In everyday life, people always wish to prolong the freshness of food, and the emergence of anti-bacterial paps seems to give rise to new hope, and even to those who believe that it can keep food from corrupting. It is, however, a good fantasy and a misguided idea.
Antibacteria-preservative bags are often produced with the addition of antibacterial properties such as silver ion and chlorine dioxide, which can inhibit the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and, to some extent, food deterioration. When we put fresh vegetables, fruits, meat or cooked food into anti-bacterial plumb bags, at the initial stage, we did see a better effect on fresh vegetables than on ordinary plastic bags. For example, strawberries stored in anti-bacterial bags may remain relatively colourful and hard in two days, while strawberries in common plastic bags may already show signs of softness.
However, the term “never corrupt or spoiled” is a serious violation of scientific common sense and natural law. First, the deterioration of food corruption is a complex process, not just the result of micro-organisms. The food itself contains various enzymes, which, even in the absence of micro-organisms, can act as catalysts for chemical reactions in the food, leading to changes in the composition of the food, such as the breathing of fruit, which consumes oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and makes the fruit softer and deodorant; fats in the meat can oxidate and produce aroma and bad color. Anti-bacterial scavenger bags have little power over these changes caused by internal factors in the food itself.
Second, antibacterial-preservative bags have limited antibacterial capacity. Over time and with an increase in the number of uses, antibacterials will be consumed, and their inhibition effects will be reduced. Moreover, anti-bacterial fresh bags do not completely isolate the effects of the external environment on food. For example, environmental factors, such as temperature, humidity and so forth, continue to act on food through fresh bags. In hot and humid summers, even when food is placed in anti-bacterial plumes, higher temperatures and humidity can accelerate the growth of micro-organisms and the deterioration of foods, as in the case of bread, which will soon produce fungus, even if there are anti-bacterial plumes.
Moreover, the diversity and adaptability of micro-organisms make it impossible for them to be fully controlled by anti-bacterial fresh bags. There are a wide variety of micro-organisms in nature, such as bacteria, fungus and yeast, which are highly viable and mutagenic. Some bacteria may gradually adapt to the antibacterial environment in the antibacteria-preservative bag, produce drug resistance and continue to grow and reproduce on the food in the herb-preservative bag, leading to the eventual deterioration of the food.
In addition, from a food safety perspective, over-reliance on anti-bacterial fresh bags may lead consumers to ignore the right food storage methods. For example, basic food safety principles, such as the timely freezing or freezing of perishable foods and the separation of raw and ready foods, are equally important to ensure food freshness and safety. The risk of food deterioration remains high and may even lead to health problems such as food poisoning as a result of the miseating of spoiled food if only the anti-bacterial paps are considered to solve all the problems and these key storage elements are ignored.
Anti-bacterial scavenger bags help to some extent to extend the shelf life of food, but they are never likely to keep food from corrupt deterioration. Such products should be viewed rationally as one of the supporting tools for food storage, while following scientific food storage methods and food safety principles, in order to be better able to maintain food fresh and safe, avoid being misled by false propaganda and to safeguard the well-being of their diet and that of their families.
