Sick pork is difficult to identify with the naked eye, but can be recognized through some abnormal signs such as color, elasticity, smell or secretions.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Duy Thinh, a food safety expert from Hanoi University of Science and Technology, said that it is impossible to accurately determine whether pork is infected with African swine fever in particular or other infectious diseases in general with the naked eye alone, but must rely on clinical examination of live pigs, post-slaughter examination and testing to conclude. Not to mention, some fraudulent establishments often use spoiled pork that has begun to decompose to make dishes that need to be pureed and heavily flavored. The characteristic of these products is that the ingredients are finely ground and mixed with many spices and additives, so signs such as pale color and bad smell are difficult to detect.
Typically, sausages are foods that are susceptible to fraud regarding origin, quality and expiration date. This product also often uses food coloring to create an eye-catching red color. It is very difficult for consumers to distinguish the quality of meat used to make sausages and sausages just by common sense.
However, from a food safety perspective, consumers can recognize some unusual signs to avoid buying meat that is at risk of poor quality, as follows:
Observe the color: Healthy pork is bright pink to light red, the surface is dry, while abnormal meat will be dark, purple or unusually dark red. Some pieces have many tiny bleeding spots or bruises under the skin, ears or muzzle have bleeding areas (if the pieces are still intact).
Check elasticity: Fresh meat pressed by hand will spring back quickly, but poor quality meat will be soft or too mushy, the surface will be viscous, leaving dents that take a long time to recover when pressed.
Smell: Do not buy meat if it smells rancid, sour or unusual, smells of medicine or strange chemicals.
Observe the secretions: Normal meat has almost no liquid, while meat leaks a lot of red juice, cloudy juice or has viscous juice, you should avoid buying it.
Internal organs: The liver, spleen, and lymph nodes may be abnormal in infected pigs, such as swelling, bleeding, and many purple or black spots.
Particularly for meat infected with African swine fever, pig skin and ears may appear mottled hemorrhagic spots, and the ears may turn purple-blue. When slaughtered, internal organs often bleed. The meat has strange colors such as dark red, brown, purple or greenish gray, no longer the natural bright red color. When touched, the meat is soft, less elastic, and may leak water or be slimy.
Another risk is that diseased pork is treated with chemicals or dyes to deceive buyers. These pieces of meat may look unusually bright red on the outside, but they are hard and lack elasticity. When cut open, the inside may be dark, mushy and have a strange smell. When washing, the meat easily becomes pale, has an unpleasant fishy smell, and the fat turns yellow. When cooking, the meat juice is often cloudy and has a foul smell. The fat does not float large but separates into small particles. However, these signs are not always obvious.
Pork infected with African swine fever not only contains cholera pathogens, but can also be infected with other bacteria or diseases such as blue ear, influenza, and typhoid. Even though cooked, toxins still remain in the meat. When ingested, it can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and even septic shock, which can lead to death. On the other hand, sick or dead pork can be infected with other types of bacteria and parasites (such as helminths, Salmonella, E.coli) causing poisoning or dangerous digestive diseases for humans.
Doctor Le Van Thieu, Central Tropical Diseases Hospital, said many viruses in pigs are not transmitted directly through the digestive tract but can be transmitted indirectly through hands or unclean processing utensils. Toxins such as histamine, endotoxin, and mycotoxin still exist even when cooked at 100°C. When eaten, it is easy to get acute poisoning with signs of severe vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, high fever, and low blood pressure. Severe cases can lead to shock and death.
Long-term exposure to small amounts of toxins will damage the liver, kidneys, immune system and increase the risk of cancer. Meat containing toxins often does not change color or taste, causing users to let their guard down.
Unsafe pork also carries the risk of being infected with parasites such as trichinosis and pork tapeworm, which can easily enter the human body when eating infected meat that is not thoroughly cooked, which can cause damage to muscles, eyes, and the central nervous system.
In addition to diseased pork, you should be wary of meat with white spots appearing on the grain, which can be a sign of tapeworm infection. These white particles are rice fluke larvae, shaped like rice grains, with a white, hard head, containing fluid and fluke heads inside. Tapeworm larvae enter the pig's digestive tract, then parasitize strong muscle groups such as the base of the tongue, thighs, shoulders, legs, diaphragm... Industrially raised pigs rarely get this disease, mainly found in free-range pigs. Meat infected with tapeworms has a strange taste and poses many risks of disease from preservative chemicals if it does not meet standards.
Experts recommend choosing to buy meat from a reputable, quarantined place. Avoid buying meat that is pale, bruised, watery, has a fishy odor or has skin with many bleeding spots. Pork needs to be cooked thoroughly, not eaten undercooked like spring rolls, blood pudding... When preparing, wash your hands thoroughly and use separate cutting boards for raw and cooked foods to prevent cross-contamination. Absolutely do not buy unusual meat just because it is cheap. Consumers should be alert to online information, know how to select and apply food safety knowledge to protect their health in a context where dirty food is still risky.
