Minor Snow: A forerunner of winter chills

A cold front has recently swept across China, driving out the lingering mildness of the
previous season while kicking off the second solar term of the winter.

Photo/CGTN

The Xiaoxue, or Minor Snow in English, started on Wednesday, in the wake of a new round of
temperature plummeting from seven to 20 degrees Celsius.

It is the 20th of the 24 solar terms in the Chinese lunar calendar, which usually refers to the period of time from November 22 to December 7. During this time, the northwest wind usually frequents the Chinese territory, with the temperature of many areas falling below zero.

Frozen earth, a sign of a fruitful coming year

Photo/CGTN

An ancient Chinese saying goes like “Minor Snow freezes the earth and Major Snow freezes the river.” During this time, the earth in northeast China would usually be frozen to the depth of at least 10 centimeters, which makes farm work almost impossible.However, it does not mean that the freezing cold is not welcomed. The ancient Chinese believe that snowy weather of the Minor Snow signifies a big harvest in the coming year,
and they actually had scientific support.

The snowy weather is usually the prelude of abundant rainfalls for the next year, while the snow will kill some harmful insects and bacteria and at the same time accelerate the organic decomposition – both are necessities for fertilizing the fields.

Orchard farmers will trim their trees during the time, while in most areas of China, people have the tradition of piling up Chinese cabbages in storage for the coming winter. It is one of the favorite vegetables of the Chinese people.

Keep out the coldness and keep in the warmth

Photo/CGTN

During the agrarian age, people would usually be held indoors by the whistling wind at this time of year. But even though, it is highly recommended by doctors to keep ventilation, especially when the heating system in the North has started to work.

The Chinese medicines also suggested that the indoor temperature should be kept below 20 degrees Celsius, and it is time to turn on the humidifiers.

It is also when the South started their long-standing discussion about whether they should have the same heating systems like the North since it is time they start to prevent chilblains from their hands and feet.

Store food for the coming winter

Photo/CGTN

It seems the Chinese just never let go of any chance to enjoy delicious food. In the north, people eat hotpot and mutton, which are believed warm and nutritious. Besides, sitting around the steaming pots with family and friends could easily create a warm atmosphere.

In many areas of China, people start to make cured meat during this time of year. Slice the meat into pieces and dry them in the wind, the meat would be preserved for a long time. Before the refrigerator was invented, this measure could help to diversify the dinner tables for the coming holidays.

It is out of the same reason that the coastal residents to dry fishes to get prepared for the winter.

Photo/CGTN

In some southern provinces, people have the tradition of eating "Ci Ba", a kind of dessert made of sticky rice. In the past, people use the dessert as an offering to the god of cow.

Though delicious, it is better not to eat much, for they could not be easily digested.The winter is in dominance, but it does not necessarily mean that people should be confined at home. A little bit sports could be more beneficial to health than any nutrition.

Poultry producers will be required to bring salmonella bacteria in certain chicken products to very low levels to help prevent food poisoning under a final rule issued Friday by U.S. agriculture officials.

When the regulation takes effect in 2025, salmonella will be considered an adulterant — a contaminant that can cause foodborne illness — when it is detected above certain levels in frozen breaded and stuffed raw chicken products. That would include things like frozen chicken cordon bleu and chicken Kiev dishes that appear to be fully cooked but are only heat-treated to set the batter or coating.

It's the first time the U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared salmonella an adulterant in raw poultry in the same way that certain E. coli bacteria are regarded as contaminants that must be kept out of raw ground beef sold in grocery stores, said Sandra Eskin, a USDA food safety official.

The new rule also means that if a product exceeds the allowed level of salmonella, it can't be sold and is subject to recall, Eskin said.

Salmonella poisoning accounts for more than 1.3 million infections and about 420 deaths each year in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Food is the source of most of those illnesses.

The breaded and stuffed raw chicken products have been associated with at least 14 salmonella outbreaks and at least 200 illnesses since 1998, CDC statistics show. A 2021 outbreak caused at least three dozen illnesses in 11 states and sent 12 people to the hospital.

Despite changes to labels emphasizing that the products needed to be thoroughly cooked, consumers continued to fall ill, Eskin said.

“Sometimes the salmonella is very virulent,” she said.

Addressing a narrow category of poultry products lays the foundation for a new framework to regulate salmonella more broadly now being considered by federal officials, said Mike Taylor, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration official.

Among other things, the proposal calls for greater testing for salmonella in poultry entering a processing plant, stricter monitoring during production and targeting three types of salmonella that cause one-third of all illnesses.

“It’s no question that moving down this path toward regulating salmonella as an adulterant is way overdue,” Taylor said.

Poultry industry officials have long said that the government already has tools to ensure product safety and that companies have invested in methods to reduce salmonella in raw chicken.

A representative for the National Chicken Council said officials had not seen the final rule. However, the trade group said in a statement it’s concerned the regulation represents an abrupt policy shift and that it “has the potential to shutter processing plants, cost jobs, and take safe food and convenient products off shelves, without moving the needle on public health.”

The USDA took similar action with E. coli bacteria in 1994 after deadly outbreaks of food poisoning tied to ground beef, and the number of related foodborne illnesses have fallen by more than 50%.

Seattle food safety lawyer Bill Marler — who represented clients in a deadly 1993 E. coli outbreak in fast-food hamburgers and has lobbied for broader changes in controlling salmonella — said the new regulation is a good first step.

“Setting a standard is going to force the industry to adjust,” he said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This 2009 electron microscope image provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a large group of Gram-negative Salmonella typhimurium bacteria that had been isolated from a pure culture. Poultry producers will be required to bring salmonella bacteria in certain chicken products to very low levels to help prevent food poisoning under a final rule issued Friday, April 26, 2024, by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (Janice Haney Carr/CDC via AP)