Correctly Understanding Food Additives and Maintaining Food Safety

On April 21, 2011, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Circular on Severely Cracking down on Illegal Food Additions and Strengthening the Supervision of Food additives," making food additives once again the focus of public and media attention. When it comes to food safety, many people think of food additives and mistakenly believe that food safety problems are caused by food additives. The role of food additives in food and food safety is a scientific knowledge that is urgently needed.

First of all, we must not forget that the history of human use of food additives is as old as the history of human civilization. Brine point tofu was invented in the Western Han Dynasty. It has a history of more than 2,000 years. Brine is a food additive. The yeast and alkaline surface used by the Chinese people are all food additives.

Second, we must see that there is no modern food without food additives. Food additives are one of the symbols of a country’s level of science and technology and economic development. The more developed countries, the richer the varieties of food additives, the greater the per capita consumption. Whether it is Western breads, cakes, sausages, fruit drinks, ice cream, Chinese foods such as steamed buns, steamed stuffed buns, fried fritters, lanterns, moon cakes, and so on, these foods are inseparable from food additives. This is not a change in our likes and dislikes. Objective fact. If there are no food additives, not only will there be a wide variety of foods in the store, but our family kitchens will also be difficult to operate normally: The flour will be moldy, the salt will cake, the edible oil will be rancid, and the soy sauce will deteriorate...

Thirdly, to date, China’s major food safety incidents have not been caused by the legal use of food additives. This is an indisputable fact. However, food additives have become a “scapegoat” for many food safety incidents. Even in some people’s minds, food additives have become synonymous with food insecurity. The depth of the public's misunderstanding of food additives, and the extent to which they resisted emotions, have reached the level of “discussion” and “destitution”.

The popularity of scientific knowledge of food additives and related laws and regulations has reached a point of no time. To correctly understand and understand food additives, we must first clarify the following issues.

1. What is a food additive? Food Additives are synthetic or natural substances that are added to foods to improve food quality and color, aroma, taste, and the need for preservation, preservation, and processing. China has implemented a licensing system for the production and use of food additives. Only those products that are truly necessary, safe, and have been approved by the Chinese government are legal food additives. China's Hygiene Standard for the Use of Food Additives (GB2760-2007) stipulates: “The quality defects in the food itself or in the processing process or the use of food additives for the purposes of adulteration, adulteration, and forgery should not be covered up.”

2. Additives do not equal food additives. Food additives are only one of many additives. Other additives include feed additives, pharmaceutical additives, concrete additives, plastic additives, coating additives, and gasoline additives. The well-known melamine is not a food additive but a concrete additive, a plastic additive, and a coating additive. Food additives must be distinguished from illegal food additives. Melamine, Sudan Red, and "Clenbuterol" are all illegal food additives and are not food additives at all.

3. Even food additives that are allowed to use must be used legally and must not be used excessively or excessively. In April 2011, CCTV revealed that cornmeal noodles sold in supermarkets in Shanghai did not contain cornmeal. It was made by dyeing lemongrass in white flour. Lemon yellow is an approved food additive that can be used in foods such as puffed foods, ice cream, cocoa flakes, juice drinks, etc., but is not allowed in taro. In addition to being an illegal act of defrauding consumers, the “dyeing and steamed bread” incident is also a typical violation of the use of food additives.

4. Food additives that are not allowed abroad can be used in China. In 2009, the storm of the Mengniu Tailunsu OMP milk was caused by the addition of milk basic protein (MBP) to the milk. MBP, a food additive, has been licensed by the U.S. and New Zealand governments, but China has not allowed it at that time. This is a typical case of reasonable and illegal.

5. The state's permission to use food additives is not fixed. With the advancement of science and technology, economic and social development and changes in consumer attitudes, some new food additives will be allowed to use, and some old food additives will be eliminated or restricted. From May 1 this year, the addition of brightener benzoyl peroxide is not an example.

6, the legitimate use of food additives is the need to maintain food safety. The legal use of food additives is not only safe but also necessary. At present, diseases caused by food contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms are the number one issue for food safety worldwide. If you do not use food preservatives, many foods will soon degenerate, causing serious harm when consumed.

Looking at China's food safety incidents, the reason for this is, in the final analysis, human problems, not food additives. At present, it is imperative to establish and improve laws, regulations, and standards related to food safety as soon as possible, improve the food safety supervision system, and punish illegal food addiction and various food illegal acts in accordance with law; at the same time, strengthen publicity and education to guide the public to correctly understand and rationally treat food. safe question.

Food additives play an irreplaceable role in food manufacturing and maintaining food safety. With the development of economy and society, advances in science and technology, and improvement of laws, regulations, and standards related to food additives, China's food additive varieties will become more and more abundant, and food safety will become better and better.