3 wrong eating habits of Vietnamese people during Tet

Stockpiling too much food during Tet

In the Northern provinces, the Lunar New Year often has drizzle, the humid weather creates favorable conditions for bacteria and mold to grow. Therefore, poorly preserved food is very susceptible to mold, causing poisoning to users, especially if it causes aflatoxin poisoning, which is very dangerous. Meanwhile, in the South, the weather is hot, foods high in protein such as meat and fish are easily spoiled.

Store food in the refrigerator. Illustration photo.

Therefore, according to the Director of the Department of Food Safety (Ministry of Health) Nguyen Thanh Phong, people should change their consumption habits during Tet and should not hoard too much food. Currently, on the first and second days of Tet, supermarkets and markets are selling goods, fresh products such as meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, etc. are always available, meeting the needs of consumers.

Consider the refrigerator a "treasure"

Nowadays, almost every household has a refrigerator, or buys food to store. However, Mr. Phong warned people not to consider the refrigerator a "treasure" because the refrigerator, unlike the freezer, can only preserve food for a certain period of time.

According to the Institute of Nutrition, the storage time for meat should not exceed 3-5 days, fish is 3 days, and cheese can be kept for 1-3 months. With cooked food, once taken out of the refrigerator, it should only be used once for the next meal, and if there is any left, it should not be left for the next meal. Food contaminated with bacteria, left in the refrigerator for a long time, will still produce toxins. When reheated, bacteria will be destroyed at a temperature of 100ºC, but the toxins produced by the bacteria will still remain, causing poisoning to the user.

Drinking alcohol,beer

Do not drink alcohol or beer, especially when driving. If you drink, you should limit it, do not abuse it, use products with clear origin and declared; absolutely do not use products of unknown origin to avoid poisoning, Mr. Phong said.

Recently, hospitals have received many cases of methanol poisoning. This alcohol is metabolized in the body and becomes a toxic substance that damages all parts of the body, especially the eyes and brain. It takes 12 hours or even 1-2 days after drinking alcohol for the victim to show signs of poisoning such as blurred vision, rapid breathing, drowsiness, slowness, coma, etc.; at that point, the condition is already severe and life-threatening.