Top 13 Ways to Spot Dirty or Expired Food

1. Fish

Benefits:
Fish is highly beneficial for health, rich in nutrients and protein, often recommended more than red meat, beef, pork... Feeding children more fish is very nutritious, combating malnutrition, and promoting intelligence. However, it's important to choose fresh fish, free from lead contamination to avoid negative health effects.

Identification and Selection:

• Buying a live fish that is swimming vigorously is best, with clear eyes, not too much mucus, and a pinkish color. Another concern for many women is poisonous fish, which often has deformities like a large head, small tail, humped back, even tumors, yellow skin, and green tails.
• If choosing pre-cut fish, opt for pieces with fresh red color, possibly still slightly bloody, not too pale, with a mild odor, not too strong or foul-smelling.

2. Vegetables and Fruits

Benefits:

What are the benefits of vegetables and fruits for the body? Enhancing vegetable and fruit consumption brings various advantages to the body, supporting the digestive process, regulating cholesterol levels in the blood, preventing constipation, and helping to reduce the risk of cancer.

Identification and selection:

• Choose vegetables and fruits that come in sealed bags, labeled according to the production process of (RAT), GAP (Good Agricultural Practice), or VietGAP (Good Agricultural Practice Process for safe fresh vegetables and fruits in Vietnam).
• Choose based on external appearance; select produce that is fresh, not bruised, with no signs of decay at the stem end, and with natural colors not excessively faded.
• When you smell the vegetables, there should be no strange odor; a high residue of chemicals will emit a chemical smell. Avoid buying vegetables and fruits out of season; during unfavorable weather conditions, people often use growth stimulants or pesticides.

Benefits:

Eggs are highly nutritious food, providing us with daily energy and protein. Additionally, women use them as a 'magic potion' for beauty care.

Identification and selection:

• You can check by shaking the egg; a fresh egg will make no sound when shaken, while an old egg will sound like water. Alternatively, you can choose by looking at the external color; fresh eggs will have a pinkish appearance with a powdery layer outside and feel firm to the touch.
• Differentiate between fake and real eggs by looking at the shape of the egg; real eggs have an ivory white color, one end smaller than the other. Fake eggs have a slightly dull white color, both ends almost equal in size, feeling rough and harder with a heavier sensation.

Benefits:

Pork is a common red meat worldwide, especially in East Asia. It is a protein-rich food containing various fats. Therefore, pork has many health-related benefits.

Identification and selection:

• Identifying fresh pork is quite simple; fresh pork will have a natural pink color, feel sticky to the touch. When smelling, there should be no foul odor. Pale-colored, non-sticky meat pieces with a slightly fishy smell are likely to be refrigerated or soaked in preservatives.
• The meat should be firm to the touch, with good elasticity when pressed. It is advisable to buy from reputable sources with inspection stamps. Avoid pork that is too old or too young; old pork tends to be tough, while young pork is often flabby. Choose pork of medium age with a pink color and thin fat layer.

Purpose:

Rice is the staple food in Vietnamese meals. It is an indispensable staple in Vietnamese cuisine.

Identification and Selection:

• To buy good, safe rice for consumers' health, choose reputable stores and brands. Choose newly harvested rice with plump grains, rice harvested in the right season will be fragrant and delicious, while rice stored for a long time will lose its distinctive fragrance and sweetness.
• Select grains evenly, with intact white grains, few yellowish grains (grains ground from young rice). Experienced individuals can chew a little rice to determine quality; fresh rice usually has a natural fragrance and a slightly sticky feeling in the mouth.

Purpose:

Beef is rich in iron, which helps replenish blood and prevent anemia. Additionally, linoleic acids contribute to muscle maintenance.

Identification and Selection:

• Choose beef with vibrant red color, press it to feel the stickiness and good elasticity. Fake beef is often marinated with dark red powder, white fat, and has a strong smell. Opt for beef with fresh yellow fat, smooth meat, and white veins.
• Prefer female beef, especially veal, which is not too tough and has a sweet taste. Avoid beef with a foul smell, dark red spots, tough texture, or grayish fat. Veal has smooth, tender meat, bright red color, and white fat, while old beef is tough and challenging to cook.

Purpose:

Chicken meat helps tonify the middle, benefit the qi, and nourish the bone marrow. It is often used for cases of weakness, weight loss, indigestion, poor appetite, diarrhea, edema, frequent urination, diabetes, and postpartum insufficient lactation.

Identification and Selection:

• Choose smaller, firm chickens with narrow breasts. If the chicken skin is yellow and the inner fat layer is white, it has likely been dyed with chemicals. Fresh chicken meat has no strange odor, smooth skin, visible veins, and high elasticity. Avoid buying chickens with purple discoloration or bruises on the wings, as they may have been injected with antibiotics, which can be harmful to health.
• Press the thigh and back areas to check for water retention. Excess water mixed with injected chemicals will make the chicken appear firm and heavy. If excessive water comes out, and the meat feels slippery and deformed, do not buy.

Benefits:

Consuming animal organs prepared cleanly and properly with the right dosage can bring many health benefits.

Identification and Selection:

• For those who enjoy consuming animal organs, the selection process is straightforward. Animal organs cannot be stored for long periods and tend to emit a foul odor if left for an extended time, especially in hot climates.
• The natural color of the animal organs should be bright pink without any spots of blood or discoloration. They should not be watery, discolored, or have a rough texture. It's advisable to purchase from reputable sources to ease the selection process.

Duck Meat

Benefits:

Duck meat is considered one of the most benign types of meat, providing abundant nutrients, especially beneficial for pregnant women and postpartum mothers.

Identification and Selection:

• To select good-quality duck, with tender, less feathered meat and a pleasant aroma, homemakers should pay attention to the following points. Choose a mature and fat duck with a plump breast, thick neck skin, and thick abdomen skin with enough feathers. It's recommended to choose male ducks for sweeter meat. When selecting live ducks, check for loose stool and tangled feathers near the tail to ensure the duck is healthy.
• If buying pre-prepared duck, select ducks with large, tender bills, plump breasts, thick neck skin, thick abdomen skin, and enough wing feathers. The meat should have a natural fresh color, no strange odor, and the wings should not be bruised or purple.

Squid

Benefits:

• Squid is a soft-bodied marine animal mainly living in offshore waters. With high nutritional value, squid is a food rich in protein and essential minerals such as Riboflavin, Vitamin B12, phosphorus, copper, and selenium.
• It is also a good source of Niacin and zinc. Squid is appreciated for containing low saturated fat and low sodium, but it is considered to contain high cholesterol. Therefore, those with high blood cholesterol levels should consider eating squid cautiously.

Identification and Selection:

• For whole squid: Choose large, flat-bodied ones similar to an oval shape, thick and opaque white like coconut meat, firm flesh, not mushy, still with a brown membrane evenly covering the outside of the squid.
• For squid tubes: Choose ones with slightly pinkish bright flesh, intact ink sacs, and heads tightly attached to the bodies. Avoid those with a bluish-green color, soft flesh, heads not tightly attached, and a strong fishy smell.

Canned Ready-to-Eat Food

Benefits:

Time-saving cooking. Suitable for busy individuals or those in urgent need.

Identification and selection:

• An advantage of canned food is that it is quickly and clearly identifiable by its label, production date, and expiration date. Just pay attention to the shape of the can, if it is swollen and not deflated, it must be discarded. Avoid choosing cans with rust and holes on the outer surface.
• Limit the use of canned food and never use expired ones because expired products tend to absorb more iron and tin into the food compared to those within the expiry date.

Benefits:

• Mushrooms are considered a perfect food for everyone, not only delicious but also a valuable medicine for our bodies, so why not include this nutritious food in our daily menu.
• Mushrooms have low calorie content, no fat, no cholesterol, very low sugar and salt content; they provide a valuable source of fiber, as well as some vitamins and minerals.

Identification and selection:

• Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms: Choose ones with moderately sized caps, slightly brownish-yellow, and tightly closed caps. Avoid those with dark brown color.
• Straw Mushrooms: Choose round ones that are still closed and not fully opened. Black straw mushrooms are tastier than white ones.
• Oyster Mushrooms: There are white and purple oyster mushrooms. Delicious oyster mushrooms have beautiful color, feel slightly spongy when touched, the mushroom ears are not torn, and the mushroom cluster grows evenly. Avoid choosing mushrooms that are too large or too small; choosing ones of moderate size will be tastier.
• Button Mushrooms: These are similar to straw mushrooms but plumper and rounder. Delicious button mushrooms have round caps, white color, short mushroom stems, no foul smell or sour taste when sniffed, and if the mushroom cap feels soft and firm when gently pressed down, it will be a good mushroom.
• Enoki Mushrooms: Choose ones that are medium-sized, about 10 - 12cm long. Choose mushrooms with fresh white color, firm mushroom stems, and even mushroom ears. Avoid picking mushrooms that have changed color or have a cloudy appearance, or mushrooms with hollow stems.

Benefits:

Crab and clam are aquatic animals, found in both saltwater and freshwater, they are rich in nutrients such as protein, fat, minerals, and other vitamins. Particularly, crab meat contains very low levels of mercury, which is very beneficial for the health of consumers. Moreover, crab meat also contains a lot of copper, zinc, iron, Omega 3,…

Identification and selection:

• Crab: Choose ones with complete legs and claws, no foul odor, when touching the eyes they should retract and protrude, when touching the abdomen it should feel firm indicating fresh crab. Choose healthy-looking crabs with firmly attached abdomen, legs, and claws moving vigorously, the spikes on the claws and crab shell are still sharp. Avoid crabs that look somewhat green, pressing on the abdomen feels soft indicating watery, spongy, less meat, not delicious ones.
• Clam: Choose ones of moderate size, about the size of an adult's hand, pressing on the abdomen should not be sunken. If you like clam meat, choose male clams, which are ones with the abdomen next to the eyes not concave, whereas if you want clams with roe, choose female clams, which are ones with slightly yellowish color, the legs are very firm, not soft or concave.