Joint FAO-WHO Committee on Food Regulations;
Food additives are non-nutritive substances that are consciously added to food in small amounts to improve the appearance, flavor, organizational structure or storage performance of food.
remove doubts and misgivings
Food additives ≠ illegal additives
The public talks about the discoloration of food additives, more because they confuse the concepts of illegal additives and food additives, and it is obviously unfair to blame some illegal additives on food additives. Notice of General Office of the State Council on Cracking Down on Illegal Food Addition and Strengthening Supervision of Food Additives requires standardizing the production and use of food additives: prohibiting the use of non-edible substances to produce compound food additives, prohibiting the purchase of food additives with nonstandard labels and unknown sources, and severely punishing the abuse of food additives beyond the scope and beyond the limit. At the same time, it is required to formulate and publish the general safety standards for compound food additives and the labeling standards for food additives before the end of 20 1 1.
What needs to be severely cracked down is the illegal addition of food, and what needs to be standardized urgently is the production and use of food additives. There are some problems with food additives, such as unknown sources or improper materials, and the most likely problem is abuse.
Experts remind the public that there is no need to panic too much about food additives. With the arrival of relevant national standards, the production and use of food additives will be more standardized. Of course, we should strengthen our awareness of self-protection and learn more about food safety, especially don't buy foods with too bright colors, too strong tastes and abnormal tastes.
Common food additives and preservatives in life: carbonated drinks, puree, jam, candied fruit, pickles, soy sauce, vinegar, fruit juice drinks, meat, fish, eggs, poultry food, etc. , commonly used are: benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, etc.
Colorant: Mainly used in carbonated drinks, fruit juice drinks, mixed wine, colored clothes on cakes, candy, hawthorn products, pickled side dishes, ice cream, jelly, chocolate, cream, instant coffee and other foods. Commonly used are: amaranth, carmine, lemon yellow, sunset yellow, caramel pigment and other synthetic pigments. Some natural edible pigments, such as sodium copper chlorophyllin, are mainly extracted from plant tissues, but their pigment content and stability are generally not as good as synthetic pigments, and there are natural equivalent pigments.
Sweetener: it is an additive that gives food sweetness. Commonly used are: saccharin sodium (also known as saccharin), sodium cyclamate, maltitol, sorbitol, xylitol and so on. There are many foods that use sweeteners. Like: drinks, pickles, cakes, biscuits, bread, ice cream, candied fruit, candy, seasonings, canned meat and other almost common foods in daily life will be added with different kinds of sweeteners.
Spice: Candy and chocolate generally include essential oil, essence and powdered spice extract. There are countless varieties of each type, such as candy and chocolate, which can be divided into different varieties according to the flavor type, such as fruit flavor type, nut flavor type, milk flavor type, flower flavor type and wine flavor type.
Leavening agent: some candy and chocolate products, as well as some fried products, puffed food, fermented flour products, etc. Commonly used leavening agents are: sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, compound leavening agent, etc.
Acidity regulator: It can improve the quality of food and is used in various foods.
A considerable number of candy and chocolate products use sour agents to adjust and improve the flavor effect, especially fruit-based products. Commonly used are: citric acid, tartaric acid, lactic acid and malic acid.
Antioxidant: It is a kind of food additive. By giving hydrogen atoms to deoxy groups in the molecules of easily oxidizable components in food, it can prevent the oxidation chain reaction or form a complex with them, thus inhibiting the activity of oxidase and preventing and delaying the oxidative deterioration of food surface.
Thickener: It is a hydrophilic polymer compound, which can stabilize, emulsify or suspend, form gel or improve the viscosity of food, so it is also called gel, gelling agent or emulsion stabilizer.
Emulsifier: It is a surfactant, and there are usually hydrophilic groups (hydroxyl groups) and lipophilic groups (alkyl groups) in the molecule. It is easy to form an adsorption layer at the interface between water and oil, thus changing the surface activity of each phase in the emulsion and forming a uniform emulsion or dispersion, thus improving the organization, taste and appearance of food.
Leavening agent: It is a kind of food additive, which makes the food with grain flour as the main raw material loose and crisp due to the gas generated in the process of processing (heating).
Tissue improver: A food additive that can improve the appearance or touch of food by retaining water, bonding, plasticizing, thickening and improving rheological properties.
Flour improver: an additive to improve the quality of flour, which can improve the flour yield, whiteness and gluten.
Defoamer: In the process of food processing, it has the ability to eliminate and inhibit bubbles on the liquid surface, so that the operation can be carried out smoothly.
Anti-caking agent: prevent powdery or crystalline food from agglomerating and caking.
Harm of food additives to people The commonly used food additives include two types: natural additives and synthetic additives. Natural additives come from natural materials, mainly extracted from plant tissues, and also include pigments from some animals and microorganisms. Synthetic additives refer to organic pigments synthesized by artificial chemistry, which are mainly made of aniline dyes separated from coal tar. For a long time, people have not realized the harm of synthetic pigments, and compared with natural pigments, synthetic pigments have the advantages of bright color, strong coloring, stable performance and low price. Synthetic pigments are widely used in food processing industry in many countries. With the development of society and the improvement of people's living standards, more and more people question whether the use of synthetic pigments in food will do harm to human health. At the same time, a large number of research reports point out that almost all synthetic pigments can not provide nutrition to human body, and some synthetic pigments may even endanger human health. When eating exquisite snacks, fast food boxes and delicious hot dogs, take a look at the nutrient composition list on beautifully printed packaged foods, and you will find that there are additives in each food. It is understood that there are four most common ingredients in processed foods, namely, trans fat, refined grain products, salt and high-fructose syrup, which are harmful to human health. Some of them are harmful if excessive, such as citric acid, stevioside, aspartame, sodium cyclamate, Finnish white pigment, vanillin, ethyl maltol and potassium sorbate, as long as excessive addition is basically harmless.
Food pigment carmine is a water-soluble synthetic pigment, bright yellow-red, monochromatic variety. It can be safely used for coloring food, beverage, medicine, cosmetics, feed, tobacco, toys, food packaging materials and so on.
Molecular formula: C20h11N2O10s3Na3 Chemical name: 1-(4- sulfonic acid-1- naphthylazo) -2- hydroxy-6,8-naphthalene disulfonic acid trisodium salt trans fatty acids mainly exist in trans fatty acids. The latest research shows that trans fatty acids are twice as harmful to the heart as saturated fats, and it is estimated that 30,000 to 654.38 million people will die prematurely from heart disease every year.
It is reported that from 2006, trans fatty acids will be required to be included in the nutrition list of outer packaging.
High fructose syrup is widely used in frozen foods, as well as whole wheat bread, hamburgers and muffins. It can also be added to beer, soft drinks and even ketchup. Some researchers suggest that this liquid sweetener may interfere with human metabolism and increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.
Sorbic acid (potassium sorbate) has similar properties and uses:
Sorbic acid is an efficient and safe preservative recommended by FAO and WHO. Widely used in food, beverage, tobacco, pesticides, cosmetics and other industries. As an unsaturated acid, it can also be used in resin, perfume and rubber industries.
corrosion protection
Sorbic acid (potassium) can effectively inhibit the activities of mold, yeast and aerobic bacteria, and also prevent the growth and reproduction of harmful microorganisms such as Botox, Staphylococcus and Salmonella, but it is almost ineffective for beneficial microorganisms such as anaerobic bacteria and lactobacillus acidophilus, and its inhibitory effect is stronger than sterilization, thus effectively prolonging the storage time of food and maintaining the original flavor of food.
Its anti-corrosion effect is 5- 10 times that of the similar product sodium benzoate.
safe
Because sorbic acid (potassium) is an unsaturated fatty acid (salt), it can be absorbed by human metabolic system and quickly decomposed into carbon dioxide and water, and there is no residue in the body. Its toxicity is only 1/2 of salt and 1/40 of sodium benzoate.
Sodium cyclamate "sodium cyclamate" is also called sodium cyclamate, which is usually the sodium salt or calcium salt of cyclohexylsulfamic acid. The sweetness of "sodium cyclamate" is pure, and it is generally considered that the sweetness is 30 times that of sucrose. In the United States, it once became an artificial sweetener, with a large dosage, and was recognized as a safe substance. This situation continued until 1969. This year, the Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States received experimental evidence that sodium cyclamate is a carcinogen, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) immediately issued strict restrictions on the use of sodium cyclamate, and issued a comprehensive ban on it in August 1970. 1September, 982, Abbott Laboratories and Energy Control Committee proved the edible safety of sodium cyclamate with the latest research facts on the basis of a large number of experimental facts. Many international organizations have also published a lot of comments, clearly pointing out that sodium cyclamate is a safe substance, but the FDA has not finally solved this problem. Nevertheless, many countries (including China) still recognize the status of sodium cyclamate as a sweetener and allow its use.