When dining outside, you may have seen or practiced such a "pre-dinner ritual" yourself: tear open the packaging of tableware, pour hot water, wash the cup, chopsticks, dishes...
Many people think that the tableware outside is unhygienic, and scalding hot water can disinfect it. So the question is, is this approach useful?
1 Is catering utensils hygienic?
is hygienic or not. In addition to visible dirt, what is more important is whether there are pathogenic bacteria.
"GB 14934-2016 National Food Safety Standard Disinfection Meals (Drinking) Tools" stipulates that " coliform and Salmonella shall not be detected."
In recent years, the detection rate of salmonella has been low. Let’s take a look at the more common coliform population.
(1) Sampling results of Shanghai market supervision department
In March 2021, Putuo District reported that 6 batches of catering utensils were unqualified, and all the unqualified items were coliform bacteria;
In May 2021, Baoshan District reported that 150 catering utensils were randomly inspected for catering units, of which 5 were unqualified, and all the unqualified items were indicated bacteria (total colonies, coliform bacteria);
In June 2021, Huangpu District reported that coliform bacteria were detected on tableware of 9 catering units.
(2) Related investigation and research
(3) Online reports
There are also reports on the detection of coliform bacteria in catering utensils in Internet celebrity Japanese cuisine and well-known hot pot restaurants. If you are interested, you can search and view it yourself.
Overall, the microbial pollution of catering utensils is generally acceptable, but there are still unqualified situations. In most cases, direct use is not a big problem and will not cause disease. Although occasionally it may cause abdominal pain, gastrointestinal discomfort, and severe symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting, most people may not notice it. Instead, they think it is caused by eating too spicy food or cold drinks too ice, which stimulates the gastrointestinal tract.
2 Can rinse with hot water disinfection?
We analyze it from the two aspects of thermal action and mechanical action.
(1) Thermal action
Common intestinal infectious disease pathogens can be infected through unclean tableware, such as hepatitis A virus, which needs to be maintained at 100°C for up to 5 minutes before it can be inactivated.
Daily household tableware should be boiled and disinfected. After the water boils, keep it for more than 10 minutes, and the tableware needs to be completely submerged in water. The hot water provided by restaurants generally does not reach 100℃, not to mention only rinsing it for a few seconds. From a professional perspective, the effect is relatively limited and cannot achieve the purpose of sanitation and disinfection.
(2) Mechanical action
Washing tableware, in addition to the thermal action, mechanical action can also be used to remove some microorganisms and rinse away some washing residues. However, due to the short time and no detergent, the effect of sterilization and disinfection is very limited.
Washing tableware at most will flush out some of the microorganisms, but it is impossible to kill them. It can only be said that it is a little useful.
3 Before using tableware, you should "see and smell"
1. Check if there is any mildew
, especially wooden and bamboo chopsticks, which are more likely to get moldy.
2. Check if there are any stains
Check if there are any foreign objects on the tableware.
3. Smell if there is any odor
Come close and smell if there is any pungent, irritating, or abnormal smell.
If the above situation exists, it is useless to rinse it. It is the correct way to directly replace new tableware!
4 Is it necessary to bring your own tableware?
is not necessary for most people. For people suffering from immune-related diseases or allergic diseases, infants and young children, it is recommended to bring their own tableware when eating out.
References:
[1] Song Haizhen, Wei Wancai, Shi Hongxia, Qi Dioming. Analysis of microbial detection results of disinfected meal (drinks) utensils in Gansu Province from 2018 to 2020 [J]. Modern Food, 2021(09):117-119.DOI:10.16736/j.cnki.cn41-1434/ts.2021.09.033.
[2] Wang Xiujin, Li Jianhui, Liao Zhenyu. Analysis on the safety status of catering food and disinfected catering utensils in Hebei Province in 2019[J]. Journal of Food Safety and Quality Inspection, 2020, 11(23):9027-9032.DOI:10.19812/j.cnki.jfsq11-5956/ts.2020.23.076.
[3] Wang Weiya, Wu Shanshan, Lin Zhichao, Wang Qian. Analysis on the disinfection effect of catering utensils in Nanchang City in 2018[J]. Food Safety Guide, 2019(24):103-104.DOI:10.16043/j.cnki.cfs.2019.24.084.
[4] Ye Lei, Sun Jinhai. Monitoring of hygiene status of disinfected dining utensils in a certain district in Shanghai from 2015 to 2017 and its influencing factors [J]. Shanghai Preventive Medicine, 2019(2): 146-149.
Provided by: Zhang Yucheng Liu Tian
Edited by: Zhang Chenyue
Reviewed by: Lu Donglei Zhu Renyi Feng Xiaogang
