Hidden dangers in spices that few people expect

Fake spices of unknown origin can cause intestinal infections. Long-term use can damage internal organs, destroy cells, and even cause cancer.

During her 33 years of work, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Lam - Deputy Director of the National Institute of Nutrition, has met many patients whose health has been seriously affected by the consequences of spice poisoning. Housewives often pay much attention to meat - fish - vegetables, but few know that the spices used to prepare food can be unsafe.

Spices make food more delicious to stimulate the sense of taste, smell, sight and digestive system. The kitchen cabinet of a housewife cannot lack sugar, salt, seasoning powder, MSG, fish sauce, soy sauce, curry, soy sauce, spices for marinating grilled food or hot pot... However, many women blindly buy unlabeled spice packages, with unclear origin, lacking production date or expiration date. Cheap spices are also favored by popular eateries. They can immediately improve the color and flavor of spoiled meat and fish.

According to Dr. Lam, unsanitary production, preservation and sale of spices can easily cause serious health effects such as intestinal infections causing poisoning, diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, stomach ulcers or contamination with toxic impurities...

Spices make dishes more flavorful and delicious.

Fake spices are harmful, but real spices if used incorrectly are also not good for your health. Mrs.You should pay attention when choosing, using and preserving the 5 popular spices below.

Seasoning powder

What is broth powder?popular flavor but also the easiest to counterfeit.The technology for making fake seasoning powder is quite simple, grinding dry roasted white salt, garlic powder, pepper powder, MSG, sugar... and then packaging them into fake packaging. In addition, some craft workshops also process iodine seasoning powder, spicy and sour seasoning powder.Fruit Dip Bag Typenylon1-2kgRaw materials of unknown origin and unsanitary processes pose many potential health risks.

Housewives should choose to buy powder in cans.i seeorigin, ingredients, quality. This spice is prone to water leakage and bacterial contamination in humid weather. Therefore, it should be kept airtight and placed in a cool place.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that each adult should eat less than 5g of salt per day. A bowl of pho or vermicelli contains 4-5g of salt. However, according to a survey by the National Institute of Nutrition in 2014, nearly 60% of people consume 2-3 times more salt than the recommended amount, increasing blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney disease, etc. Pregnant women who eat salty foods can develop pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, which are dangerous for both mother and child. ThereforeDr. Lam noted the amount of salt used when using seasoning powder as well as salty spices. Children under one year old do not need to add spices containing salt.

Seasoning

More and more housewives are favoring seasoning powder because of its delicious taste and convenient use. Restaurants and eateries also tend to use seasoning powder to add sweetness to stewed bone dishes. However, recent arrests show that the market is flooded with “3 no” seasoning powder: no label, no origin, no production date and no expiration date.

Many small markets in Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Long An... sell seasoning powder in white plastic bags, hand-packaged 0.5-1kg at half the price of the real product. The main customers are popular restaurants (pho, hu tieu, rice, hotpot...) and industrial kitchens that are greedy for profit, the chef can cook a pot of broth for hundreds of guests with only 15,000 VND of seasoning powder.

Seasoning powder adds sweetness to stewed bones.

Dr. Lam said that seasoning powder, like other packaged spices, must be produced using modern processes, ensuring adequate conditions of temperature, humidity, microbiology, etc. Production staff must also be fully equipped with protective gear and thoroughly cleaned before entering the packaging line. Using “3-free” seasoning powder produced, stored, and sold in unsafe conditions will cause bacterial infections.

Mild infections change the intestinal flora, long-term use leads to the risk of digestive diseases such as diarrhea, constipation, ulcers... At a more severe level, intestinal bacteria such as E.coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus... can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and even death due to poisoning.

In addition, “3 no” seasoning powder also contains many impurities such as heavy metals and banned additives. These substances will accumulate in the body and take a long time to be eliminated. If used for a long time, it will damage internal organs, destroy cells, mutate genes, and form strange cells, which are the premise for cancer. Therefore, housewives should choose to buy products with labels and full information about origin, manufacturer, ingredients, and expiration date.

Femalefish sauce

NFish sauce is a familiar spice in Vietnamese meals. Delicious fish sauce is processed by the natural fermentation method of fresh sea fish and clean salt. To maximize profits, many establishments mix high-class fish sauce.Incubate with water and salt, add colorant, flavoring agent, protein, sweetener, preservative...

Housewives can choose good fish sauce with their eyes. For example, Phu Quoc fish sauce has a beautiful cockroach brown color.no residue,mild aroma, rich taste mixed with sweetnesswhen enjoyed. Nha Trang fish sauce has a straw yellow color; the colorPhan Thiet, Cat Ba, Cat Hai dark brown, stronger aroma but has an unmistakable sweet aftertaste.

You should not marinate the meat with fish sauce before cooking, because fish sauce makes the meat tougher and drier than seasoning powder, salt, and sugar. It is best to season the dish about a minute before turning off the stove to create a delicious, rich flavor while still retaining the nutrients in the fish sauce.

Yesyes

DWhite granulated sugar mixed with toxic phosphoric acid, water and chemicals can turn into golden granulated sugar (chicken fat sugar) with a higher price. With a sweetness several hundred times that of cane sugar, Chinese chemical sugar is also used by many food and beverage processing establishments without regard to its harmful effects. A small chemical sugar cube the size of a mung bean gives the same sweetness as 100g of granulated sugar.

Sugar is a familiar spice of people in the South and the West.

Housewives should know that cane sugar is mildly sweet and dissolves slowly in cold water, not quickly, and is still sweet when used as a dessert like chemical sugar. For stewed dishes, you should marinate the food with sugar to let it soak in or simmer it with boiling water, simmer over low heat and avoid boiling it dry to avoid burning the sugar.If cooked at too high a temperature, the sugar will caramelize, turning the food brown-black, reducing the aesthetics of the dish.For soup, add sugar when the water is just boiling and the dish is almost done.

Southern and especially Western dishes have a high sugar content. Consuming too much sugar in the form of spices, drinks, candies, etc. will cause dental diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc.roadrecommendationeverydayWHO is less than9 teaspoons for men, 6 teaspoons for women.

Gvinegar

Vinegar has the effect of deodorizing, cleaning food, creating sour taste, containing many vitamins, amino acids that are good for health. Naturally fermented rice vinegar is easy to distinguish from vinegar mixed with acid through flavor and color. Acid vinegar is transparent, no residue because it does not contain starch, high molecular substances; alcohol smell; sour, pungent taste. Therefore, women should choose a bottle of vinegar that when shaken, the foam dissolves slowly; has a mild aroma and does not rise immediately when opening the lid; has a light sour taste.

According to VNE