In response to the debate on the safety of vinegar in the domestic market, many food experts said that fermented vinegar is the main body of blended vinegar, so long as it is added according to the standard, there is no safety problem. Some experts said that it is difficult to distinguish brewing vinegar from blending vinegar by current detection methods, and the current national standard is not perfect enough, so it is urgent to establish a reasonable new national standard for vinegar industry. Brewing vinegar has greater nutritional value. What's the difference between blending vinegar and brewing vinegar? 1 Interpretation Dr. Lu Fei is a researcher in a food research institute in Beijing, and has been studying China traditional fermented vinegar for many years. According to Lu Fei, according to national standards, there are two kinds of vinegar, one is brewing vinegar and the other is blending vinegar. Blended vinegar is a flavoring vinegar made of fermented vinegar as the main body and food additives. Among them, the proportion of fermented vinegar shall not be less than 50%. The former takes a long time to brew, and the process is complicated, so it can't meet the market demand, so blended vinegar appears. However, the state also has requirements for blending vinegar, and the content of brewed vinegar shall not be less than 50%. Fermented vinegar contains not only acetic acid, but also various organic acids such as lactic acid, some nutrients brought in by raw materials and nutrients produced by its degradation, and its taste is soft. However, the content of organic acids such as lactic acid in blended vinegar is getting less and less, and the acidity is getting stronger and stronger. Ji Baoping, a professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University, said that some mature vinegar needs half a year's fermentation time, while blending vinegar is a simple blending, with many differences in technology and much lower cost. According to the standard production, you can safely eat 2 doubts. Can I eat vinegar? Lu Fei said that many consumers think that "blending" is not good. Actually, this is a misunderstanding. In the production process of some traditional fermented foods, such as soy sauce, vinegar and liquor, blending is only a normal process to ensure product quality uniformity. Lu Fei said that because blended vinegar is not entirely brewed vinegar, it involves shelf life and preservatives must be added. However, as long as it is added in strict accordance with the requirements of national standards and is not used in excess or beyond the scope, there is no safety problem. Lu Fei revealed that it is difficult to find vinegar without preservatives, whether it is blending vinegar or brewing vinegar. Therefore, "the presence or absence of sodium benzoate is not the criterion for judging whether or not fermented vinegar." Ji Baoping said that blending is a normal method, blending vinegar is completely edible, and the state also has relevant standards for blending vinegar. Lu Fei said that at present, there are indeed some manufacturers who directly blend edible vinegar with glacial acetic acid, which is not in line with China's regulations on the production of blended vinegar. Industrial glacial acetic acid is not a food raw material, but an illegal additive, which is definitely harmful to human health. Lu Fei said that consumers had better buy well-known products from regular manufacturers in large supermarkets. Now, food safety monitoring is becoming more and more strict. Relatively speaking, the bigger the enterprise, the more secure the product quality. There is no clear standard to distinguish blended vinegar from brewed vinegar. According to Lufei, there is no way for national standards to distinguish between brewing vinegar and blending vinegar. Therefore, the "Shanxi vinegar blending gate" actually exposed the loopholes in the national standard of vinegar industry. Together with Beijing Food Safety Monitoring Center, they bought all kinds of edible vinegar from supermarkets and farmers' markets, studied and investigated the detection methods, hoping to find a way to judge brewing vinegar and blending vinegar, but it was difficult to distinguish the two. However, according to their testing, some manufacturers are worried that consumers will resist blending vinegar, so the products blended with vinegar are also called brewing vinegar. At the end of May this year, China Condiment Association organized a seminar on the revision of the standard of blended vinegar products. Relevant departments and testing units have held seminars on vinegar standards, and some people have put forward methods to distinguish them. However, due to the immature method, imperfect data and high detection cost, it is necessary to add how to detect and distinguish into the standard, but it is not realized because of the high detection cost. Lu Fei said that this requires the government to increase investment and the production, learning, research and testing units to work together to establish new appropriate standards. Ji Baoping said that in fact, blending vinegar or brewing vinegar itself is not a very serious problem, but businesses must make people understand consumption. Relevant state departments can design relevant product description labels and stick them on vinegar packaging to facilitate consumers to distinguish between brewed vinegar and blended vinegar. ■ Wang Jianzhong's reaction that "95% of the aged vinegar is blended" is a misunderstanding that "this is a misreading and misreporting of what I said, because the reporter who interviewed me is not familiar with the industry". Yesterday, Wang Jianzhong said in a telephone interview with our reporter: At that time, I was interviewed not as the "Vice President of Shanxi Vinegar Industry Association" but as the "Chairman of Shanxi Golden Vinegar Biotechnology Co., Ltd."; More importantly, what the media reported was not what I meant at all. I mean, more than 95% of Shanxi vinegar is added with the food additive sodium benzoate allowed by the state. According to the report, Wang Jianzhong introduced that there are two kinds of blended vinegar, one is blended with glacial acetic acid, and the other is pickled with sodium benzoate, with additives accounting for 95%. Pure aged vinegar with 6 degrees without any preservatives is rare, accounting for less than 5% of the market. "It is not allowed to blend vinegar with glacial acetic acid. At present, it has not been found in Shanxi." Wang Jianzhong said that "Shanxi mature vinegar" does not need any preservative because of its special technology, which is the root of Shanxi mature vinegar. However, "Shanxi vinegar" or "Shanxi mature vinegar" is not the case. Because they can't meet the relevant production standards of "Shanxi mature vinegar", if they can't reach a certain acidity, they will easily deteriorate, so it is necessary to add sodium benzoate for preservation. According to the regulations, the added preservative components need to be marked on the product packaging. "Moreover, adding this preservative is common in all major vinegar factories in China." Wang Jianzhong stressed that the market share of Shanxi mature vinegar without preservatives is about 5%. In addition, some products on the market under the banner of Shanxi vinegar are not produced in Shanxi. ■ Market research Many supermarkets have 80% aged vinegar containing preservatives and 80% aged vinegar containing preservatives, and the price of fermented vinegar is higher. "I am used to Shanxi old vinegar." Our reporter visited many supermarkets in Beijing yesterday and investigated the vinegar sold in the market. Take Carrefour Supermarket as an example. The brands of mature vinegar are Millennium Well Shanxi Mature Vinegar, seven show Spring Mature Vinegar, Donghu Mature Vinegar, Water Tower Mature Vinegar, Hengshun, Longmen, Laocaichen and Xiaoerhei 12. Except 500ml (glass bottle) of Donghu mature vinegar and 550ml (glass bottle) of Hengshun high-quality balsamic vinegar, all other brands contain food additive sodium benzoate (a preservative). Except for Laocaichen produced in Beijing and Zilin Mature Vinegar produced in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, other brands of mature vinegars are produced in Shanxi. The reporter saw in the Xizhimen store of Hualian Supermarket that among the 12 vinegar brands on the shelves, 8 brands clearly indicated that they contained sodium benzoate, and 2 brands indicated that they contained additive potassium sorbate (a preservative). Among them, Beijing Laocaichen, Beijing Kuanpai, Jiangsu Hengshun and Jiangsu Zhenjiang Old Vinegar were not marked with sodium benzoate. In Chongwenmen Store of Lotte Mart Supermarket, 15 kinds of vinegar brands are on the shelves, and 12 brands of vinegar products are clearly marked with sodium benzoate in food additives, accounting for 80% of the total, among which 7 brands from Shanxi all contain sodium benzoate. Investigation shows that about 80% of the aged vinegar sold in Beijing contains preservatives, most of which are sodium benzoate. The price of fermented vinegar is higher. The reporter found that whether sodium benzoate is added to mature vinegar has a certain impact on the price of mature vinegar. Take Donghu brand mature vinegar in Taiyuan, Shanxi as an example. The price of 800ml aged for five years without food additives is 14.5 yuan, while the price of Donghu aged vinegar labeled with food additives is only 7.5 yuan, and the price of 360ml aged vinegar is only 1.4 yuan. Similarly, 550ml Hengshun high-quality balsamic vinegar, without food additives, is sold in 6.7 yuan, and 800ml Hengshun mature vinegar with sodium benzoate is sold only in 5.9 yuan. The reporter who is used to eating Shanxi mature vinegar observed that Shanxi mature vinegar is very popular with consumers. Many consumers repeatedly compare the Millennium mature vinegar and Donghu mature vinegar, and choose one of them to put in the shopping cart. Most consumers said that when purchasing vinegar, the most important thing is the age of aged vinegar, and they tend to simply choose the oldest aged vinegar from several years of aging. When asked if they would observe the composition of vinegar, young consumers said they didn't have this habit, and very few elderly people said they would observe whether there were additives. At the same time, few consumers know that "old vinegar is mostly blended". ■ The statement ordered Wang Jianzhong to resign as the vice president of Shanxi Vinegar Brewing and Production Association: "The association has ordered Wang Jianzhong to resign as the vice president." Cao, president of Shanxi Vinegar Industry Association, said in an interview yesterday that on August 6th, the association organized a meeting of key enterprises in fermented vinegar, and the leaders at the meeting unanimously condemned the serious irresponsible remarks. According to reports, the association issued a solemn statement, saying: Shanxi old vinegar and Shanxi old vinegar produced in Shanxi Province are all brewed from pure grain, and there is no vinegar blending at all; Shanxi vinegar enterprises can organize production according to the standard, and there is no situation of adding more preservatives; Because Wang Jianzhong's irresponsible remarks and behaviors have seriously damaged the reputation of the Association and seriously infringed on the reputation of vinegar production enterprises in our province, the Association reserves the right to bring legal proceedings against him. Shanxi Quality Supervision Center: On August 6th, Shanxi Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center released a message saying: The aged vinegar products produced in Shanxi are safe and reliable, and there is no abuse of preservatives beyond the scope and limit, so it can be safely eaten. Shanxi local media quoted the person in charge of Shanxi Quality Supervision Bureau as saying that all certified enterprises in Shanxi Province are brewing production. At present, the vinegar products marked with the words "Shanxi Mature Vinegar" or "Shanxi Mature Vinegar" in the domestic market are not all produced by Shanxi enterprises.