On August 17, a test result of 15 infant formula released by the Hong Kong Consumer Council (hereinafter referred to as "the Consumer Council") showed that all samples contained chloropropanediol (3-MCPD) and trace element lead, and nine samples contained epoxypropanol (glycidyl ester) which could damage DNA or cause cancer.
In addition, the Consumer Council also tested the actual content of energy, 33 nutrients and DHA in milk powder. Six products were found to have lower nutritional content than the label on the milk powder can, and some were even nearly 40% lower.
According to the observation of Qicai Finance's mother and baby e, the infant formula milk powder tested by the Consumer Council includes famous brands such as Wyeth, Nestle, Mead Johnson, Xibao, Niulan and Xueyin, and the price ranges from 250 yuan to 539 yuan.
15 infant formula tested by the consumer Council
Fortunately, the lead content in all milk powder samples conforms to local and international regulations, and the content of epoxypropanol, a genetic carcinogen, in nine milk powders is lower than the EU upper limit.
After extensive media coverage, it attracted public attention to the safety of milk powder again. So, will long-term consumption of the above brands of milk powder cause health problems for your baby?
15 milk powder contains pollutants and 9 milk powders contain carcinogens.
On the evening of August 17, the Hong Kong Food Safety Center issued a document. According to the relevant reference values of the FAO and the WHO Expert Committee, all the milk powder did not exceed the standard, so it is safe to give it to the baby according to the recommended dosage of milk powder.
But many treasure parents are still not at ease. What exactly are chloropropanediol and epoxypropanol (glycidyl ester) and their hazards?
First of all, what is chloropropanediol (3-MCPD)? Does the milk powder sample meet the safety standards?
According to the observation of mother and baby e, chloropropanediol is a chemical product produced by heating in the process of refining vegetable oil, and it is not artificially added. This substance is commonly found in palm oil, refined vegetable oil, baked goods and other foods. Because all formula milk will use vegetable oil as raw material, it is almost inevitable to contain chloropropanediol.
According to the reports of the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) under WHO, long-term intake of excessive chloropropanediol will affect the kidneys, central nervous system and male reproductive system.
In addition, in vitro tests show that chloropropanediol can have a synergistic effect with copper ions, reducing human sperm motility.
However, at present, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the European Union, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and other places have not formulated regulatory standards for chloropropanediol and chloropropanediol fatty acid esters in infant formula.
The EU Food Safety Agency (EFSA) gives a "daily intake limit" of 2? G/kg, calculated by a one-month-old baby weighing 4.3kg, the maximum allowable daily intake is 8.6 μ g.
All milk powder samples detected by the Consumer Council this time contained chloropropanediol ranging from 13 to 120μg/kg. Among them, the highest Bellamy content in Australia is 120μg/kg, which is the only sample exceeding the standard.
Five infant formulas with the highest content of chloropropanediol
If the baby is fed according to the recommended amount on the milk powder can, the daily intake of chloropropanediol will exceed the EFSA standard of "upper limit of daily intake of 8.6μg", which may cause damage to the child's body.
According to the wind assessment report of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department of the Hong Kong Government, if the dose of chloropropanediol used in the in vitro test is lower than the level of drug production, chloropropanediol is not genotoxic. It has also been reported that chloropropanediol was also detected in breast milk.
What is the genetic carcinogen epoxypropanol?
In addition to chloropropanediol, 9 kinds of milk powder have detected the genetic carcinogen epoxypropanol, which is an important fine chemical raw material, and exists in food as glycidyl ester (GE), which is produced when vegetable oils are refined at high temperature.
According to the reports of the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) under WHO, epoxypropanol is genotoxic, which can damage DNA and may cause cancer.
20 17127 October, epoxypropanol was listed as a Class 2A carcinogen by the WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer. Some experts believe that epoxy propanol is easy to inhibit the central nervous system of human body after eating, which may damage fertility and even cause cancer.
This time, the milk powder brands involved in glycidyl ester exceeding the standard include Wyeth, Meiji, Xueyin, Abbott, a2, Nestle and Mead Johnson. The content is between 1. 1 and 29μg/kg, which is lower than the upper limit of 50μg/kg recommended by the European Union. In other words, they are all qualified products.
What is the harm of heavy metal element lead?
According to the testing by the Consumer Council of Hong Kong, the samples of 15 milk powder all contain trace amounts of lead.
As a heavy metal toxin, lead is extremely harmful to infants. Excessive lead intake will affect children's brain development, resulting in IQ decline and other problems, as well as kidney function damage, immunotoxicity and reproductive organ toxicity.
Therefore, all countries have strict standards for the lead limit in infant formula milk, and the national standard of powdered formula milk powder is "≤0. 15mg/kg".
Although all the samples tested by the Consumer Council contained lead, the highest content was 0.0 1mg/kg, which did not exceed the upper limit of Codex Alimentarius Commission standards, and the relevant content should not pose a risk to the health of infants.
The actual nutrient content of six milk powders is lower than the label value.
It is worth noting that among the 15 brands sampled, the actual nutrient content of 6 infant formulas is lower than the label value.
Among them, the vitamin A content of Wyeth milk powder tested was 21.9% lower than the label value; The vitamin B3 in Meiji is lower than the labeled value 14%, and the measured vitamin B6 content is lower than the labeled value1.7%. The measured vitamin B 12 content of a product of Xueyin is 30.0% lower than the marked value. The content of choline in Xibao is 39.5% lower and vitamin B3 is 2.6% lower.
Among them, the biggest difference is Xibao, and its actual choline content is 40% lower than the label. Some parents will worry that the actual content of some nutrients is lower and can't meet the nutritional needs of babies.
But in fact, it is acceptable that the value of nutrition label has errors within a certain range. In national standards, the highest and lowest values are often several times different.
Take the vitamin A content required by national standards for formula milk powder as an example, as long as the content of milk powder per 100Kcal is between 59- 180μg, it is up to the standard, and the difference between the two values is three times.
However, consumers should have the right to know the content of nutrients, and the content of nutrients is often linked to the cost and selling price. Therefore, milk powder manufacturers should accurately mark the nutrient content.
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Because the content of pollutants or carcinogens mentioned above is not beyond the standard, the Hong Kong Consumer Inspection Committee's suggestion on the consumption of milk powder brands sampled above is "cautious" rather than banned.
Zhu Danpeng, a food industry analyst in China, believes that whether the pollutants exceed the standard must be supported by clinical data. Now treasure moms are very concerned about the food safety of their children. If you are not at ease, parents can take their children to the hospital for some relevant laboratory tests.
Wang Dingmian, a dairy expert, believes that although it is not beyond the standard, attention should be paid to the problem of "accumulation". Infants' liver and kidney functions are immature and their ability to detoxify is poor. For safety reasons, it is recommended to eat less or not to eat the famous products on the list.
Generally speaking, infant formula is the key source of nutrition for the baby's organ development in the early life for the baby's mother with insufficient breast milk. Therefore, the food safety of infants must have higher standards and requirements than that of adults.
In the publicity, milk powder manufacturers will show that their own formula is more suitable for breast milk, but it really shouldn't happen that the hazards exceed the standard and the nutrients fail to meet the standard.
Although absolutely safe food for infants is almost non-existent, we should at least ensure that infants will have no problems after drinking formula milk powder, and it has sufficient nutritional value, so that the infants fed formula milk powder are as close as possible to breast-fed children in terms of immune system, intelligence and vision development.
The Consumer Council also stressed that infant formula is not an ordinary commodity, but an important food that affects the long-term health of infants. In order to improve the safety level of infant formula, it is necessary for the Government to pay close attention to international development, review and consider introducing relevant food safety standards and regulatory arrangements in Hong Kong.