7 dead 1 injured, why is there poison gas in the food factory? This toxic substance is also found in online celebrity food!

A suspected harmful gas poisoning incident occurred in Furong Bamboo Food Factory in Changning County, Yibin City, Sichuan Province during facility maintenance. By 25th, the death toll had risen to 7, 1 person was in stable condition and was receiving treatment. The clinical manifestations of the deceased were suspected of hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

Isn't hydrogen sulfide, which is famous for its rotten egg smell, one of the ingredients of fart? Why are there toxic gases in food factories?

In fact, hydrogen sulfide plagues every corner of our lives. There is hydrogen sulfide in the fart, and so is the delicious snail powder in online celebrity. In the process of curing and fermentation, cysteine contained in sour bamboo shoots of snail powder will be metabolized into "hydrogen sulfide", which is also one of the sources of odor of snail powder.

However, the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in fart acid bamboo shoots is extremely low, which has little effect on human health. And a small dose of hydrogen sulfide will stimulate the central nervous system and make people excited. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why many people like to eat snail powder.

However, high concentration of hydrogen sulfide is highly toxic.

In fact, in China, hydrogen sulfide poisoning accidents rank second among occupational poisoning.

Previously, there was an incident of "girls fainting in the toilet" in South Korea. /kloc-a 0/9-year-old girl fell into a coma for more than ten days after being smoked down by leaked hydrogen sulfide in a public toilet, and finally died after being rescued for two months.

Why is hydrogen sulfide so toxic? Let's take a look at this notorious gas.

A powerful nerve agent

Hydrogen sulfide is an inorganic compound with the molecular formula of H2S. Under standard conditions, it is a flammable acid gas, colorless, with the smell of sulfur at very low concentration, and the smell of rotten eggs at low concentration. It is highly toxic and heavier than air, and can spread to quite far places at low places.

Moreover, hydrogen sulfide is also a strong nerve agent, which will paralyze the olfactory nerve.

After hydrogen sulfide is inhaled, it passes through the respiratory tract and is sent to various organs of the human body, and then enters the blood. After entering the blood, it will block the respiratory chain of the human body, causing hypoxia in tissues and cells. The poisoned person will gradually lose the ability to act and consciousness, and eventually the brain cells will die of hypoxia.

The concentration of hydrogen sulfide that immediately threatens life or health is1400 mg/m3 (1000 ppm). The effects of different concentrations of hydrogen sulfide on people are shown in the following table:

Why is there hydrogen sulfide in food factories?

Hydrogen sulfide mainly exists in sewers, septic tanks, sewers (sulfur-containing organic substances are degraded under anaerobic conditions or decomposed by sulfate-reducing bacteria to produce hydrogen sulfide), paper making, industrial waste treatment, coal mining and other industries.

On June 23rd, 2003, a serious blowout accident occurred in Luojiazhai, Gao Qiao Town, Chongqing, causing 243 deaths, and 2 142 people were hospitalized for hydrogen sulfide poisoning.

On April 4th, 20 15, when the sewage treatment station of the thermal power plant of Fujian Fu Wei Co., Ltd. was shut down for maintenance, hydrogen sulfide accumulated at the bottom of the pool caused five workers to be poisoned.

On February 2019 15, a gas poisoning accident occurred in a paper company in Tang Zhong Town, Dongguan City, and seven workers died after being rescued.

Hydrogen sulfide can also appear in food factories, especially in brewing and pickling industries.

Hydrogen sulfide has antibacterial activity, which can induce the resistance of fruits and vegetables to pathogen infection, inhibit the growth of microorganisms, and then inhibit the occurrence of bad phenomena such as rot and chilling injury.

Hydrogen sulfide can also inhibit the respiratory metabolism of vegetables, reduce the rate of ethylene biosynthesis, maintain fruit hardness, delay discoloration, delay browning and improve storage quality. Therefore, the vegetable pickled food factory may use hydrogen sulfide in its daily production process.

The accident was caused by a bamboo shoot food factory. Fresh bamboo shoots will produce "hydrogen sulfide" after pickling and fermentation, so it is normal to have hydrogen sulfide.

Of course, according to the investigation, the problem of hydrogen sulfide poisoning mainly lies in sewage treatment.

It is worth mentioning that most of the people who died in this poisoning incident were rescuers. According to media reports, when the incident occurred, an employee inhaled toxic gas when opening the lid of the sedimentation tank, and fell into the tank after being knocked unconscious by the toxic gas. Other employees and nearby residents went to save people, "one by one", resulting in many deaths.

Therefore, we must remind everyone that in the event of hydrogen sulfide poisoning accident, the personnel involved in on-site rescue must carry out rescue under the condition of good safety protection, and cannot blindly rescue.

In addition, the high temperature weather in summer increases the risk of accidents in limited space, which poses a great threat to the life safety of workers.

Safety risk prevention guide for limited space operation in summer

Dear friends in need, please be sure to collect.