Stop eating blood pudding before it's too late

Many people believe that eating raw blood pudding is cool and nutritious, and many of them have paid with their lives.

High risk of infection

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, an officer at the Institute of Food Technology, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, shared that nowadays people not only eat blood pudding from common animals and poultry such as pigs, ducks, and goats, but also from wild animals such as moles and porcupines.

“Many people believe that eating blood pudding has high nutritional value and can cure diseases. However, in reality, blood pudding is not as nutritious as many people think, and is even very harmful,” Associate Professor Dr. Thinh affirmed.

Firstly, eating raw blood pudding is essentially eating raw blood along with meat and bones, so it is completely impossible to destroy bacteria and parasites in the animal.

"Blood pudding carries many pathogens, especially the blood of pigs, chickens, ducks... that are infected. For example, if you eat blood pudding from a sick pig, its blood will contain germs and bacteria that cause disease. Therefore, people who eat blood pudding from this animal will be at risk of contracting diseases such as streptococcus suis, parasitic worms, gastrointestinal diseases, meningococcal encephalitis, and in severe cases, it can cause death," Mr. Thinh added.

According to the expert, the risk of infection from blood pudding is very high, especially in the context of outbreaks of many diseases such as influenza A/H5N1, H1N1.

Second, the risk of poisoning from animal blood is very high. During the process of cutting the animal’s throat, there is both black and red blood that workers can hardly distinguish. Mr. Thinh said that black blood is the animal’s toxic waste, which is completely harmful to health.

In addition, he affirmed that eating blood pudding is not a good culture of the Vietnamese people because it comes from the culture of ancient hunters who drank the fresh blood of shot animals. Therefore, we should not eat blood pudding.

Experts recommend that you should immediately stop the habit of eating blood pudding.

Blood pudding is not cool, it cannot cure disease

Associate Professor Dr. Thinh also said that currently in many places such as Moc Chau, Son La, people eat steamed blood pudding instead of raw blood pudding, so the risk of infection is less, but this dish does not have the medicinal effect as many people say.

“There is no basis to assert that eating blood pudding is cool. It is just that when eating blood pudding, you eat raw blood and cold meat, so you feel cool in your mouth. Cooked animal blood also has nutritional value and helps provide iron for the body, but eating raw blood, besides the risk of infection, the red blood cells in it are not easily digested by the human body, and can even cause illness,” he analyzed.

Sharing the same view, Dr. Cao Thi Thanh Huong - Deputy Director of the Center for Inheritance and Application of Hanoi Oriental Medicine Association also affirmed that blood pudding has no medicinal effect.

"Blood pudding has no medicinal properties in Oriental medicine, on the contrary, eating it is very dangerous and can lead to death. However, eating blood pudding does not cause illness immediately, but usually has an incubation period. Therefore, it is best for everyone to quit the habit of eating blood pudding as soon as possible," she said.

Don't let worms crawl into your brain.

Dr. Dang Thi Nga, Institute of Malaria - Parasitology - Entomology of Ho Chi Minh City said: "Any parasite, including bacteria, when entering the body will first enter the blood, then enter other parts. Meanwhile, the structure of the brain is very loose, so worms and parasites will easily enter and adapt there. In the brain, there are more worms than worms, although worms also parasitize in the blood."

Whether people who eat blood pudding are infected with worms or parasites depends on whether the animal is infected with worms or not. Ms. Nga added that normally, animals that are raised industrially and fed with bran are less infected with worms than animals raised by households or raised naturally. Because they are fed with processed industrial bran instead of being grazed on sandy soil and eating grass or vegetables that contain worm and parasite eggs and larvae. Of course, industrial animals will be at risk of being poisoned by other chemicals.

Dr. Nga also recounted many cases of death due to eating blood pudding. She remembered the case of patient H., owner of a pig offal and blood pudding shop in Thai Binh, who was hospitalized in a state of total paralysis. CT scan results showed that the patient's brain contained a lot of worms. The patient later died because it was discovered too late.

According to the expert, infectious diseases from sick pigs and chickens are not only easily transmitted through the digestive tract such as eating undercooked meat, nem chao, and blood pudding, but also through contact. People who care for, slaughter, and transport meat and blood of sick animals can be infected through wounds and scratches on the skin.

Therefore, those who slaughter, distribute, and process pork, poultry, and waterfowl need to wear quality-assured gloves.

“Eating raw blood pudding is a habit that can easily cause illness for those who eat it. If the illness is severe, it can lead to death or neurological sequelae such as dementia, memory loss, paralysis, and amputation. It is best for people to immediately give up this habit,” warned Dr. Nga.

According to Zing.vn