At a processing plant in Huanglushan Village, Yanwanghu Township, Hanshou County, Hunan Province, a fishy smell fills the room with color steel tiles, and several female workers sit around a table that quickly sifts through piles of snail meat, some with pink soft debris. Workers shovel the sifted snail meat into plastic baskets, weigh it, and then send it to the cold storage, waiting for the manufacturer's truck to pull away the whole box.
"Fushou snails, how many or how many you want. Ten tons, twenty tons, whatever you want. The person in charge of the processing plant said that in recent years, the number of snails has decreased, and there are more and more snails in wild waters, and the shelled snails are easy to see.
According to statistics, a snail contains parasites, ranging from 3,000 to 6,000. The snail has a strong reproductive ability, can lay eggs 20-40 times a year, and the annual spawning volume is 3-50,000 eggs, which can spread rapidly.
The reason why Fushou snails cannot be eaten is mainly because many Fushou snails have parasites such as Angiostrongyloides cantonensis in their bodies, if they are not fully cooked when cooking, the parasites will easily enter the human body after eating, which may damage nerve tissue, and in severe cases, it will lead to dementia and even death.
The reason why the snail is so notorious is that there was a major food safety accident in Beijing in 2006, and many people who ate the snail were infected with parasites. At that time, there was a dish called cold snail meat in the restaurant involved, and for the sake of taste, it was cold mixed without being fully cooked.
The main harms of Fushou snail to the human body are:
1. Parasite problem: There are many parasites in the body of Fushou snails, the most common and harmful of which is Angiostrongylus cantonensis. If undercooked snails are consumed, these parasites may enter the body and cause angiostrongyloidiasis. This disease can damage the body's central nervous system, causing symptoms such as headache, fever, neck stiffness, nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases, it may even lead to dementia and death.
2. Bacteria and viruses: The environment in which snails live is usually harsh, and it is easy to carry various bacteria and viruses.
3. Not easy to digest: The meat of Fushou snail is relatively hard and not easily digested by the human body, which may cause problems such as indigestion.
How do you distinguish a beneficial snail?
1. Looking at the color, the appearance of the snail is cyan, while the appearance of the Fushou snail is yellow.
2. Looking at the vertebral tail, the vertebral tail of the snail is slender and relatively sharp. The vertebral tail of the snail is relatively flat and short.
3. Looking at the snail cover, the appearance of the snail cover will be relatively round, while the snail cover of the Fushou snail is flattened.
3. Looking at the snail cover, the appearance of the snail cover will be relatively round, while the snail cover of the Fushou snail is flattened.