Recently, a reporter from the Beijing News conducted an unannounced visit to the meat of a large supermarket chain and found that the meat was washed overnight and re-sold as a special price. If the smell is too strong and the deterioration is obvious, it is directly made into ground meat or marinated with spices. Enema later.

How the overnight meat was "processed" and put on the shelves

Anyone who likes cooking knows that if meat is not stored properly, it will deteriorate in less than 24 hours at room temperature.

This is because microorganisms in the environment will multiply when they attach to the surface of meat. Some bacteria will oxidize and decompose protein, fat, carbohydrates, etc. in meat, and then produce various amines, indoles, acids, Substances with pungent odors such as ketones.

At the same time, the collagenase secreted by microorganisms will also hydrolyze the collagen in the connective tissue, so that the meat will appear mucus, and it will have a very obvious sticky feeling when touched by the hand.

In addition, the proliferation of yellow bacteria, dark blue pseudomonas and molds will cause yellow or green patches on the surface of the meat.

As can be seen from the above, there are three obvious manifestations of spoiled meat: foul smell, mucus and stains.

These are also the three main areas for supermarket employees to deal with overnight spoiled meat in violation of regulations.

If the peculiar smell is not obvious, put it directly into the special meat and sell it without any reminder to the customer, just say "you choose by yourself", whether you will choose the overnight meat depends on the customer's luck and eyesight;

If the odor is big, wash it with water first. After washing and draining, the taste is not obvious and put it in the special meat; if the cleaning is ineffective and mucus appears on the surface, it will all be minced into meat, which not only reduces the odor, but also customers can’t use meat. Is there a way of mucus to distinguish meat quality;

The stench is difficult to treat, and even the overnight meat with stains will take more "work" to process. The meat is ground first, then marinated with spices to remove the taste, and finally poured into homemade sausages for sale.

In the "GB 20799-2016 National Food Safety Standard", there are express regulations on the sanitation of meat and meat products, requiring businesses to detect peculiar smell, rancid smell, abnormal color, mucus, mildew and other abnormalities. The sale of meat products should be stopped.

What will happen to long-term consumption of spoiled meat

Supermarket employees’ illegal operations not only violated consumers’ right to know, but also seriously violated consumers’ right to life and health.

Due to the proliferation of microorganisms, spoiled meat can also produce metabolites such as botulinum toxin and exotoxin, which can damage the human body's nerves and cause muscle stiffness and paralysis.

The amines produced by microbial contamination are irritating and corrosive. They not only irritate the skin and eyes, but also damage the digestive system, causing nausea, vomiting, dizziness and other clinical reactions. In severe cases, they may be unconscious, or even due to heart failure. And death.

If there are less toxic substances in spoiled meat, eating occasionally will not cause greater harm to the body. However, if it is consumed for a long time, toxic substances will gradually accumulate, causing chronic poisoning.

Chronic poisoning is more harmful to the human body than acute poisoning. The long-term accumulation of toxic substances can easily induce the wrong expression of genes and induce cancer, tissue aberrations and mutations. In contrast, vomiting and diarrhea caused by acute poisoning are easy to cure, and generally do not leave sequelae; but cancer and aberrations caused by chronic poisoning are difficult to cure.

How to buy a good piece of meat in the supermarket?

Smell: Fresh meat has its own smell , but it will not have a pungent and sour smell. Meat with peculiar smell will not be bought.

Look at the color: fresh meat is bright red, fat is white or slightly yellow, stains appear or the meat is too dark, don't buy it even if it is cheap.

Touch the surface: There is grease on the surface of fresh meat, but it is not sticky or wire drawing. At the same time, fresh meat is more elastic, rebounds significantly after pressing, and recovers quickly.

Don’t buy self-made products: self-made products are easy to be manipulated. If you need meat, let the staff wring on the spot after you choose the meat; you can buy sausages from big factories. The self-made meat products in supermarkets are for some employees with ignorant conscience. It is said that there is a huge operating space, so it is not recommended to buy it.

Supermarkets are supposed to be places where people can shop with confidence, but people's hearts can never guarantee 100% kindness.

Just like the supermarket that the reporter visited unannounced, even if the supermarket stipulates that the problematic meat must be removed from the shelves, the employees will turn a blind eye to the bonus.

Rules without regulatory power are in vain. In the event of a food safety incident, both supermarkets and specific individuals will bear corresponding administrative and even criminal responsibilities.

While we expect relevant functional departments to increase supervision and random inspections, we also hope that supermarket operators can properly perform their supervisory responsibilities for employees and ensure the health and safety of the people.