Don’t drink beverages soaked in flood water if they are not opened! Don’t drink! Don’t drink!

Don’t drink unopened beverages that have been soaked in flood water! Don’t drink! Don’t drink!

2024-08-07

In recent years, extreme weather and climate events have occurred frequently and strongly, and the overall trend is that they are becoming more and more widespread. Recently, waterlogging and flooding disasters have occurred in many parts of my country. Many supermarkets and restaurants on the streets have been flooded by heavy rains, and beverages and bottled water stored in the stores have been soaked by floods.There is a lot of heated discussion on the Internet about topics such as #Don’t drink beverages soaked in unsanitary water#. We can’t help but ask: Are these beverages soaked in floods or stagnant water safe to drink?

Beverage packaging and sealing principle

Currently, beverage packaging sold on the market is mainly in the form of plastic bottles, glass bottles, aluminum cans, paper boxes, cans, etc. If you want to know whether beverages soaked in floods can be consumed safely, you first need to understand the packaging and sealing principles of beverages.

plastic bottle

Polyethylene terephthalate（PET）It is a widely used plastic material. It is very suitable for packaging beverages because of its high transparency, light weight, drop resistance and easy processing.PET plastic bottles are usually used with plastic screw caps. The bottle cap and the bottle mouth cooperate with each other through a threaded structure. When the bottle cap is tightened, the friction generated by rotation can ensure that the bottle cap is firmly fixed on the bottle mouth.

Glass Bottle

Glass bottles are highly chemically stable and recyclable, so they are often used to package beverages.The glass bottle is sealed with a metal cap or stopper to effectively prevent the entry of external gas and humidity.Metal bottle caps usually have a threaded structure, which is used to seal the bottle mouth by rotating and tightening. Bottle stoppers may be made of materials such as rubber or silicone to enhance the sealing performance.

Paper package

Carton packaging is usually composed of paperboard and multi-layer composite materials, with good barrier and compression resistance. Carton packaging seals the beverage inside by folding, gluing or heat sealing, and some carton packaging also uses metal layers such as aluminum foil to increase barrier properties.

Cans

Cans are usually made of aluminum or tinplate, which have good corrosion resistance and barrier properties. The can lid is tightly combined with the can body through the crimping process to form a seal, and the inside of the can lid is usually coated with a protective layer to prevent the can body from direct contact with the beverage.

There are various types of beverage packaging. Under normal storage conditions, compliant packaging materials can effectively prevent oxygen, moisture, etc. in the air from entering the packaging, thus avoiding the deterioration of the beverage.

How do floods contaminate beverages?

In addition to carrying a large amount of sediment, floods may also carry various pollutants such as domestic garbage, pesticides, fertilizers, industrial wastewater, etc. Therefore, they contain a large number of microorganisms such as bacteria and viruses, and are extremely destructive and polluting.

When flood water touches a beverage bottle, it automatically flows through narrow spaces (such as the threads of the bottle mouth) without any external force. This phenomenon is called capillary action.When the cohesive force of the liquid (i.e. the surface tension of the liquid and the adhesion between the liquid and the container wall) in a narrow space such as the thread of the bottle mouth works together, it pushes the liquid to flow, causing pollutants in the flood to enter the bottle.

In addition, the dirt in the flood water may also adhere to the packaging surface, especially the threads of the bottle cap and the bottle mouth. Therefore, even if the beverage in the bottle itself is not contaminated, these contaminants may be brought into the bottle when the bottle cap is opened. It can be seen that when the flood water submerges the warehouse or supermarket where beverages are stored, even sealed beverages may be contaminated.

How can drinks be contaminated by flood water without leaking?

The beverage bottle cap is mainly composed of threads, sealing rings and anti-theft rings. It is because of the fine design of these three key components that the beverage bottle can be guaranteed to be leak-proof.

First, the internal thread of the bottle cap and the external thread of the bottle mouth must match accurately to form a tight threaded connection.This fit generates friction through extrusion to ensure that the bottle cap is firmly fixed on the bottle mouth. The radial fit clearance of the internal and external threads must be controlled within a certain range to prevent it from easily rotating or loosening.

In addition, a sealing ring is usually installed inside the bottle mouth to expand the sealing area.The radius of the extended portion is larger than the radius of the bottom, and the end is designed with a proper curvature, which helps to fit more closely to the inside of the bottle mouth, thereby achieving a better sealing effect.

The anti-theft ring also enhances the sealing performance of the bottle cap to a certain extent.When the bottle cap is tightened, the anti-theft ring fits tightly against the bottle cap and bottle mouth to form an additional sealing layer.It can be seen that the bottle cap ensures that the beverage bottle is leak-free during transportation, storage and use through comprehensive consideration and fine design of thread matching, sealing ring design, anti-theft ring design and other aspects.

Glass bottle cap. Image source: Tuchong Creative

Facing flood disasters

What aspects should we pay attention to?

After a flood, we must pay attention to environmental hygiene, safety and health, and prevent the spread of diseases and reduce property losses while ensuring personal safety.

Personal safety

Avoid deep water areas, places with fast currents, and avoid wading (especially in unfamiliar areas) to avoid hidden "traps". If you encounter difficulties, contact rescue agencies as soon as possible and do not take risks alone to avoid aggravating the danger.

Food and hygiene safety

Floods may cause food mold, livestock disease or death, etc. Therefore, do not eat food soaked by floods and do not directly drink untreated surface water, rainwater, or flood water.

If the water supply system is affected by the flood, make sure the water source is safe and uncontaminated before reusing it. If necessary, test the water quality. Try to choose bottled water, barreled water and emergency water that have not been soaked by the flood. If conditions do not allow, boil the water before drinking. At the same time, clean and disinfect cooking utensils before use.

Residential safety

Check the house for damage in time. If you find that the house structure is unstable or the roof is leaking, seek professional help as soon as possible. If there is water accumulation inside the house, avoid using electrical appliances to avoid electric shock accidents. Do not plug in electrical equipment before confirming safety issues.

In short, in the face of floods, we need to be highly vigilant and remain cautious. For beverage bottles and other materials that have been soaked or washed away by floods, we must carefully identify and handle them, and never drink or eat them blindly.Only by comprehensively considering and taking emergency measures can we effectively deal with the risks and challenges brought by flood disasters.

references

[1] Xiang Bin. Analysis on the safety of PET plastic bottles[J]. China Packaging, 2010, 30(9):2.

[2] Zhang Rui, Li Lan. Analysis of bottled water packaging design[J]. Packaging Engineering, 2014, 35(14):5.

[3] Yu Qian, Li Na, Wang Yanyan, et al. Construction and research of ecological and environmental impact assessment system of flood pollution[J]. Journal of China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, 2019, 17(4):6.

[4] Guo Zicheng, Luo Qingzhi. Thermodynamic description of wetting and capillary phenomena [J]. University Physics, 2000, 19(6):19-19.

Planning and production

Produced by Science Popularization China

Author: Shi Wuyao, PhD in Biology

Producer丨China Science Expo

Editor: Dong Nana

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin

The cover image and the images in this article are from the copyright library

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Don’t drink unopened beverages that have been soaked in flood water! Don’t drink! Don’t drink!

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