1, the harm of star anise
(1) lead exceeds the standard.
Excessive lead content will damage the blood system of human body and cause anemia; And it hurts people's nervous system and organs, and damages cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. It can also cause poisoning, encephalopathy and so on. At the same time, excessive lead content is also the culprit of ADHD and mental retardation in children! Moreover, the disease it causes is irreversible and almost incurable!
(2) Synthetic pigment
The above-mentioned "lemon yellow" and "sunset yellow" are all synthetic pigments, and the excessive synthetic pigments will lead to the decline of human fertility, fetal malformation, etc., and even turn into carcinogens, causing subcutaneous sarcoma, liver cancer, intestinal cancer and malignant lymphoma.
(3) benzoic acid
Benzoic acid is a preservative for oral liquid medicine. It has the effect of preventing deterioration and souring and prolonging the shelf life. Too much dosage will do harm to human liver.
(4) Sodium cyclamate
Sodium cyclamate is a commonly used sweetener. If consumers often eat food with excessive sodium cyclamate content, it will do harm to the liver and nervous system, especially to the elderly, pregnant women and children.
(5) What is a fake star anise?
"False Illicium verum" is actually the general name of many kinds of plant fruits other than "true Illicium verum". A bunch of plant taxonomy terms belonging to that family, namely, red fennel, red fennel, wild Illicium verum, wild grass, Illicium verum, and ground maple peel fruit, are omitted here. In short, there are several kinds of plant fruits related to genuine Illicium verum, which all look very similar.
Studies and literature reports on pseudoIllicium verum have existed as early as N years ago, and plant taxonomy, traditional Chinese medicine and other fields have done research on plant identification of the same family. It has been mentioned frequently in recent years, which may be related to more and more attention paid to food safety and more and more developed social media.
(6) Harm of Illicium verum
More than one kind of pseudoIllicium verum has toxicity that can't be ignored, especially the mang grass and the ground maple bark. Some sesquiterpene lactones and volatile oils contained in them have shown neurotoxicity to experimental animals, and there are also many records of human ingestion poisoning.
And what is the probability that we usually come into contact with poisonous fake star anise? "There is basically no large-scale planting, and it is unlikely to circulate in the market." Shi jun, a popular science author and doctor of botany, said, "It is possible for people to eat by mistake, or the vendors clearly stated that they were selling Illicium verum, and at the same time claimed false health care effects. In other cases, the average consumer is unlikely to come into contact with it. If someone deliberately sells or mixes genuine octagonal, it is almost a crime. "
2. How to distinguish fake seasonings?
(1) liquid seasoning
Liquid condiments should be visually inspected for their normal color, and more attention should be paid to whether the surface of sauce, soy sauce and vinegar is moldy or maggots have been born. Solid condiments such as fermented bean curd, pickles and monosodium glutamate should also be visually inspected for their appearance or grain integrity. All condiments should be mastered to the degree of no mildew, no odor, no rancidity, no hardening, no foreign bodies, no impurities and no parasites in sensory indicators. When buying condiments, we should pay attention to choosing formal channels to buy them.
(2) Illicium verum
① Angle: There are 7~8 pods of genuine Illicium verum, with 8 pods being the majority; False star anise has 1 1~ 13 pods or more.
② Appearance: The fruit of genuine Illicium verum L. is plump with straight corners; Pseudo-Illicium verum fruit is slender with curved corners.
3 Taste: Authentic Illicium verum has strong fragrance, sweet taste and no sour, bitter and numb tongue feeling; False star anise has the smell of toilet water or camphor, which tastes sour first and then sweet, and some have bitter taste or numbness.
④ Color discrimination: genuine Illicium verum is brownish red and shiny; The fake eight characters are shallow and khaki.
(3) skin
Authentic products: the appearance is grayish brown, slightly rough, with irregular fine wrinkles and protrusions, the inner surface is reddish brown, smooth, with fine lines, marked with oil marks, the outer section is brown, the inner section is reddish brown and oily, and there is a yellowish brown ring pattern near the outer layer. Strong fragrance, sweet and spicy taste.
Counterfeit products: the appearance is grayish brown or grayish brown, slightly rough, with grayish white markings and irregular fine texture. The inner surface is reddish brown and smooth. The breath is slightly fragrant and the taste is spicy.
(4) aniseed
Authentic: the fruit is mostly composed of 8 bony fruits, which are arranged on the central axis in a radioactive way. The fruit length 1~2 cm, width 0.3~0.5 cm and height 0.6~ 1 cm. The appearance is reddish brown with irregular wrinkles, the top is bird-pecked, and the upper side is cracked. The inner surface is light brown, hard and crisp, fragrant, pungent and sweet.
Counterfeit products: Fruits are often made up of 7~8 thin and thin guduo fruits arranged in a wheel shape. The single fruit of Guduo is about 1.5 cm long and 0.4~0.7 cm wide, with a tapered front end and slightly curved skin. It has a special aroma and tastes slightly sour first and then sweet.
(5) Chinese prickly ash
Authentic products: 2~3 small guduo fruits separated from the upper part are gathered on small fruit stalks, and each guduo fruit is cracked along the abdominal suture, with a diameter of 0.4~0.5 cm, a purple or brownish red outer surface and a plurality of oil spots with warty protrusions. The inner surface is light yellow and smooth. Endocarp and exocarp are often separated from the base. It is fragrant, spicy and lasting.
Fake products: five small bones and fruits are born together, arranged radially and shaped like plum blossoms. Each fruit is cracked from the top, and its appearance is green-brown or brown, slightly rough, and there are a few dots of small oil spots. The aroma is light, and the taste is spicy and slightly hemp.