Recently, Sun Baoguo, academician of China Academy of Engineering and president of Beijing Technology and Business University, said in an interview with the media that most people still have misunderstandings about food additives, and enterprises should not use "zero addition" as a gimmick to attract consumers.
Beijing News reporter visited the market and found that "zero addition" is not uncommon in packaged food at present, and different enterprises and products have different definitions of "zero addition". Declaring "zero addition" or "no addition" or implying that food additives are harmful has become the marketing method of many emerging brands.
according to the introduction of food enterprises, "zero addition" is a market trend, and it is the competition for market segments by merchants. If enterprises, especially new brands, do not label, they will often be at a competitive disadvantage. However, in the opinion of some experts, the "zero-added" label conforms to the consumer demand, but the panic marketing behind it and the stigma of some food additives are worthy of attention. This is also the reason why the "Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comment)" should put a spell on the label of "zero addition".
Labeling "zero additive" has become a trend
On March 7th, at the "Food Safety Dialogue between the two sessions" organized by Wal-Mart Food Safety Cooperation Center, Sun Baoguo, an academician of China Academy of Engineering and president of Beijing Technology and Business University, said that the scientific cognition level of Chinese residents on food additives has improved compared with that of ten years ago, but some misunderstandings have not been eliminated, such as equating additives with food additives and thinking that natural foods are better than synthetic ones, and suggested that enterprises should not use "zero additive".
Beijing News reporter visited the market and found that it has become common for prepackaged foods to mark "zero addition" and "no addition" from dairy products, beverages, sausages, condiments and cooking oil, but different enterprises have different definitions. For example, the package of Casper double protein flavor fermented milk is nominally "1 adding food additives"; The "zero addition" of Qianhe Zero-added vinegar means that alcohol, potassium sorbate and preservative sodium benzoate are not added in the production process; The "1 addition" of Taitai Le original fresh soy sauce means that preservatives and sweeteners are not used; Haitian zero added the first soy sauce marked "1% added monosodium glutamate and preservatives"; On the package of Jinluo Wang Zhongwang premium ham sausage, it is nominally "no sweetener added" and "no synthetic colorant added".
In addition, declaring "zero addition" or "no addition" or implying that food additives are harmful has become a common marketing method of many emerging brands. For example, on the product page, online celebrity yogurt brand Le Chun once declared "rejecting chemical additives". The baby food brand that recently won over 111 million yuan in financing is greedy, and it also takes "additives, I don't like them" as a selling point, saying that "products that meet the standards for baby accessories are not necessarily good", because the national standard also allows the use of food additives.
more and more "zero addition" labeling problems have attracted the attention of the regulatory authorities. In July 2121, the General Administration of Market Supervision issued the revised Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comment). It stipulates that for substances that are not contained or used in food, the food label shall not be marked with "no addition", "zero addition", "no inclusion" or similar words to emphasize. Although the management measures have not yet been introduced, in the view of some food enterprises, the draft for comments hints at the future supervision direction to some extent.
Inevitable "market atmosphere"
"The general public mentality is that the less food additives, the better." According to Sun Baoguo, at present, there are more than 11,111 kinds of food additives in the world, and the number of food additives registered and licensed by the US FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency has reached tens of thousands. In contrast, there are only more than 2,111 kinds of food additives in China, and only about 11 kinds of new additives are allowed to be used every year. The approval speed is slow, largely because of the public's psychological tolerance and acceptance of food additives.
A person in charge of a large dairy company told the Beijing News that "zero-added" yogurt is a trend, which is more acceptable to consumers, and it is also a competition for market segments by merchants. "Especially for some new brands, it may not be possible to occupy the market without this marketing, so unconventional means have been adopted."
"If everyone does this, we will be at a competitive disadvantage if we don't do it. Even if we don't want to mark the products, dealers and channels will remind us to mark the selling points. This is the current market atmosphere. " As for why yogurt products were marked with "no added sucrose", Mr. Li, the head of a dairy company in North China, explained to the Beijing News reporter.
In recent years, online celebrity brands such as Cashi, Le Chun, Jane Eyre and Yuanqi Forest have emerged in the low-temperature yogurt industry, and "no added" and high protein have become the two major categories of these brands. In this industry background, as a newly established dairy company in 2121, the selling point of the above-mentioned dairy enterprises in North China naturally falls on "no addition".
Not long ago, the company wanted to add edible gelatin to a new yogurt product, but considering the current competitive environment and consumers' "excessive nervousness about food additives", it finally gave up the idea. "In fact, edible gelatin is extracted from animal bones and is a natural thickener. However, some merchants are really exaggerating the education of food additives to consumers, and we have no choice."
in fact, it is far more than downstream food enterprises that make strategic adjustments to meet market demand. As an A-share listed company specializing in the research and development and sales of flavors and food ingredients, Huabao Flavor Co., Ltd. once said in the 2119 financial report that as the downstream food manufacturing industry entered the period of structural transformation, the iterative speed of downstream product update accelerated, which brought new challenges to the research and development capabilities of upstream food flavor enterprises. At present, Huabao shares focus on expanding the business of natural food flavors and healthy food ingredients.
experts condemn panic marketing
there are also differences of opinion in the industry on whether it is necessary to prohibit enterprises from marking "zero addition".
Xie Huamin, a senior engineer of the former Standard Quality Center of the State Grain Administration, who promoted the ban on nitrite in the catering industry, believes that the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling have not yet been promulgated, and it is not illegal for enterprises to mark "zero addition" on products. A total ban on labeling "zero addition" is equivalent to depriving consumers of the right to directly understand the ingredients of food. In the United States, Canada, Germany, Britain, France, Japan, Australia and other countries, companies are not prohibited from claiming that they do not contain food additives.
According to Kai Zhong, member of the Standing Committee of Health Communication Branch of Chinese Preventive Medicine Association and director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center, the driving force of "zero addition" in product labeling is to meet the needs of consumers. "It is understandable to comply with consumer demand, but it is necessary to condemn the deliberate use of consumer psychology to create panic."
Kai Zhong believes that there are two main reasons why "zero addition" is prohibited in the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comment). First, the implication of "zero addition" is that it is better not to add than to add, which is actually a panic marketing; Second, there are a large number of "zero addition" claims in the market as "nonsense". For example, some plant products claim zero cholesterol, but in fact plants themselves do not contain cholesterol; Claiming "1 sucrose" may actually add other sugars such as glucose syrup or honey. Enterprises claim that cholesterol and sucrose are stigmatized, which is misleading to consumers.
The Beijing News reporter noticed that some products have changed the expression of "zero addition" at present. For example, Guangming truthfully changed the "no added fermented milk" to "pure fermented milk", and marked "clean formula" on another product; The package of Mengniu Guanyi Milk is labeled as "simple formula"; The label of Jane Eyre and Father Eyre formula yogurt is "raw milk, whey protein powder, lactic acid bacteria, and others are gone".
Regarding the safety of food additives, Wang Zhixuan, a professor at the School of Public Health of Nanjing Medical University, said in an interview with the Beijing News reporter that "it is certainly a good thing to make food well without additives, but any kind of food additives can be used within the scope of application." Sun Baoguo also believes that some merchants or consumers pursue the simplification of the ingredient list, but the quality of food is not necessarily related to the number of ingredients listed in the ingredient list.
According to Kai Zhong, the list of food additives approved for use in China is constantly updated, and the GB2761 National Standard for Food Safety, Standard for the Use of Food Additives, has been revised several times. There are generally two reasons for reassessing a food additive. First, new evidence has been found on the safety and needs to be reassessed. Second, the food consumption structure has changed. When the consumption of a food changes from less to more, it is necessary to consider whether one of the food additives will exceed the safety limit after accumulation.
Editor Li Yan proofreads Wu Xingfa.