most common toxins in my country's marine red tide toxins. It is extremely toxic and there is no effective detoxification method.

Paralytic shellfish toxins can cause symptoms such as paralysis of the limb muscles, headache, nausea, salivation, fever, and rash. In severe cases, it can lead to respiratory arrest. Only 0.5 mg can cause death.

To prevent food poisoning caused by eating clams, the marine fishery department has comprehensively strengthened maritime patrols and supervision of fishing ports and fishing docks, prohibiting fishermen from collecting and catching clams ashore; Qinhuangdao market supervision departments have required food operators to completely ban the sale of clams and the processing and production of clams products.

Previously, patients with Haihong poisoning appeared in many places

In severe cases, rescue efforts are ineffective and the patient dies

Previously, there were many cases of poisoning from eating mussels in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, with patients experiencing varying degrees of fatigue, nausea, vomiting, shortness of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, etc. Clinicians learned that the patients all experienced the above symptoms after eating mussels they caught themselves.

In June 2017, more than 30 villagers in Zhangpu County, Zhangzhou City, Fujian Province were hospitalized due to poisoning from eating shellfish products. According to the consultation and judgment of epidemiological experts, it was initially determined that it was paralytic shellfish poisoning caused by red tide pollution in the sea.

In 2021, two cases of poisoning from eating clams were reported in Caofeidian District, Tangshan City, one of whom died after failed rescue efforts.

Two men cooked mussels and clams collected from the cooling water inlet of the power plant. Each of them ate a dozen mussels. One hour later, they developed symptoms such as numbness of the lips, tongue and fingertips, and were immediately hospitalized. One of the men died due to ineffective rescue. The other man's condition worsened during treatment and was transferred to the ICU for treatment. During this period, he had symptoms such as difficulty breathing.

There is no specific antidote for paralytic shellfish poisoning

Mostly occurs from April to October

Paralytic shellfish toxin poisoning often occurs in the high temperature season from April to October. During this period, marine algae reproduce rapidly. Some algae contain paralytic shellfish toxins. After being ingested by shellfish, the shellfish themselves will not be poisoned, but the toxins will accumulate. People will be poisoned after eating shells with high paralytic shellfish toxin content.

According to tests, some shellfish contain not only paralytic shellfish toxins but also tetrodotoxins. The symptoms of paralytic shellfish toxins and tetrodotoxin poisoning are similar, both of which produce paralytic poisoning.

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning

What are the symptoms of poisoning?

The first symptoms of paralytic shellfish poisoning are paresthesia and numbness of the lips, mouth and tongue, which then spread to the face and neck, often with a tingling sensation in the fingertips and toes, and a mild headache and dizziness. Nausea and vomiting sometimes occur in the early stages.

Slightly more severe poisoning can cause paralysis of the arms and legs, impaired voluntary movement, and frequent dizziness.

When poisoning is severe, breathing difficulties and throat tightness may occur; as muscle paralysis continues to expand and worsen, it eventually leads to death. The prominent feature of death by poisoning is that the patient remains conscious until death.

The critical period is 12 to 14 hours. Those who survive this period can expect to recover.

There is currently no specific antidote for paralytic shellfish poisoning, and the only symptomatic treatment is emetic and antidiarrhea methods.

PSP toxins are heat-resistant and cannot be detoxified by normal cooking methods. Therefore, you cannot expect to reduce their toxicity by heating.

How to prevent poisoning?

1

Be careful when buying

Shellfish such as mussels can be eaten, but try to avoid buying shellfish from red tide areas; during the peak period of red tide outbreaks in April and May, it is recommended not to catch or buy (eat) wild shellfish.

2

Buy at a regular place

Whether it is shellfish or other foods, you should choose safe and secure places when purchasing, such as large supermarkets or regular farmers' (seafood) markets. Their hygiene and safety are more guaranteed, and the purchasing, packaging and other processes will also be strictly monitored and quality controlled, which is relatively more reassuring.

3

Remove the internal organs before eating

Shellfish infected with paralytic toxins do not look much different from ordinary shellfish, so you must take precautions when eating them.

Among all the tissues and organs of shellfish, paralytic shellfish poison is more abundant in the digestive glands, skirts, gills, gonads, etc. Therefore, before eating, the viscera of shellfish food should be removed, and the digestive glands and skirts should be strictly removed to reduce toxins and reduce the risk of poisoning.

4

Soup is not recommended

Paralytic shellfish poisoning is a water-soluble biological toxin that will gradually dissolve into the soup during the cooking process, so it is not recommended to drink the soup.

In addition, seafood such as shellfish are high-purine foods. The purine content in general soups is high. Eating them will increase uric acid in the body and increase the risk of problems such as hyperuricemia. Therefore, it is not recommended to drink them.

Planning and production

Source: People's Daily Online

Editor｜Yang Yaping

Proofread by Xu Lai and Lin Lin