Food safety and sustainability

Food Safety and Food Industry

"No preservatives", "zero additives", "pure natural"... In the market, as long as there are such labels on the food, it seems that it can always win the "favor" of more consumers.

So, do "zero additives" processed foods really exist?

"The claim of 'zero additives' on food labels is a way for manufacturers to cater to consumers' dislike of food additives. It cannot solve food safety problems, but it is easy to backfire. Unless deliberately, foods that do not use food additives at all are in modern food. It is difficult to achieve, and many foods cannot be achieved even deliberately, such as tofu products, beer, cola, chewing gum, infant formula, etc. Legally used food additives originally play a role in ensuring food safety.

Zero additives

" On November 27, Sun Baoguo, Chairman of the China Society of Food Science and Technology, said in an interview that 'It is absolutely impossible for high-quality food to become a 'top student' in terms of safety.

Fan Zhihong, a professor at China Agricultural University, also believes that "if you want to eat processed foods that are different from the original form, it is almost impossible to avoid the intake of food additives, and even some foods cannot be produced without the help of food additives."

"Zero addition" is not reliable

"Individual food companies deliberately emphasize 'zero additives', no food additives, no flavors, no pigments, etc., regardless of their subjective wishes, objectively smearing food additives, exacerbating public concerns about food additives and food safety panic. This is something that relevant food companies need to reflect on. Aggravating the public’s food safety panic for their own benefit should not be what a socially responsible food company should do, and the result will be self-inflicted and backfired.” Sun Baoguo said.

How unreliable is "zero addition"?

"Foods that do not use food additives at all are difficult to find in the modern food industry environment, at least it is almost impossible to use no processing aids in the entire production process. Food industry processing aids such as filter aids and ethanol are also used to ensure the normal progress of food production and inhibit the growth of microorganisms, and the processing aids used in the food industry are also managed as food additives,that is, according to the Standard Prepackaged Food Labeling General Rules, 'processing aids used in the food industry do not need to be labeled'." said Cao Yanping, a professor at Beijing Technology and Business University.

In fact, the special enzyme preparations for brewing soy sauce developed by some domestic companies for the brewing industry are also processing aids for the food industry. Common ones include fungal α-amylase, compound protease, cellulase, phytase, Pectinase, etc., has also become a new track for these condiment companies to compete.

"We must see that even those claiming 'zero additives' and 'no additives', most of the foods they produce have additives. This is also an objective fact. Claiming 'zero additives' and 'no additives' is tantamount to deception. The melamine, Sudan red, and clenbuterol that still make everyone fearful have never been food additives. If they are used in food, they are illegal and must be severely cracked down according to law.” Sun Baoguo emphasized.

The protection factor is generally 100 times

"So far, there has never been a real food safety incident caused by the legal use of food additives in our country. This is an objective fact." Sun Baoguo said.

How are China's standards for food additives stipulated and what is a safe dosage?

Cao Yanping pointed out that China's "National Food Safety Standard“ stipulates that the use of food additives:

1. Should not cause any health hazards to the human body;

2. Should not cover up food spoilage;

3. Should not cover up quality defects in the food itself or in the process of processing Or use food additives for the purpose of adulteration or counterfeiting;

4. The nutritional value of the food itself should not be reduced;

5. The amount used in food should be reduced as much as possible under the premise of achieving the intended purpose.

The food safety risk assessment of food additives carried out in China when setting the maximum usage of each food additive will take into account the situation that people of different ages, regions, and genders eat a variety of foods a day and eat them for a long time.

"The 'long-term' issue is also taken into account in the toxicology of food additive safety evaluation. The dose that does not cause any adverse effects is obtained through animal experiments, and then divided by the protection factor (usually 100 times) as the dose that is safe for humans. Among them, "long-term" is measured by the length and strength of "lifetime" and "every day", plus the above-mentioned insurance factor, as the scientific basis for formulating standards, so as long as it is used according to the standards, its safety is not a concern." Kexin Zhong Kai, director of the Food and Health Information Exchange Center, said.