加熱外賣食品不安全 幾個簡單步驟避免食物中毒

Reheating a takeaway (or if you’reAmerican, take-out) may seem like a good idea at the end of a hard day – butmany of us have learnt that there can be a heavy price to pay. Around onemillion people in the UK suffer food poisoning each year, and it’s oftenbecause we have failed to take a few simple steps.

辛苦一天下來, 加熱外賣食物可能看起來是個不錯的主意– 但我們許多人瞭解, 這可能要付出沉重的代價. 每年英國約有一百萬人食物中毒, 常常是因爲我們沒能採取幾個簡單的步驟.

Michael Mosley of the TV programme Trust MeI’m a Doctor uses a thermal camera to analyse whether reheatedtakeaway food is safe or not.

電視節目“相信我, 我是醫生”中的莫斯利用熱像儀分析加熱的外賣食品是否安全.

As Mosley explains, the trick is to heatthe food until it is 82C (176F) throughout to be sure that you can kill anyharmful bacteria.

正如莫斯利解釋的那樣, 訣竅就是把食物加熱到82攝氏度(176華氏), 熱透爲止, 以確保能將有害細菌盡數殺滅.

That’s easier said thandone: while the outside may seem to be steaming, the inside could have remainedcooler –hosting a pocket of living bacteria. It’s for thisreason that it’s important to stir the dish so that all the food is heated evenly.

這說起來容易做起來難: 雖然外表看着似乎在冒熱氣, 但裏面可能仍然是涼的– 寄宿着一團活菌. 因爲這個原因, 所以攪拌菜餚讓食物各部分得到均勻加熱很重要.

Even after having followed these steps, youshouldn’t reheat a meal more than once. Each time it cools down, you offer moreopportunities for the harmful bacteria to multiply, making it harder to killthem all off the next time you stick them in the oven or microwave.

即使遵循了這些步驟, 也不應當多次加熱飯菜. 每次飯菜涼了, 就爲有害細菌的繁殖提供了更多機會, 下一次把它們放進烤箱或微波爐裏時便更難以殺光細菌.

This is particularly true for oneparticular takeaway favourite – rice – which can host spores of a nasty bugcalled Bacillus cereus. When left in food, the bacteria produces toxins thattrigger diarrhoea and vomiting. Unfortunately, these toxins are “heat stable”meaningthat even if you heat the rice to the point of killing all the bacteria, thetoxins will survive –and you’ll soon notice the effects of ingesting those poisons.

對特別受人喜愛的外賣食品米飯來說尤其如此, 米飯中可寄生蠟樣芽孢桿菌的孢子. 這種細菌殘留在食物中時,可產生毒素,引起腹瀉和嘔吐. 不幸的是, 這些毒素“耐熱”, 意味着即使把米飯加熱到殺光細菌的溫度, 毒素也依然存活– 不久, 吃下這些毒素的後果就會顯現.

If you do want to save your leftovers, youshould cool the rice quickly – before the bacteria can start churning out thosetoxins – and refrigerate within an hour of cooking. Otherwise you really are“playing Russian roulette with your guts”, says Mosley.

如果你想保留剩飯, 就應當迅速冷卻米飯– 在細菌開始產生那些毒素前 – 並在烹飪後一小時內冷藏. 否則你真是在“用內臟玩俄羅斯輪盤賭”, 莫斯利說.