Melamine, hanging white block, malachite green, Sudan red... Although these substances are added to food by illegal vendors, in fact, these are not food additives. Not long ago, the Ministry of Health released a list of 47 non-edible substances, and they are on the list. But the catastrophe caused by these non-edible substances has smeared the reputation of food additives.

Due to the lack of effective knowledge dissemination and mutual communication, the black pot imposed on "food additives" is getting heavier and heavier. From consumers to producers, and even the mass media, people at different levels have misunderstandings of food additives to varying degrees. What are these mistakes? How deep is the misunderstanding of food additives? Let’s listen to what Huang Dengyu, Director of the Food and Beverage Supervision Division of Shanxi Food and Drug Administration, said.

A said to consumers

Alkaline noodles and brine are additives

[Current situation] In recent years, from the "Red Heart Duck Egg" incident, the "Melamine Milk Powder" incident, to the recent "Clenbuterol Pork" incident, the "Dyeing Steamed Bun" incident in Shanghai, and the "Dyeing Fan" incident in Guangdong, food safety issues It is frequently exposed. The vast majority of consumers have reached the point where they are talking about additives. When I went to the supermarket to buy things, I felt that as long as it was food containing food additives, it was not a good thing.

[Analysis] This concern of consumers is a serious misunderstanding of food additives. Don't forget, human beings have been using food additives since the beginning of civilization. As early as the Western Han Dynasty 2,000 years ago, our country used brine to make tofu, and brine is a kind of food additive. Chinese people have eaten steamed buns for thousands of years. Yeast and alkaline noodles are all food additives. Beginning in the Southern Song Dynasty, there has been a record of using alum and alkali in the recipes of fried dough sticks. In other words, food additives have been around for a long time and are essential substances for making good food. In today's prosperous food industry, with the use of food additives such as preservatives, colorants, and nutritional fortifiers, the quality of food can be improved. Whether it is Chinese or Western food, whether it is Japanese or Thai food, without food additives, most of the delicacies in the world have to disappear. If there were no food additives, there would be no dazzling variety of foods on the supermarket shelves. I am afraid that every family’s kitchen would not be able to function normally.

■Use case

Soy sauce doesn’t grow mold with preservatives

Many older housewives have had this experience. If the bulk soy sauce and bulk vinegar bought at home are left for a long time, a white film will easily grow on the surface, commonly known as "Qi Li". Products such as soy sauce and vinegar cannot be stored in the refrigerator, nor can they be eaten all at once. After opening, they can be stored at room temperature for one or two months, which can easily breed microorganisms. "醭" is actually a mold produced by the reproduction of microorganisms. But this phenomenon is much less now. This is because preservatives are used in the production process. Potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate or sodium dehydroacetate are usually added to make pre-packaged products. Even after opening the bottle Put it on for a year or a half, and it won't be "rising".

The nutrition of canned fish is maintained by additives

In addition, additives can help food preserve nutrition. Take canned dace in tempeh as an example. Fish meat contains nutrients such as protein and fat. If there are no preservatives added to the can, the fat in the fish will quickly acidify and stink, and people will get sick after eating it. Therefore, preservatives keep the nutrition in the food within a certain period of time. Nutritional fortifiers added to enhance nutritional value also belong to the category of food additives. For example, some ferrous lactate, zinc lactate and other substances added to infant milk powder, these food additives with nutritional elements, are also beneficial to enhance the nutritional value of milk powder.

No cake can be produced without a puffing agent

Without food additives, the needs of food processing technology cannot be met, and the food that consumers need cannot be produced. For example, if there is no puffing agent, the steamed flour will become steamed buns, and no soft and delicious cake can be produced.
Diabetics are generally not suitable for eating sugar, but artificial sweeteners can allow them to eat delicious sweets without affecting their condition.

B said to the producer

Adding non-edible substances to food is tantamount to poisoning

[Current situation] On April 15, nearly 1,000 kilograms of "poisonous ginger" smoked with sulfur were seized in Yichang, Hubei. Experts point out that long-term intake of sulfur can cause chronic poisoning, and severely affect liver and kidney functions. Two days later, another 25 tons of "poisonous bean sprouts" were seized in Shenyang. These bean sprouts are added with highly toxic pesticides such as urea, enrofloxacin, and 6-benzylamino adenine. Two days later, dyed black sesame seeds were discovered successively in Beijing, Chengdu, Liaoning and other places. The dyed sesame seeds were all black and bright. After washing more than 20 times, it was still a pot of black water... This food safety incident occurred. Behind it is a group of producers: in their concept, any substance can be added to food production, whether it is industrial raw materials or chemical pesticides. Consumers' health, sanctions by laws and regulations, and human conscience can all be ignored.

[Analysis] Food producers in my country should be divided into two categories, one is large-scale food production enterprises, and the other is small workshops. Under normal circumstances, the producer has the relevant knowledge of food additives, and the possibility of malicious addition of non-edible substances is unlikely, but in order to change the appearance of the food, it is possible to use food additives in excess of the range. For the second-category producers, they often don't even have the basic knowledge of food additives, and they don't know what can be added to food, and what can't be added. For a long time, they have confused the boundaries between food additives and non-edible substances, adding non-edible substances to food, such as malachite green, Sudan red, etc.... The behavior of such producers is tantamount to poisoning! On April 23, the Office of the Food Safety Commission of the State Council announced a list of 151 illegally added substances in food and feed that have been discovered, including 47 “illegal non-edible substances” that may be added to food and 22 “food additives that are easily abused” , And 82 kinds of drugs and substances that are forbidden to be used in the drinking water of feed animals and in the process of livestock and poultry aquaculture. I hope all food producers will read this list carefully.

C said to the media

Food additives should not be "demonized"

[Current situation] On May 9, a well-known financial media published a report on "Food Circulation Safety" on the front page. The summary read: "Even without beef extract, clenbuterol, lemon yellow, and Sudan red Food additives such as, malachite green, melamine..." Obviously, from reporters to editors, they have confused a concept. These substances are not food additives, but illegal additives added to food. In the search news, enter the keyword "food additives" to search, there will be more than 300,000 news. Among them, most of the content is about "food additives" doubts and criticisms, and most of these questions and criticisms are directed at non-edible substances, but the "black pot" is tied to the head of food additives.

[Analysis] So far, almost none of the food safety incidents that have occurred in China is caused by the legal use of food additives. The Sudan red added in "Red Duck Eggs", the melamine added in infant milk powder, and the clenbuterol used in raising pigs... They are not food additives at all. Strictly speaking, these food safety incidents should be called "illegal addition of industrial raw materials" incidents. The media confuses the two concepts of "food additives" and "illegal additives" in reports, making food additives the scapegoat for many food safety incidents. Without food additives, there would be no modern food. Food additives are one of the signs of a country's level of scientific and technological and economic development. The more developed countries, the richer the variety of food additives and the greater the per capita consumption. However, in many media reports, food additives have been "demonized". The media is an important medium for information transmission. The misunderstanding of consumers can only be resolved if the media correctly transmits the information.

■Solution

Innocent food additives

Supervision, technology, and ethics are all indispensable

Huang Dengyu believes that at the institutional level, my country's supervision of food additives still needs to be improved. At present, there are about 2,000 kinds of food additives approved for use in my country, but in fact, there are less than 500 kinds of national or industry standards for quality specifications. Although new food additives are added to the catalog every year, the rate of increase still cannot keep up with the development of the food industry. This has resulted in some additives that have been applied according to the company's own standards, but have not been included in the national standards.

From a technical point of view, the regulatory authorities can only inspect the food additive items registered in advance, and it is impossible to screen all the chemical components in the food. It is often after a food poisoning accident that illegal additives are discovered. At present, in order to make up for this technical defect, while only testing the specified items in the past, the testing of some risk monitoring items has been strengthened.

Of course, the food industry is a conscience industry. The current food safety problems mainly lie in the food production and operation links. The industry self-discipline of producers and operators is very important, which requires food practitioners to exercise self-discipline from an ethical level.