here’s how to know if you can eat

With the onset of hot weather, it is increasingly easy to find yourself in unpleasant situations, especially after eating spoiled fish. According to what emerges from the news of the last few days, especially in Sicily, there have been numerous cases of mackerel: those affected have been taken to hospital and hospitalized due to poisoning with bluefin tuna damaged. Many of these cases have been caused by poor fish storage, almost completely ignoring the all-important cold chain.

But what is mackerel? It is a disease that occurs as a result of eating fish contaminated with bacteria. This type of contamination is said to be subtle, since it does not attack the organoleptic characteristics, therefore the fish in question seems excellent to sight, taste and smell and for this reason it is difficult for the consumer to awaken the suspicions. But what really happens in fish? The bacterium that attacks the fish binds to amino acids, such as histidine, present in large quantities in fish such as tuna or mackerel and transforms it, causing the onset of the disease in the consumer which, in a few hours, has symptoms will develop.

The symptoms are very similar to those usually associated with food poisoning: alteration of the gastrointestinal system, therefore diarrhea, vomiting but also headaches and palpitations. The health authorities, to avoid the appearance of the disease, advise us to follow some but important rules such as: always pay attention to the label, which contains the expiry date which, remember, always refers to a product intact, unopened and properly stored. In fact, once the package has been opened, to be sure of not suffering from pathologies, the fish must be consumed within 48 hours.

Another important precaution is to keep the cold chain unchanged: this means keeping the fish always at the same temperature, avoiding the sudden changes that usually occur when the product enters and leaves the refrigerator. The same precautions must be adopted for canned tuna: if once the can is opened it is not used entirely, put it in the refrigerator, adding oil to reduce the risk of it spoiling and finish it as soon as possible. Experts also advise us to be careful with the foods we eat with fish: in fact, it could happen that the bacteria present in these foods contaminate the fish. An example could be vegetables: in this case, it is important to wash them well in order to eliminate any possibility of contamination.