Official reminder! Be careful when eating this kind of rice noodles recently, as it may cause death!

Expert of this article: Fu Shufang, Master of Food Science and Nutrition Engineering, China Agricultural University, technician of the National Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Diseases

This article was reviewed by Li Lin, PhD in Food Science, Professor of Zhongshan College, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and food safety expert in Zhongshan City

No Cantonese can resist the temptation of "slurping noodles".

However, the crystal clear, chewy and soft rice noodles can sometimes be deadly.

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Recently, a topic "Guangdong people should be careful about eating wet rice noodles" has become a hot search. Wet rice noodles include river noodles, rice noodle rolls (rolled rice noodles), Chencun rice noodles, rice noodles, rice vermicelli, and cold skin.

The Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision Bureau also recently issued a consumer reminder: the shelf life of wet rice noodles is generally 24 hours. Please do not eat them after the shelf life has expired.

You won’t know until you see it. It’s really shocking to see that some people don’t know it. Some people even keep eating it after leaving it for three days…

Why can’t we eat it? Because it’s fatal! Today I will tell you the truth.

Why does wet rice noodles only have a shelf life of 24 hours?

Wet rice noodles are rich in nutrients and have a high water content. They are a nutritionally comprehensive microbial culture medium. Once contaminated by microorganisms, they can easily become rancid and deteriorate. Therefore, the recommended shelf life of wet rice noodles is generally 24 hours.

Wet rice noodles and soaked white fungus, black fungus and other foods are easily contaminated by Pseudomonas cereus in hot and humid environments, producing a deadly toxin, fumonisin. Although fumonisin is called "acid", it is actually a fat substance.

This is not the first time that fumonisin has come into the public eye. In 2020, 11 customers were poisoned in Huizhou City, Guangdong Province, and in the same year, 9 people died in Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province. The "culprit" was fumonisin.

According to statistics, 14 such poisoning cases occurred across the country in the ten years from 2010 to 2020, 84 people were poisoned and 37 people died.

Pseudomonas cocovenenans originates from the soil. This bacterium is afraid of heat and can be killed by normal cooking. However, food contaminated by it is prone to produce fumonisin if left for a long time under suitable temperature and humidity conditions. Fumonisin is highly heat-resistant and can remain toxic even after being treated at 120°C for 1 hour, thus easily causing food poisoning incidents.

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The acute toxicity of fumonisin is very strong. It can cause poisoning after ingestion and can cause serious damage to important organs of the human body such as the liver, kidneys, heart, and brain. There is currently no specific antidote. Once poisoned, the mortality rate is as high as 40% to 100%.

Hot and humid weather is the active period of Pseudomonas cocovenenans, so Pseudomonas cocovenenans food poisoning often occurs in summer and autumn.

What should I do if I accidentally ingest fumonisin?

The onset of fumonisin poisoning is rapid, with an incubation period of 30 minutes to 12 hours, and in some cases 1 to 2 days. The poisoning mainly causes damage to the digestive system, urinary system and nervous system, with the main symptoms being upper abdominal discomfort, nausea, vomiting (the vomitus of severe cases is coffee-colored) and mild diarrhea. Severe patients often suffer from hepatic coma, central nervous system paralysis, and die of respiratory failure. The condition and recovery are related to the amount of toxin ingested.

In addition, people who have eaten the same food should seek medical attention immediately even if they do not have symptoms of poisoning.

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How to avoid fumonisin poisoning?

Generally speaking, fermented cereal products, wet rice noodles, long-soaked black fungus and white fungus, and other spoiled starch products (glutinous rice, millet, sorghum and potato flour, etc.) are prone to cause aflatoxin poisoning.

Fermented cereal products include stinky chazi, sour soup, and gege beans in the north, and glutinous rice balls, fermented glutinous millet, hanging rice cakes, glutinous rice cakes, and vinegar jelly in the south.

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To prevent fumonisin poisoning, be sure to pay attention to:

Try to avoid homemade fermented rice and flour products: It is difficult to control the amount of harmful microorganisms in homemade fermented rice and flour products. For food safety reasons, it is recommended that you try not to make your own. If you want to make your own, you must ensure that the raw materials are safe and not moldy. The grains should be soaked in water frequently to keep them hygienic and free of odor. After grinding, the pulp should be dried in time or dried into powder. The storage environment should be ventilated and moisture-proof, and it should not come into direct contact with the soil to prevent contamination.

Purchase in formal places: When purchasing wet rice noodles, you should choose formal merchants, read the product labels carefully, pay attention to the sensory properties of the product, and be sure to choose foods with regular appearance, normal color and no mold. You should also pay attention to the production date, shelf life, storage conditions and other information of the rice noodles. The Market Supervision and Administration Bureau requires sellers of bulk wet rice noodles to use public notices or signs outside the storage container or in prominent locations such as shelves and containers to indicate the food name, production date or production batch number, shelf life, and the name, address, contact information of the food producer and operator. These are also things we need to check carefully when purchasing.

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Do not eat after the expiration date: The shelf life of wet rice noodles is generally 24 hours, and they need to be stored at low temperatures. Since the optimal temperature for the production of toxins by the Pseudomonas cerebroventris is 26-28°C, wet rice noodles need to be stored, transported and sold at low temperatures; since some companies use excessive amounts of sodium dehydroacetate, some wet rice noodles that have exceeded their expiration date and are stored at room temperature still have no visible mold, sourness, odor or other deterioration, but the risk of poisoning after consumption has greatly increased, so it is recommended that wet rice noodles be bought and eaten immediately, and attention should be paid to their storage temperature.

The soaking time of black fungus should not be too long: Pseudomonas cereus cannot survive in a dry environment, and black fungus and white fungus that are soaked for a long time are prone to produce alfalfa acid. Therefore, be sure to pay attention to the soaking time of black fungus. It is recommended to soak it before eating and do not soak it overnight. Once the surface is observed to be sticky, inelastic, or has an odor, it should not be eaten regardless of whether it is fresh or soaked.

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