You should throw away all leftover food during Tet to avoid food poisoning.

With the habit of storing food in the refrigerator, especially cooked food during Tet, experts warn that this situation can easily cause poisoning.

That is the opinion of Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan (Poison Control Center - Bach Mai Hospital) when asked about the poisoning situation during Tet, as well as the risk of poisoning after the Lunar New Year holiday.

Doctor Tuan said that during the Lunar New Year this year, there were not many food poisoning patients, accordingly, the number of food poisoning patients was only about 7 cases hospitalized with vomiting and diarrhea, all of which were treated stably and were discharged soon.

However, Dr. Tuan warned that after Tet, the risk of food poisoning, including alcohol poisoning, is likely to increase. The reason given by Dr. Tuan is the habit of hoarding leftover food during Tet and the increase in drinking at the beginning of the year in many families and offices.

“This happens every year after Tet because Vietnamese people still have the habit of storing a lot of food for Tet. Mixing raw and cooked food in the refrigerator already has the risk of bacterial contamination, and food stored for a long time has an even higher risk of bacterial contamination causing food poisoning,” said Dr. Tuan.

Using leftover food after Tet can easily cause food poisoning.

At the same time, Dr. Tuan also affirmed that there is no type of alcohol that is safe to consume. Even foreign wines that are considered “genuine” can still cause poisoning when consumed in large quantities. Because when drinking too much alcohol, being drunk will cause respiratory depression (weak breathing, slow breathing, respiratory arrest, wheezing, phlegm retention), weak cough or spitting, hypothermia (cold skin), defecation, low blood pressure, coma, and if not treated promptly, death.

Faced with the above situation, Dr. Tuan recommends that people should consider which foods to keep or give up. In particular, foods that are suspected of being spoiled, especially processed foods and foods that have been processed many times, should be discarded.

Nutritionists also point out that leaving food in the refrigerator for too long, especially cooked food, will cause it to change, reduce its nutritional content and produce many substances that are harmful to the health of the user. The freezing and thawing process causes a loss of 1/3 of the fat dissolved in the meat, some substances are almost completely lost. In general, the total nutritional content after each freezing and thawing is reduced by 20%.

Furthermore, many people when storing food in the refrigerator, many families do not preserve it properly, which is also harmful when it has not "expired". Therefore, in the case of storing food in the refrigerator, it is necessary to separate and wrap raw and cooked food carefully.

When taking food from the refrigerator, many people have the habit of just reheating it, which is the reason why many people get food poisoning and digestive disorders from food stored in the refrigerator. Because reheating food is difficult to ensure enough temperature to kill germs if the appropriate temperature is not used for each type of food.

When food is just reheated, not reaching boiling temperature for a few minutes, it cannot kill bacteria. Therefore, cooked food in the refrigerator when taken out must be reheated to a boil to kill all bacteria. Foods that cannot be boiled such as lard and frozen meat must be carefully preserved in sealed containers to prevent bacteria from entering.

According to Viet nam.net