How to recognize fluke-infected pork?

The article was professionally consulted by Dr. Mang Thi Phuong Mai - Department of Medical Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Nha Trang International General Hospital

In the face of epidemics of pigs such as swine flu, swine fever and rampant dirty farming, customers should equip themselves with ways to identify clean pork, fluke-infected pork, weight gainer, and contaminated meat. preservatives, meat contaminated with African swine fever... to be more discerning in choosing food for the family.

Infected meat often has large white spots, also known as rice pork, pork fiber is thread-shaped or oval, the meat is often hard and inelastic.
Clean pork means pork that is not raised with weight gainers, does not have residues of drugs and chemicals in the feed when released from the slaughterhouse, does not contain parasites and parasitic germs on the meat, does not contain preservative. Clean pork usually has a thick layer of skin (skin) and fat.
There are many ways for consumers to identify clean pork and pork contaminated with fluke. The method to detect and identify pork with fluke is to cut the meat along the longitudinal grain and observe the surface of the meat. If the piece of pork has white spots the size of a needle or the meat is thread-shaped or large oval, the pork has been infected with flukes. It can also be identified by touching the meat: the pork is hard, there is no elasticity when pressed, it is not soft... most likely the meat has been marinated with urea or contains borax.
The common fluke that usually infects pork is Cysticercus cellulosae. When flukes enter the human body, they often do not develop immediately into small worms, but continue to exist as larvae, they form tumors that move inside the skin and soft tissues. These mobile tumors often appear in places such as: face, back of hands, back, buttocks, abdomen... Tumors caused by flukes gradually turn into a small nodule or an edematous mass, which can cause damage to the system. central nervous system such as: cognitive disorders, hemiplegia even coma.
When entering the body, tapeworm larvae can also move into internal organs such as liver, lungs, brain... causing abdominal pain, cough, chest pain and shortness of breath, convulsions. If the fluke moves to the eye, it will cause bleeding in the eye, reducing vision, leading to blindness. When they get into the ear cavity, the nasal cavity will cause earache and rhinitis.
Pork, in addition to the risk of infection, can also be contaminated with weight gainers, lean substances from food or soaked with preservatives.

Recognizing that super-lean pork due to chemicals often has a more fishy smell than clean pork, the subcutaneous fat layer of lean meat is usually thin, the lean part and the fat part separate. Clean pork has a bright pink color while lean pork often has an unusually deep red color, the surface is bright and shiny, the skin of the pig may appear red spots that look like a subcutaneous hemorrhage.
Another test to determine whether the meat has weight gainer or leaner is to cut the meat into 3-4 cm thick pieces, if the piece of meat cannot stand upright, it is pork raised with weight gain food.
Clean pork when boiled will give clear water, not containing too much dirt. When cooked, the meat expands, usually without water and has an aroma. As for super lean pork or raising weight gain food, when boiling water, there is often a lot of scum, the water has a bad smell, if roasting the meat will produce a lot of water, eating pork is very dry.

Preservative marinated pork is usually bright red, the meat is firm, and loses elasticity when pressed. Cutting deep inside will feel the meat is quite soft, runny, the meat color is a bit dark and has a strong smell. The meat that has been soaked in this preservative, when washed, will turn pale, have a very unpleasant fishy smell, and the fat is usually yellow. When cooking, the gravy will be very cloudy, with a bad smell, the fat on the surface of the water will separate into small circles instead of floating big fat like fresh meat.

Pigs infected with African cholera often have hemorrhagic spots under the skin, especially on the ear lobes, which look like mosquito bites. The pig's four legs, abdomen, and chest are purple-blue. When dissected, pigs infected with cholera had fluid mixed with blood in the abdomen and chest cavity. The whole internal organs and body are bleeding, the spleen is enlarged, the lymph nodes are very large, the lungs are not collapsed, the trachea is bloody and contains a lot of foam, the kidneys are hemorrhagic, the stomach lining is ulcerated. , the intestine is blocked and contains blood.
Consumers can identify pork infected with African swine fever with the naked eye. Clean pork has a natural bright red color, bright white fat, pig skin has no red, blue or unusual spots, fingers when pressed on the meat do not dent or leak water.
If the pork has a strange color such as: brown, gray, dark red or slightly pale green, the skin (skin) is dotted with hemorrhages, the pig's ears are bruised, when touching the meat, it feels slimy, leak... then this is rancid pork or pork contaminated with swine fever. It is necessary to cook meat carefully because cholera bacteria in pork die at a temperature of 70 degrees C.
Should eat cooked, drink boiling, do not eat blood pudding or pork that has not been thoroughly processed or cooked. When processing, should wash meat with dilute salt water before cooking, wash hands thoroughly with soap before and after cooking. After cooking, you should eat it right away, avoid leaving food for too long to create conditions for bacteria to enter. Cooked food should not be mixed with raw food or raw utensils.
Currently, many places in our country have confirmed that pigs are infected with cholera, but the owners still slaughter pigs, prepare and marinate them with chemicals to sell to consumers. Therefore, everyone needs to know the ways to identify clean pork with preserved chemically soaked meat mentioned above. To avoid buying sick pork, consumers should buy pork from reputable meat suppliers such as supermarkets, clean meat stores. Do not choose to buy at a place that sells pork of unknown origin because of the cheap price.