Category: Food/Cooking

Question Description:

Are the various rice cakes sold in supermarkets now classified as puffed food? Does it contain lead?

Analysis:

It is a puffed food.

Puffed food is attractive not only because of its diverse seasoning characteristics, but more importantly because of its crisp and charming taste. Almost all brands are flaunting that their products are crisper and taste better.

Twenty years ago, puffed food was also a favorite of children. At that time, a small converter was used to pop rice popcorn, rice cake slices and popcorn popcorn. The principle was that the pressure was suddenly reduced after high temperature and high pressure to create a loose and porous structure in the food. However, while the taste is crispy, the product is also stained with lead elements from the stove materials, and is often sprinkled with a lot of saccharin. At that time, people rarely worried about its safety. This was because people did not understand the dangers, and they did not eat it every day. They could only eat it during the holidays, so the overall risk was not that great.

Today’s puffed food has a crispiness that popcorn cannot match. In addition to the principle of sudden pressure reduction, its secret also includes a trick of chemical puffing. Although the lead in the small converter is no longer visible, the chemical reaction in the leavening agent produces a large amount of carbon dioxide, making the product crispier than ever before, making consumers intoxicated and obsessed with it.

Although equipment has advanced and the danger of lead has gone away, chemical leavening agents have brought new worries to consumers - they often contain potassium alum and ammonium alum, and the introduction of aluminum Hidden dangers of exceeding standards. According to a test in 2005, at least 1/3 of puffed foods contained aluminum exceeding the standard.

The hazards of aluminum are no less harmful than lead. If you eat puffed food with excessive amounts of aluminum, aluminum will continue to accumulate in the human body, causing neurological diseases and interfering with people's thinking, consciousness and memory functions. In severe cases, Possible dementia. When the aluminum content in the human body is too high, it will affect the absorption of phosphorus. The insoluble aluminum phosphate formed in the intestine is excreted with feces, and phosphorus deficiency affects the absorption of calcium (not enough calcium phosphate is produced), causing the loss of calcium deposited in the bone, inhibiting bone formation, and causing osteomalacia. Excessive intake of aluminum may also lead to osteoporosis and prone to fractures.