I have been engaged in the hairy crab industry since 2014, and my parents have raised crabs in Yangcheng Lake for more than 20 years. I have eaten a lot of raw crabs, cooked crabs, and dead crabs, but I have not been poisoned to death for so many years. I can give a good answer to this question.
Let’s take a few pictures of our own Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs Zhenlou
First of all, everyone must understand why crabs cannot be eaten after they die?
Because crabs are bottom scavengers, there are many bacteria in digestive glands such as intestinal glands .
After the crab dies, under the appropriate environment and over a certain period of time, bacteria will multiply in large numbers.
Causes the digestive gland to rupture, and heavy metal substances come out of the digestive gland to contaminate crab meat;
At the same time, bacteria decompose the protein of crab meat and crab roe into toxic histamine , which can cause poisoning after consumption.
If there is no environment for bacteria to multiply rapidly, or there is not enough time to multiply, the crabs will still be fresh and can be eaten.
Generally choose crabs that are energetic, as they naturally taste better. The sea crabs that everyone usually eats can usually be bought in supermarkets. Even in coastal cities, dead sea crabs in supermarkets are refrigerated and sold at a discount. Since sea crabs live in seawater for a long time, they are quickly refrigerated after death or caught and transported to other places for sale in cold chains, and generally do not deteriorate. It is edible as long as there is no peculiar smell. (Because the reproduction rate of bacteria is greatly slowed down when refrigerated and salty.)
Freshwater crabs For example, hairy crabs are generally inedible after death. But it also depends on the situation:
1. For example, the crab was alive when you got it, but died after being cooked, or it crawled out of the pot and fell to death when it was cooked. This kind of crab, which was originally very vital, died abnormally due to various reasons. They were thrown to death by couriers, killed by children playing with them, killed by crawling around and falling, and people were pinched and then slapped crabs to death in a rage. These are all edible (the bacteria are killed during the cooking process before they can reproduce)
2. After receiving the hairy crabs, the crabs were lifeless and felt like they were about to die. This kind of crab is generally edible. The crab has no vitality. In most cases, it is because it is fainted by the cold.
3. After receiving the hairy crab, the crab died (confirmed that it was not freezing shock). If the ice water in the express box has not melted away, it can be eaten after cooking and making sure that the crab intestines are not broken. (The reproduction rate of bacteria is greatly reduced at low temperatures)
4. The crab is not dead yet, it is dying. After cooking, the crab meat is not plump, empty, tastes like chewing gum, and cannot be eaten. This kind of crab itself does not have strong resistance. Generally, the crab intestines are broken but it still fights tenaciously. Crabs that are dead or dying under such natural conditions should generally not be eaten. Sellers generally do not ship this kind of crabs because they have to pay for dead crabs.
5. In other cases, such as if the hairy crab has been left at room temperature (20 degrees Celsius) for more than 3 hours after death, do not eat it again. Eating crabs that have been dead for a long time may cause shock or even death
in severe cases
