To drink coffee, you must know ochratoxin!

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In recent years, the food safety of coffee has attracted more and more attention from raw beans to roasting, and even the material of packaging, the government has begun to make a big move to check. When you get together for coffee with three or five friends, you must have heard of ochratoxin. When it comes to ochratoxin, it always makes people panic. What exactly is ochratoxin? Today, the Cantata Coffee News will be introduced to you!

According to the data of the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, ochratoxins are divided into A, B and C, among which ochratoxin A (Ochratoxin A) is the most toxic. The common conditions for the growth of these molds are that the water activity should be above 0.8 and sufficient air, and they will produce spores and are widely distributed in the soil and air. Therefore, it is very important for crops to be dried to less than 11% moisture after harvest, and to transport, store and sell them with vacuum packages to maintain the degree of dryness and prevent the growth of Aspergillus ochre. The worse the quality of grain, the higher the content of ochratoxin, while pigs and cattle will have ochratoxin in their viscera, milk, and even muscle. Most of China's edible grains and coffee are imported. Therefore, the Food and Drug Administration carries out border inspections at ports and international airports, and rice and wheat foods with non-compliant ochratoxin A levels will not enter the domestic market.

Ochratoxin A, which exists in coffee beans, will be destroyed after baking at a high temperature of 198 to 210 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes. If roasting for 10-20 minutes, the temperature of roasted coffee beans is generally between 210 and 260 degrees Celsius. The baking time varies according to different products, so most of the ochratoxin of raw coffee beans will be destroyed, but a little ochratoxin remains. If there is no vacuum seal in the process of storage, transportation and sale, and if the environment in Taiwan is hot and humid, ochratoxin may be produced. If you drink ochratoxin in large quantities, it may cause kidney and liver diseases.

In addition, when buying coffee, you should "buy a small amount and use it in a limited time". Use a special coffee bag with a vent design, preferably vacuum packaging. After opening, you should also pay attention to preservation, and clearly indicate how long it should be eaten after unpacking, avoid dampness in the storage environment, and discard the coffee powder that has been baked and ground, which is more likely to become moldy due to moisture absorption, and should be used as soon as possible to avoid drinking ochratoxin.

With regard to the way coffee is preserved, the Ministry of Health and Welfare pointed out that coffee can be put in the refrigerator to ensure its freshness. However, cantata coffee is not recommended for consumers to store coffee in the refrigerator, as long as we think that putting coffee in the refrigerator as storage is more likely to affect the flavor of coffee. Next time we will write an article to discuss whether coffee should be stored in the refrigerator or not.