Self-heating food will explode if it is not handled properly, so it should be avoided to eat in a closed space.
Self-heating food is popular with consumers because of its convenience, however, there are certain risks at the same time. Recently, it has been reported that an uncle in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, caused a self-heating hot pot to explode and overflow due to an operation error on the bullet train.
In fact, such incidents have occurred many times before. In order to avoid risks, many places began to prohibit or not recommend carrying self-heating food in vehicles such as bullet trains, high-speed trains and airplanes. The Shanxi Provincial Market Supervision Bureau recently issued a consumption reminder on its official WeChat to remind consumers to be cautious when eating self-heating food and avoid eating it in a confined space.
There have been many explosions.
Self-heating food can be eaten anytime and anywhere mainly because of its own heating package. The materials in the heating package are generally aluminum powder, coke powder, activated carbon, salt, quicklime, etc. When it meets water, it will generate a large amount of heat, which can heat the ingredients. However, due to the large amount of heat, there are also great risks.
In recent years, safety problems caused by eating self-heating food have occurred from time to time. On December 4 this year, an uncle in Xiangtan, Hunan Province ate a self-heating hot pot on the bullet train. Because he couldn’t operate it, he tore open the self-heating bag and threw it into the hot pot, causing the pot to boil and explode. The scene was messy. The same mistake as this Xiangtan uncle was made by a citizen of Liaocheng, Shandong Province. On October 28 this year, when he was eating a self-heating hot pot, he also opened the heating bag and poured it into the box to add water. It exploded three minutes later.
In September 2019, when Mr. Fang in Shanghai was heating, he was afraid that it was not hot enough after pouring water. He added a lid to the lid of the self-heating hot pot, which exploded and the spilled soup injured his right eye. On March 22, 2017, a Chengdu guy put the hot pot on the glass table while eating the self-heating hot pot at home, and the glass table was blown to pieces.
Zeng Qiuwen, a food engineer, once said in an interview with the media that it can be seen from the description of self-heating food packaging that the heating package contains calcium oxide (the main component of quicklime) and aluminum powder, which will release flammable gas hydrogen when it meets water. If the volume concentration of hydrogen in the air is between 4.0% and 75.6%, it will explode even if it meets a little electrostatic spark. "In other words, eating self-heating food in a confined space will be very risky."
Self-heating food is "forbidden" by railway aviation in many places
Because of frequent safety accidents, many areas began to prohibit or "not recommend" carrying self-heating food in motor trains, high-speed trains and other means of transportation, and successively introduced relevant regulations.
On August 1, 2019, the official website of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region published the Regulations on Railway Safety Management in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, which clearly stipulated that "it is forbidden to use self-contained heated food that can induce smoke alarm on EMU trains". Once it is violated, the public security organ will order it to make corrections, and the unit will be fined from 10,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan, and the individual will be fined from 500 yuan to 2,000 yuan.
In Fujian and Sichuan, although it is not explicitly forbidden to take self-heating food by high-speed rail, the two places issued regulations in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which banned the behavior of "smoking or using articles that induce smoke alarm in high-speed railway EMU trains".
In addition, the official WeChat of China Railway Corporation mentioned in the article "Taking these things on the train may be confiscated" published in early June 2019 that self-heating food is prone to accidents when it is heated, so it is recommended not to carry it or eat it carefully.
On the plane, self-heating food is also an unwelcome food. On August 5, 2019, the Beijing News reporter called the customer service hotline of the Capital Airport. The customer service clearly stated that the self-ignition package in the self-heating food has flammable components and cannot pass the security check. It is also necessary to discard the self-ignition package after consignment. According to media reports, there has always been a warm reminder in airport scanner, Nanning that "according to the air transport standards such as TI and DGR, self-heating food is one of the 4.2 aviation dangerous goods. If there is a chemical reaction on board, it will endanger flight safety."
Try to avoid eating in a confined space.
In order to avoid risks and protect consumers’ safety, the Shanxi Provincial Market Supervision Administration recently published an article on its official WeChat entitled "Pay attention to these six points when eating" self-heating hot pot ",otherwise it will be dangerous".
The Shanxi Provincial Market Supervision Bureau reminded that self-heating hot pot should be avoided in a closed or narrow space to prevent hydrogen from being generated during heating, and excessive accumulation will reach the critical point of explosion, causing a deflagration accident.
At the same time, the self-heating hot pot should not be placed on the table top which is not resistant to high temperature, so as to avoid the glass from breaking or damaging the table top due to the high temperature at the bottom during heating; Be sure to open the vent hole on the lid of the self-heating fire, and pay attention to observe whether there is gas discharged, so as to avoid explosion accidents caused by excessive pressure in the box; To choose a suitable dining environment, try to put the self-heating hot pot flat before using it, and it is strictly forbidden to tilt it to prevent the hot water containing chemicals from overflowing; Properly dispose of food waste, especially after using the self-heating chafing dish heating bag, it is suggested to cool it before handling it, and it should not be piled up or contacted with water to prevent it from exploding when it meets a fire source.
In addition, note that cold water must be added to the self-heating hot pot heating package. "The heat of the self-heating chafing dish comes from quicklime, activated carbon, iron powder, aluminum powder and other components in the heating bag. After contacting with water, the heat released can reach more than 150 degrees Celsius. If hot water is added to the self-heating chafing dish, the heating bag will easily explode, so you can only add cold water to the self-heating chafing dish, and you must completely submerge the heating bag."
Beijing News reporter Liu Huan
Editor Zhu Fenglan proofreads Xue Jingning.