national standards, including food hygiene standards and food quality standards. After years of efforts, the standardization system of China's food industry has tended to be sound. By 1995, there were 963 national food standards and 1,111 industry standards.
as finished products and raw materials for human consumption or drinking, food should be non-toxic and harmless, meet its due nutritional requirements, and have corresponding sensory properties such as color, fragrance and taste. However, in the process of food production, processing, packaging, transportation and storage, due to various conditions and factors, food may be polluted and endanger human health. Standards formulated to ensure food hygiene are collectively referred to as food hygiene standards. Food hygiene standards are mainly qualitative or quantitative restrictions on the degree of bacterial contamination of food directly imported, which is usually called hygiene inspection. The implementation scope and items of sanitary inspection were briefly introduced in the first section of the first chapter of this book.
the national food hygiene standards, generally including sensory indicators, physical and chemical indicators and microbial indicators, are divided into dozens of specialties according to food and agricultural and sideline products processing industries, which are formulated separately to ensure that food is non-toxic and harmless, meets the nutritional requirements, and has corresponding sensory characteristics such as color, fragrance and taste.
1. Sensory index: Food (including raw materials and processed products) has color, fragrance, taste, shape and properties. Different food properties have different qualities, so it can be identified by senses.
The characters of general foods are mostly described by words, and when they are identified, they are mostly evaluated by experience. However, due to the influence of physiology, experience and environment, people's sensory organs may have different cognitive and discriminating abilities, so it is necessary to formulate corresponding standards for the sensory characteristics of certain foods. For example, the maturity of fresh fruits and vegetables (mainly fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes) is compared by chromaticity; The whiteness of starch is checked by the reflectivity of light; The aroma of wine is identified by the determined components and so on. Sensory inspection of food includes three aspects: color, smell and texture.
Look at the color of food: all foods have a specific color. For example, the color of food is abnormal and very bright, which may be caused by adding non-edible pigments or excessive food pigments; If the color of the food is lighter than the normal color, it may be mixed with other substances or the food itself or raw materials are spoiled and moldy.
smell the smell or taste of food: all foods have their own smells and tastes, such as sour hawthorn and bitter beer. Smelling the food for abnormal smell and taste can provide a basis for whether the food is pure or not. For example, if the monosodium glutamate tastes salty, it can be judged that salt has been mixed in the monosodium glutamate.
Observe the organizational state of food: all foods have their own organizational forms, some of which are solid, liquid or powder; Some are round, some are flat, and some are angular; Some are soft, some are hard. For example, normal auricularia auricula is leathery, brittle and weak in elasticity, and not hard to feel, while auricularia auricula mixed with sugar or alkali feels soft but not brittle.
2. Physical and chemical indicators: Whether the food meets the edible requirements is often confirmed by physical and chemical analysis.
The internal quality of food includes physical properties, effective components and impurities. The ideal food should be non-toxic, harmless and nutritious. In order to avoid or reduce the toxic and harmful substances that may appear in the food processing process, the physical and chemical indexes of general foods are set according to different edible requirements, and the limits of toxic and harmful substances are set according to different categories.
Physical and chemical analysis methods to confirm the internal quality of food may draw different conclusions due to the differences in means and personnel quality. In order to avoid disputes, the relevant analytical methods, instruments, reagents and operating steps should be uniformly stipulated. The determination methods of physical and chemical indexes of food specialty in China are all implemented in accordance with the "Food Hygiene Inspection Methods (Physical and Chemical Part)" issued by the Ministry of Health.
3. Microbial indicators: There are many kinds of microorganisms, among which yeast and lactic acid bacteria are beneficial to people; Toxic and harmful to people are tuberculosis, staphylococcus and so on. All microorganisms need certain water, air, temperature and nutrients for their survival and reproduction, and all foods have these conditions, so food is easy to parasitize and reproduce various microorganisms. The microbial indicators stipulated in the food hygiene standards generally refer to the types and quantities of bacteria that should be controlled or restricted, such as coliforms and pathogenic bacteria.
It is necessary to identify the species and quantity of microorganisms through instrumental analysis and detection. The general microbiological detection methods for food in China are implemented in accordance with the Food Hygiene Inspection Methods (Microbiology Part) issued by the Ministry of Health.
food quality standards are applicable to processed foods that can be eaten after reprocessing or cooking, and the quality indicators specified in the standards are used to ensure the standardization of food quality. Some have stipulated that foods should contain nutrients needed by the human body, such as small packaged raw meat foods, dry sea cucumber (Stichopus japonicus), scallops and other seafood, and the water content should not exceed the maximum limit. Some provisions of the cooking of food, such as instant noodles after rehydration, there should be no obvious broken strips, and strips; The taste is not raw and sticky. Some stipulate the limit of impurities contained in food, for example, the impurities contained in various edible oils shall not exceed 1.15%. The purpose of formulating food quality standards is to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and their health.