You'll be shocked at first glance! There are so many dangers hidden in the kitchen!

Expert of this article: Chu Yuhao, PhD of Beijing University of Chemical Technology, engineer of Sinopec Beijing Research Institute of Chemical Industry

You gain 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 or 80 kilograms every Spring Festival. Is this your biggest "gain"?

During the Spring Festival holiday, the thing we enjoy most is sitting together as a family and having a reunion dinner.

The Spring Festival is finally here, so we must eat well, but safety issues in the kitchen cannot be ignored.

What are the potential hazards in the kitchen? How to avoid them? What behaviors should we pay special attention to? Follow the editor to read carefully and spend a delicious and healthy Spring Festival together!

What are the potential hazards in the kitchen?

The potential hazards in the kitchen can be divided into three categories: oil smoke, mold and leftovers.

Our daily cooking methods that use oil, such as frying, stir-frying, boiling, and deep-frying, will produce oil smoke. There are many harmful substances in oil smoke, including carcinogenic benzopyrene and heterocyclic amine compounds, fat oxides that may cause cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and even substances such as acrolein that irritates the human respiratory tract. Long-term exposure to high-concentration oil smoke is very harmful to the human body.

Mold is a major potential hazard in the kitchen. The kitchen is a place where dirt and grime can easily accumulate. Food, dishes, and rags are all likely to become moldy. Once something is moldy in the kitchen, its spores will spread throughout the kitchen and will become moldy when the environment is suitable.

The most harmful mold is aflatoxin, which is one of the strongest carcinogens discovered so far. 1mg of aflatoxin can cause cancer, and if 20mg is ingested at one time, it can even directly cause death in adults. Aflatoxin likes to hide in moldy foods, especially foods with high starch content, such as peanuts, corn, beans, nuts, etc. If chopsticks contaminated with these foods are not effectively cleaned, they will easily become moldy and produce aflatoxin over time.

The harm of leftovers is the most easily overlooked. First, leftovers can easily become a breeding ground for bacteria, which can be harmful to the human body. Second, the nitrite content in leftovers will increase, and excessive intake of nitrite can cause cancer. Finally, if leftovers are dumped into the sewer for a long time, they will produce methane (methane) due to fermentation over time, which may even cause an explosion when exposed to open flames.

How to avoid hazards in the kitchen?

The best solution to cooking fumes is to install a powerful range hood to promptly remove the cooking fumes from the kitchen. Keep the kitchen well ventilated, open windows and ventilate frequently. After cooking, keep the range hood on for ten minutes to remove the remaining fumes in the kitchen and avoid the accumulation of fumes.

Once mold is found in the kitchen, the moldy food and tableware need to be thrown away immediately, and then the kitchen should be thoroughly disinfected with disinfectant to prevent the spread of mold. It is best to always have a high-temperature disinfection cabinet in the kitchen, and the tableware needs to be disinfected regularly. The cutting board and knives need to be cleaned in time after use, ventilated and dried to prevent the growth of mold.

Leftovers are inevitable, so leftovers need to be wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator as soon as possible. They should not be left at room temperature for too long to prevent bacteria from growing. When eating again, the food needs to be fully heated up, and try not to eat leftovers that are more than 3 days old.

What are some "suicidal" behaviors in the kitchen?

Pouring flour and starch beside a burning fire

Flour and starch have a low density and are easy to float in the air when poured. Once the dust content in the air in the kitchen reaches a certain level, it is very easy to cause a dust explosion when it encounters an open flame. Such accidents are not uncommon, so you must never pour flour, starch or other powdery substances near an open flame.

Microwaving Foods with Shells and Skins

When you use a microwave to heat food with shells and skins (such as eggs, chestnuts, etc.), the water vapor in the shell will continue to accumulate and cannot be released to the outside. When the shell cannot withstand the pressure caused by the accumulation of water vapor, it will cause an explosion. Therefore, you must remove the shell membrane of food with shells and membranes before putting it in the microwave to heat.

All the leftovers are dumped down the drain

If leftovers are left in the sewer for a long time, they will ferment and produce methane, commonly known as "marsh gas". Methane is a flammable and explosive gas. Once it spreads out of the sewer, it will explode when it encounters an open flame. Therefore, leftovers and other kitchen waste must be properly handled according to the garbage classification and cannot be poured into the sewer at will.

Healthy tips in the kitchen

1. The cutting board in the kitchen often becomes a hotbed for bacteria to grow. When cleaning the cutting board, we can use the bactericidal effect of salt. Sprinkle a thin layer of salt on the wet cutting board, leave it for half an hour, and then rinse it with clean water. This is both convenient and hygienic.

2. When reheating seafood leftovers, you can add appropriate amounts of cooking wine, onions, ginger, garlic and other seasonings to kill bacteria and enhance the flavor.

3. When reheating meat leftovers, you can add an appropriate amount of vinegar, which can not only kill bacteria, but also make the produced calcium acetate easier for the human body to absorb.

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