In mid and late February this year, China's General Administration of Customs issued an announcement to remind consumers to "temporarily not buy through any channels" and "immediately suspend consumption" of Abbott's related infant products. According to the announcement, on February 18, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it was investigating the complaints of four infants infected with cronobacteria and Salmonella. They all ate three milk powder produced by Abbott in a factory in Michigan, and one of them may die of cronobacteria infection. According to the FDA, all four infants were reported to have consumed milk powder produced by Abbott at its Sturgis plant in Michigan. Many parents are very frightened when they see this news. After all, there are too many Abbott related infant products, which are often bought by some families. What is cronobacteria? How harmful is it? What should we do? Today, let's talk about this harmful fungus. What is cronobacteria? When it contaminates food, it is difficult to remove it completely Cronobacteria, also known as cronobacteria sakazakii and Enterobacter sakazakii, widely exist in our natural environment, such as water, soil, plant roots, animal intestines, and even processed food. Enterobacter sakazakii has strong vitality. It is resistant to cold, heat, drying, acid and alkali, osmotic pressure and ultraviolet rays. It also has strong resistance to some disinfectants and bactericides. Moreover, if it is in adverse conditions, it will secrete adhesive polysaccharide components to protect itself, so it is difficult to completely remove it when it pollutes food. It can still survive when milk powder is washed with water below 70 ℃ It may cause sepsis, meningitis and other diseases Infant formula is the main channel for infants to be infected with E. sakazakii. Milk powder is not a commercial sterile product, and the processing of formula milk powder is vulnerable to E. sakazakii contamination, especially in the drying and canning links. Because E. sakazakii has stronger resistance to high osmotic pressure than E. coli, it can survive in dry milk powder for a long time. Moreover, Enterobacter sakazakii has strong heat resistance. Most of them can still survive when milk powder is mixed with water below 70 ℃. Therefore, even if there is only a very small amount of E. sakazakii contamination in milk powder, it may reproduce rapidly during preparation and placement, resulting in infant infection. China's national standard clearly stipulates that Enterobacter sakazakii shall not be detected in dairy products. Enterobacter sakazakii mainly infects infants, especially premature infants, infants with low birth weight and low immunity, which can cause sepsis, meningitis, necrotizing enterocolitis and other diseases. Meningitis caused by Enterobacter sakazakii can cause complications such as cerebral infarction, brain abscess and ventricular encephalitis. Patients often have serious neurological sequelae, and the mortality is 40% - 80%. Foreign literature reports that about 4% of meningoencephalitis cases in infants are caused by Enterobacter sakazakii. In addition, the bacterium can also cause infection in the elderly or immunocompromised people. As parents, they feed their children every day What should we pay more attention to? First of all, I still want to say that we should not be too panicked. In fact, the FDA's food recall system updates all kinds of food safety recall information almost every day. This information is more an early warning reminder, which does not mean that the food must be unsafe and harmful. Moreover, Enterobacter sakazakii has the highest risk of infection in newborns (28 days or less) and infants less than 2 months old, especially infants born prematurely, weighing less than 2.5 kg and with weak immunity. Babies older than 2 months, especially those older than 6 months, have a low risk of infection. From the first report in 1958 to 2020, only 120 cases of Enterobacter sakazakii infection were reported all over the world. The daily news should also remind us of this major food safety event: 1. If conditions permit, it is best to breastfeed your baby. Breast milk is the best. It doesn't need to be said. Dads should help and support more, such as doing more housework, helping with the baby and cooking more delicious food, so that mothers can relax and breastfeed better. 2. Try to buy milk powder through formal channels, or choose liquid formula. Regular and qualified powdered formula is safe. Now there is also liquid formula on the market, which is very convenient to carry out. It also saves the trouble of mixing for the baby. You can try it. 3. If you are worried about the problem of milk powder, you can discard it. If you suspect that there is something wrong with the milk (such as leaking or putting it too long) or are worried, discard it in time. 4. Pay attention to cleanliness when preparing milk powder. Wash your hands carefully before mixing milk powder. The cup should be disinfected with hot water, and the operating table should be clean enough. Spoons, pacifiers, pacifiers, bottles, etc. should also pay attention to daily cleaning and disinfection. Milk powder 40 ℃ or 70 ℃? Research shows that if the milk powder is mixed with water at no less than 70 ℃, the risk can be significantly reduced, because the hot water at this temperature can kill any Enterobacter sakazakii in the milk powder. When the water temperature is lower than 70 ℃, the risk of infection will be greatly increased. Therefore, for safety reasons, some authoritative health institutions such as the World Health Organization WHO and the British National Health Service NHS recommend that milk powder be washed with water not lower than 70 ℃, and then quickly cooled down with running water or placed in cold water. When it is not hot, it is best to drink it for the baby within 2 hours. If it is not finished, it is best to throw it away. However, some people will feel that 70 ℃ water is too hot to wash milk powder, and it needs to be cooled, which is cumbersome to operate. The milk powder brewed with 40 ℃ water can better retain the nutrients in the milk powder. After brewed, you don't have to wait too long to give it to the baby. There's no need to cool it. The operation is much more convenient. So, can we use 40 ℃ water to wash milk powder? As mentioned earlier, babies over 2 months old, especially those over 6 months old, have a low risk of infection. Therefore, if your baby has reached 2 months old, it is also possible to wash the milk powder with 40 ℃ water. (outlook new era)