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 rarely know that 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 grilled food or hot pot... However, many women blindly buy unlabeled spice packages, with unclear origin, missing production date or expiration date. Cheap spices are also popular in cheap 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 health. Mrs.You should pay attention when choosing, using and preserving the 5 popular spices below.

Seasoning powder

Seasoning powder is gpopular 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 in fake packaging. In addition, some craft workshops also process iodine seasoning powder, spicy and sour seasoning powder.fruit dip bagnylon1-2kgRaw materials of unknown origin and unsanitary processes pose many potential health risks.

Housewives should choose to buy powder in cans.clearorigin, ingredients, quality. This spice is prone to water leakage and bacterial contamination in humid weather. Therefore, care should be taken to keep it airtight and 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 powder

More and more housewives prefer seasoning powder because of its delicious taste and convenient use. Restaurants and eateries also tend to use seasoning powder to add sweetness to stewed 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 eateries (pho, hu tieu, rice, hot pot...) 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 unsanitary conditions will cause bacterial infections.

Mild infections alter 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 that 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 condiment in Vietnamese meals. Good fish sauce is made by naturally fermenting 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 the naked eye. 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;Phan 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.

Roadyes

DWhite 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 sweeter than cane sugar, Chinese chemical sugar is also used by many food and beverage processing establishments without concern for its harmful effects. A small chemical sugar cube the size of a green bean gives the same sweetness as 100g of granulated sugar.

Sugar is a familiar spice of people in the South and 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 or simmer it with boiling water, simmer over low heat and avoid boiling it dry, causing the sugar to burn.If cooked at too high a temperature, the sugar will caramelize, turning the food brown-black, reducing the aesthetic appeal of the dish.For soup, add sugar when the water is just boiling and the dish is almost done.

Southern dishes and especially Western dishes have quite high sugar content. Consuming too much sugar in the form of spices, drinks, candies, etc. will cause dental diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes, etc.roadrecommendationseverydayWHO 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 made with acid by taste 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 vinegar bottle that when shaken, the foam dissolves slowly; has a mild aroma and does not come up immediately when opening the lid; has a light sour taste.

According to VNE