Spicy strips, known as "the best snacks in history", have been really popular in recent two years. Bags of seemingly insignificant snacks are sold well all over the country, from large and medium-sized cities to remote villages, and even exported overseas at a price that is 11 times higher than the domestic market. However, there are many hidden dangers behind its spicy and fragrant taste, which greatly harms the health of eaters, especially children. Recently, the reporter of Life Times went to Hunan, one of the producing areas of spicy strips, and unveiled a shocking production chain for you step by step, from small rural shops to wholesale markets in counties and cities to small workshops for producing spicy strips.
As soon as school is over, the canteen at the school gate is crowded with children who buy spicy strips.
In early March, the reporter conducted investigations in the vicinity of No.1 Middle School, No.2 Complete Primary School, Experimental Primary School, Aoshan Complete Primary School and Wutongan Primary School in Shuangqiaoping Town, Changde City, Hunan Province, and found that "spicy strips" were very popular around the school. Many children rushed into the canteen to buy "red bean curd" and "mushroom beef" as soon as school was over.
On the morning of March 6th, the reporter went to the Second Complete Primary School in Linli County, Changde City, Hunan Province. In the small supermarket opposite the school, the reporter saw many crumpled spicy strips on the bottom of the shelves, and some packaging bags of spicy strips were also thrown on the ground around the school. An old man living nearby told reporters that many children have the habit of buying snacks after school, often spicy strips and candy in one hand. Later, the reporter came to the experimental primary school in Linyi County and saw that the Wenhui stationery store in the east of the school not only sold stationery, but also put many inferior snacks on the small white shelves and cartons at the door, and the red spicy strips were among them.
Spicy food not only sells well in front of primary and secondary schools in Hunan, but also has a large online sales volume. The reporter saw on a large shopping website that spicy products with a monthly sales volume of over 11,111 are everywhere, and the monthly sales volume of one product even exceeds 35,111, totaling over 1 million packages. The reporter entered the word "spicy strip" in the sales index, and the related search volume exceeded 211,111. Nearly 61% of the favorite buyers were between the ages of 18 and 24 (the survey did not involve minors), and the preferences of Anhui, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places were higher than those of Hunan. In 2114, spicy strips also went abroad, and their value doubled and appeared on a shopping website in the United States.
while being highly sought after, there are endless reports about food safety hazards of spicy strips. As early as 2111 years ago, CCTV had exposed that some enterprises illegally added a mildew-proof preservative "mildew buster" in the production of spicy strips, which was extremely harmful to liver and kidney. In recent years, spicy strips have repeatedly been listed on the black list of problem foods issued by food and drug administrations at all levels because of the total number of colonies, lemon yellow and carmine. There are also some domestic and foreign consumers who have diarrhea and even acute gastroenteritis after eating spicy strips.
The small workshops of spicy strips are dirty and messy, and the pungent flavor can be smelled from a distance.
During the investigation in Linli County, Hunan Province, the reporter found that the local commissary sells spicy strips with different packages and brands, and the manufacturers are even more varied, mostly from some unknown small factories. The reporter asked the owner where the spicy strips usually come from. Most of the answers were directed at two wholesale firms in the county.
after many inquiries, the reporter found these two businesses located in Renmin Street, Linli County. The owner of one of them bluntly said that almost all snacks in Linli County were purchased from them. Many of his spicy foods have been sold out, leaving only empty cartons soaked with oil stains and partially blackened. The reporter picked up a packet of spicy strips and asked the boss if it was delicious. He replied: "I haven't eaten it, I don't know what it tastes like", "It's mainly sold to students, but it can't be eaten by bad people".
According to a rough estimate, there are hundreds of kinds of inferior snacks sold by the two firms, among which the spicy products such as "beef tendon", "shredded golden melon", "slice refreshing" and "spicy fat sausage" account for almost half of the country, and the wholesale price is generally 35 cents per package. Business owners told reporters that their goods mainly come from the Gao Qiao market in Changsha, and some businesses also purchase goods from Changde Bridge South Market.
Later, the reporter went to the Gao Qiao market and saw that almost all food merchants had spicy strips wholesale, and some even hung a whole wall of spicy strips. At this point, the reporter found a distribution network of spicy strips from Changsha Gao Qiao Market to Changde Qiaonan Market and then to county-level wholesale firms.
on March 8, according to the address marked on the package of the purchased spicy strips, the reporter went to a number of food factories in Pingjiang county, Yueyang city, Hunan province for an unannounced visit.
First stop: Pingfeng Food Factory, whose products are not sold locally. The reporter turned around and found Pingfeng Food Industry Co., Ltd. located in the new village of Chengguan Town, Pingjiang County. As soon as he entered the hospital, there was a strong aroma of spicy strips. Mr. Li, a salesperson, told the reporter that the wholesale price of a big bag of beef tendon with a retail price of 1 yuan in the market is 55 cents; A small bag of beef tendon with 51 cents on the market can get the goods at 28 cents. "This kind of snacks is mainly aimed at children and can't be sold too expensive." He also said that the production of spicy strips is a major industry in Pingjiang. They have been doing it for more than ten years, not only in Hunan, but also in Gansu and Ningxia. However, the reporter found that local supermarkets in Pingjiang do not sell these "local specialties". In this regard, Mr. Li explained that they are mainly sold to other places.
second stop: bangge food factory, the disinfection area is useless. Drive about 21 kilometers southeast from Chengguan Town, Pingjiang County, and you will arrive at Sanshi Town, which is called the hometown of spicy strips. Walking in the town, you can see a food factory at regular intervals. The reporter came to Bangge Food Co., Ltd. in Lianhua Village and said that he wanted to enter the factory to understand the product situation. The staff was very vigilant and allowed reporters to enter after several communications. The reporter saw that this small food factory is roughly divided into two parts: one side is a two-story building as a personal residence; On one side are two rows of bungalows, which are used as production workshops. The boss "Bangge" told reporters that their family mainly produces two kinds of products, one is "spicy fat sausage", which is wholesale for 26 cents a bag, and the other is "beef and green beans crisp bone" cut into small squares, which is 4.5 yuan a catty. "The crispy bones of beef and green beans in small packages look high-grade, exquisite and have better profits. They can be sold for 8 ~ 12 yuan a catty in supermarkets." The reporter tasted these two products and felt that they tasted similar. "Bangge" said: "This kind of products produced in Pingjiang are similar, and the taste may be slightly different, but they are all in the same soup. However, everyone is tight-lipped about the formula, but as long as you look at the product, you probably know how to do it. "
when the reporter expressed concern that the sales link would be sampled, "Brother Bang" said that "he would be sampled several times a year, but he often passed the test with a scratch". He also said that relatively speaking, Beijing, Hebei and other places have stricter inspections, so his products are mainly sold to southern rural areas by dealers in Changsha, Wuhan and Chengdu, especially around rural schools. The day of the reporter's unannounced visit was Sunday, but the factory was still producing normally. At the reporter's repeated request, "Papa" agreed to let us go into the production workshop to have a look. Before entering the workshop, you will pass through a so-called "disinfection area", but it is almost useless, people can go in and out at will, and the shoe rack at the shoe changing place is empty. After entering the workshop, a strong and even pungent smell came. The reporter saw that many machines were placed in disorder. Eight workers were packing around two tables of bright red spicy products. They didn't have dressing the, and they were wearing clothes and shoes in daily life, not to mention hats, masks and gloves.
Third stop: Wu Hongtao Food Factory. The machines are covered with red and black grease. According to the guidance of a local fellow villager, the reporter found a very hidden "Wu Hongtao Food Factory" at the top of a hill. This small factory and even many local villagers have never heard of it. Climbing up the steep slope, I saw that the door of the food factory was open. There were three rows of factories in the courtyard, and black smoke kept coming out of the big chimney on the roof of one of the factories, which caused the air in the courtyard to be very dirty, not only pungent, but also mixed with a lot of dust. The reporter walked into this factory with black smoke and found that it was a color printing factory named "Tuotian Sixing". In the dark workshop, a worker was busy printing small food packaging bags, and some finished products were piled up in a dark and humid corner.
Later, the reporter entered the food packaging workshop and saw that it was messy: the table was full of scattered and unpacked spicy strips, and several rolls of colorful food packaging bags were randomly thrown on the ground, and the machine was covered with red and black grease. On the grounds of asking the boss's phone number, the reporter went into a production workshop with an area of less than 11 square meters. Inside, several large machines are rumbling, and the ground is covered with black oily stains. There are several large yellow plastic bags, white plastic buckets and black iron buckets next to the machines, which contain all kinds of powders and liquids. There is a big spoon in one plastic bag. A young man with hairy earmuffs on his ears was standing around in a hurry between several machines. From time to time, he fiddled with a rectangular machine similar to a blender with his hands. Many crimson and oily spicy strips rolled in it, and after eating, they would be put into an orange basket below the machine, which was dark. The young man told the reporter that all the spicy strips were seasoned by him in the back room. But when the reporter asked how the spicy strips were processed, he evaded and did not answer. At this time, a middle-aged man who claimed to be the boss of the enterprise came in and asked the reporter "Where did he come from? What do you want to do?" Then he reprimanded the young man "Why didn't you close the door and how did outsiders get in?"
fourth stop: tiantianxi food factory, unknown additives are sent to the warehouse. Tiantianxi Food Factory is located in Luogu Village, Jiayi Town. If you don't look for it deliberately, you can't see that this row of humble houses on the roadside is actually a food factory. When the reporter arrived, a big blue truck was delivering goods to the food factory. The truck driver has unloaded seven or eight large white sacks and six or seven labeled vats from the car. Two other men pulled more than ten boxes of chicken essence and Chili red (a pigment) from a house and sent them to the warehouse.
Just near this food factory, the reporter saw a firm selling essences and spices. There were many white sacks filled in the store, which were piled higher than people, very similar to the goods unloaded by blue trucks. A saleswoman in the store said that many food factories in the surrounding area buy goods from his home, such as commonly used peppers, aniseed and hemp peppers. She told reporters that natural peppers with bright colors are more expensive. In order to reduce costs, some enterprises wholesale cheap peppers and powder them themselves. If the color is not good, add some Chili red to color them, or buy Chili powder with added pigments directly from businesses.
tens of thousands of dollars can open a "black factory"; Add additive "noodles" to "spicy strips"
In order to thoroughly understand every link and formula of spicy strips production, the reporter contacted several "teachers" in the industry on the Internet, claiming that they could provide one-stop service, help contact manufacturers selling production equipment, spices and additives, and then personally come to teach specific production techniques and formulas until they learned.
Mr. Wang, whose net name is "Liebing", claims to be a spicy seasoning teacher, who specializes in teaching how to make the taste of "Wei Long" (a well-known Henan spicy strip manufacturer). He said that as long as you have tens of thousands of dollars in your hand, you can set up a factory. The specific expenses include: equipment such as flour beater, bulking machine, conveyor belt, mixer, packaging machine, etc., less than 31,111 yuan; Beef powder, sweeteners, preservatives, humectants and other flavors and ingredients are about RMB 1,111, packaging bags need several thousand yuan, flour and oil need RMB 1,111, plus a part of working capital. However, Mr. Wang said that although these equipment and raw materials can be produced, they can't meet the requirements of regular manufacturers and can only be "black factories". It takes more than one million yuan to reach the formal standards. He also calculated an account with the reporter. A production line can produce more than 111 boxes (421 packs per box, about 31 kg) of spicy strips in one day, and the profit per box is about 15 yuan. It is not difficult to earn back the capital. When the reporter expressed concern about sales, the other party promised to help contact the wholesaler after receiving the tuition fee of 5,111 yuan. Mr. Li, another netizen named "Pingjiang Spicy Food Technology", told reporters that it is not difficult to deal with quality sampling inspection, and it can generally pass under his guidance, as long as the products are carefully made. The net name is "Arsenal", and the person who claimed to open a factory in Hubei suggested: "If you want to open a black factory, first look at how many local black factories there are, and you can do it if you have more. It's no big deal."
Mr. Wang sent three videos to let reporters fully understand the production process of spicy strips. Although he claimed that these videos were shot by a food company that invested over one million yuan and passed QS quality certification, the reporter still found problems such as dirty equipment and messy environment during production. Through the video, the reporter witnessed the whole process of producing a packet of spicy strips:
Step one, making strips. Pour the flour into the "funnel" of the flour beater, then sieve it into the basket below at a constant speed, and then squeeze out strands of noodle-like gluten from the machine, just like longevity noodles, which will not break; Then the slender gluten is put on two parallel conveyor belts, crushed and cut in turn, and then poured into another conveyor belt and sent to the seasoning link;
step two, mix seasonings. Subsequently, according to the formula, the production personnel add various additives such as spices, essences and pigments into a drum-shaped machine, which keeps stirring, and the bottom of the machine is connected with a pipeline to regularly discharge crimson liquid into the iron drum below the nozzle. These are the seasonings that make the spicy strips taste attractive;
step three, taste. The conveyor belt conveys the tasteless spicy strips to two mixers that rotate at a uniform speed, and the production personnel pour the previously prepared seasoning into them, and control the rotating direction of the machine in real time until the seasoning is fully absorbed by the spicy strips;
step four, take out the spicy strips in a big pot, send them to the packaging workshop, and pack them into bags, boxes and leave the factory.
"spicy strips" are just the epitome of the problem food in rural areas
On March 6th, the reporter came to the office of He Jiguo, an associate professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University, with some spicy strips bought during the investigation and interview. After reading all the materials, He Jiguo sighed and said, "It is time for us to pay more attention to rural food safety."
He Jiguo said that the links that generally affect food safety include raw materials, production environment, employees, machinery and equipment, production technology, etc. However, there are food safety hazards such as unclear raw materials, dirty production environment, unsanitary employees and dirty machinery and equipment in the spicy strip production enterprise visited by the reporter. Therefore, we inevitably suspect that the products produced by these enterprises have high food safety risks such as excessive flora, and the shelf life of these products can reach about 6 months. We then suspect that manufacturers may control the reproduction of microorganisms by adding preservatives or salt excessively. "Of course, this is only an inference. Only after professional testing can authoritative evidence be obtained."
"What is certain is that nutritionally, these foods are unhealthy foods with high salt and oil." He Jiguo said that most of these products contain about 2,111 milligrams of sodium per 111 grams, and some products even reach 3,898 milligrams. Long-term consumption will increase the burden on the kidneys and affect the blood pressure regulation mechanism. In addition, many products contain more oil, which is easy to cause overweight or obesity. In addition, the taste of strong aroma may affect appetite, hinder the intake of other foods, and affect the nutritional status of the body, especially for children's health. Not only consumers, but also production personnel of enterprises face health and safety threats without personal protection. For example, the equipment for processing flour is not covered in production, resulting in a large amount of dust suspended. When it reaches a certain concentration, it will explode once it meets fire or Mars. Inhaling a lot of dust without wearing a mask may also lead to lung lesions.