Can I eat Chinese medicine after keeping it in the refrigerator for 10 days?

Many people think that putting Chinese herbal medicines in the refrigerator can store them for a longer time. Is this true? Can Chinese herbal medicines be put in the refrigerator? Can Chinese herbal medicines be eaten after being put in the refrigerator for 10 days? Let's have a simple understanding of this issue. I hope the following points will be helpful to everyone! The editor below will tell you about this issue, let's take a look together!

Can Chinese herbal medicines be eaten after being stored in the refrigerator for 10 days?

The decocted Chinese herbal medicines were frozen in the refrigerator for 10 days. Because Chinese herbal medicines contain complex ingredients and contain glycosides, carbohydrates, and nucleotides, they are prone to mold and the growth of bacteria. Because the decoction of Chinese herbal medicine may become moldy after being left for 10 days. In addition, the ingredients of the moldy Chinese herbal medicine may change, resulting in changes in efficacy, so it is best not to take it.

Do bags of Chinese medicinal materials need to be put in the refrigerator?

The boiled bags of decoction need to be stored in the refrigerator, but please note: the decocted sealed Chinese medicinal materials cannot be stored in the refrigerator for more than 7 days.

The preparation and storage of Chinese medicinal materials require special attention. Generally, we store the cooked sealed medicine bags in the refrigerator, but the storage time should not exceed 7 days. If you prepare the Chinese medicinal materials by yourself without sealing them, it should not exceed 3 days.

Although Chinese herbal medicine is a very good treatment method, many people are troubled by how to decoct the medicine, so they decoct it on behalf of others. The most common way to decoct the medicine is to use vacuum packaging, and the second is to use the equipment provided by the patient. It is important to know that your own equipment is prone to mold.

We found that each hospital and pharmacy had different storage times for medicines indicated on sealed plastic bags. There was such a study in the past, in which different prescriptions were stored at different temperature conditions, the degree of mildew of the juice was observed, and the measurement items such as odor, turbidity, mildew and acidity were recorded respectively. The results show that the higher the temperature, the faster the medicine will mold. In the season with higher average temperature, the indoor temperature is above 25℃, and the medicine is generally stored for no more than 2 days. If it is frozen, it is generally not easy to mold after being stored for 7 days. In addition, even under the same standards, different prescriptions have very different degrees of mildew. If the medicine contains more ingredients such as starch, protein, and glycogen, it will mildew faster.

In order to ensure the safety of drug use, the best storage temperature of Chinese herbal medicines in sealed vacuum-packed bags is 0-5°C, and the storage time is 7-14 days, but it is best not to exceed 7 days. On the one hand, after the decoction is cooked, it is often stored at room temperature for half a day to a day before being taken home and refrigerated, which will "accelerate" the mildew of the decoction; on the other hand, if the decocted decoction contains animal-based Chinese medicinal materials such as whole insects and centipedes, or Chinese medicinal materials with high sugar content such as cooked rehmannia and scutellaria, it will also affect the storage time. If you find that the medicine bag is bulging or the medicine tastes different, or has bubbles or other abnormal conditions, it is moldy and cannot be taken.

If the Chinese herbal medicine is packaged in a self-provided container, it is generally not recommended to take it overnight. Even if it is placed in the refrigerator, it should not exceed 3 days to prevent the medicine from becoming moldy and affecting your health.