After the storm and flood, many areas were isolated. People needed support with necessities including food and clean water to drink.
In addition to the contributions of money and essential goods, a large amount of food has been donated by departments, organizations, charity groups and individuals to flood-hit areas. However, distributing goods and food to people is not simple, it takes time to travel, the roads are difficult, and the weather is rainy and windy, so it is necessary to pay attention to ensuring safe food reaches people in storm and flood-hit areas.
Among the relief goods this year, many types of banh chung, banh mi and many other foods made by groups or households are vacuum-packed to preserve them during transportation and distribution to people in flood-affected areas.
Self-processing, packaging and vacuuming food can help extend the shelf life of food, but there may be a risk of not ensuring food safety due to unsanitary processing leading to the risk of food contamination, especially anaerobic bacteria contamination, producing toxins that cause poisoning to users. One of the anaerobic bacteria that often causes poisoning in canned foods and vacuum-packed foods is Clostridium botulinum, a type of absolutely anaerobic bacteria that produces spores; the toxin of Clostridium botulinum is only produced in an anaerobic environment, is very virulent and has a serious impact on human health, and can even cause death with very small doses.
Ministry of Health recommends:
For food relief organizations/individuals:
- Prioritize donations and support of prepackaged food with long shelf life and preservation such as: dry food, canned food, sealed packaging such as meat, fish, canned vegetables and fruits, instant noodles, sterilized sausages, bottled water, jarred water... from processing facilities that ensure food safety, have labels and full expiry dates according to regulations;
- Support vitamins and digestive enzymes to support the health of children and the elderly in storm and flood areas.
- When preparing food yourself and vacuum packaging it to support people in storm and flood areas, you should note:
Choose foods suitable for vacuum packaging such as: dried meat, dried fish, popcorn, rice popcorn, cakes with leaves wrapped in leaves that are thoroughly cooked (for many hours) such as banh chung, banh tec. After removing the cakes, they need to be placed in a clean place, drained, and cooled before vacuum packaging;
Ensure hygiene requirements, use clean water to process food; when packaging and vacuuming, put a piece of paper with the production date inside the packaging film so that the transporter and user know and arrange appropriate distribution and usage time.
- Self-processed, vacuum-packed foods should be supported in areas with short transportation times to ensure that people can access food support as soon as possible after processing.
For food relief distributors:
- Pack the goods carefully to avoid getting soaked in rain or falling, submerged in flood water, mud.
- For homemade foods with short shelf life, it is necessary to pay attention to the transportation time to ensure that when the food reaches the recipient, it is not spoiled, rancid, moldy or spoiled.
