The safety incidents of infant formula milk powder have touched the nerves of mothers again and again, and they are deeply afraid that their babies will be accidentally caught. The safety issue of vanillin is one of the hot topics, and from time to time people ask me, is vanillin safe? Why add to milk powder? If it is safe, why do we often see national regulatory authorities reporting that certain brands of infant formula have been heavily fined for vanillin [1, 2]?
First of all, to give you a positive answer, vanillin as a widely used food additive, its safety is absolutely guaranteed. Vanillin is a naturally occurring substance in nature, originally found in the tropics of the plant vanilla, is a substance with a strong creamy aroma. Its chemical name is 3-methoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde structural formula as shown in the figure below.
Figure Vanillin structure
With the understanding and mastery of synthetic chemistry by scientists, in 1858, vanillin was synthesized for the first time, and it became the first synthetic fragrance in history. As the technology becomes more and more mature, the price of vanillin is becoming cheaper and cheaper, and the scope of application is also increasing, and it is currently widely used in dairy products, chocolate, candy, nutrition and health care, pharmaceutical industry, cosmetics and other fields.
The annual consumption of vanillin in the global market is about 20,000 tons, and the annual consumption of vanillin in China is 2000-2500 tons, which maintains an annual growth rate of 4% to 5% in the Chinese market [3, 4]. Therefore, the widespread and large use of vanillin in food reflects its safety from a certain aspect.
Of course, there are still scientists who are tirelessly verifying its security. There are many such research articles, including cell experiments, animal experiments, etc., and the results are the same - safety. As early as 10 years ago, Ho et al. [5] conducted toxic experiments on intraperitoneal injection of 150 mg/kg and 300 mg/kg vanillin in rats, and the results of the study showed that these two doses (which were already tens to hundreds of times that humans could ingest) vanillin had no toxic effect on rats. In 2014, Oliveira et al. [6] selected female mice infected with Toxoplasma gondii for in vivo acute toxicity testing, fed 500 mg/kg of vanillin, and the mice did not have any symptoms of poisoning (erection, weight loss and postural abnormalities) or died.
Although no trials have so far shown vanillin to be toxic, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives are conservative and recommend an acceptable daily intake (ADI value) of 0-10 mg/kg [7]. Simply put, this value means that a 10 kg baby should not consume more than 100 mg of vanillin per day. In fact, babies can't touch so much vanillin at all.
Seeing this, some readers may ask: "Since vanillin is not toxic, why does the national standard stipulate that infant formula food from 0 to 6 months cannot be added vanillin?" ”
Yes, the National Standard for Food Safety The Standard for the Use of Food Additives stipulates that infant formulas from 0 to 6 months of age shall not be added to any food spices, not only vanillin. Breast milk is the most suitable food for babies, in addition to containing various nutrients needed for growth and development, it also contains a wealth of antibodies and other substances, which can increase the baby's resistance. However, if the mother does not have enough breast milk, it is necessary to use infant formula. The purpose of the above provisions is to encourage breastfeeding.
However, after 6 months, China's food standards allow the use of vanillin and other substances in larger infant formulas, with a maximum use of 5mg/100mL; the maximum use of infant cereal supplementary foods is 7mg/100g. Countries such as the United States and the European Union even have no clear limits on the amount of vanillin used, and it is up to companies to decide whether to add or not to add.
Then the question arises again, why can older children eat dairy products containing vanillin again? In fact, the reason is also very simple. The taste of the original breast milk will also change slightly with the mother's food intake, and children after 6 months of age, with the addition of various complementary foods, the taste does not need to be restricted.
Studies in recent years have shown that vanillin also has antioxidant and antibacterial effects, reducing the heat tolerance of C. sakazaki, a pathogenic bacterium that is fatal to infants and young children, and reducing the risk of growth of the bacteria during milk powder storage, acting as a bacteriostatic effect [8].
To sum up, vanillin, as a food additive, has undergone rigorous and scientific safety risk assessment, and its addition to food is very small, which is very safe. As for a certain enterprise that was fined, it was because it violated the laws of our country and found trace amounts of vanillin residues in its infant products of 0-6 months old. Therefore, after reading this article, don't dwell on the vanillin in formula, and the growth of their babies is the most important.
This issue is written by Zhao Lichao and Peng Mingqian
Reviewer: Zhao Lichao | Editor: Peng Mingqian
bibliography:
[1]. Notice of Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Supervision and Administration on Risk Control of Unqualified Food (Issue 21, 2020).
[2]. Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Supervision and Administration, 2021 No. 5 unqualified food risk control and verification and disposal.
Lü Xiaojie, Development status of vanillin industry. Modern Food, 2019(07): pp. 14-16.
[4]. Qu Dongjie, Redefining Vanillin Solvay Makes Delicious More Natural. China Food Industry, 2019(05): pp. 78-80.
[5]. Ho, K., et al., Toxicology study of vanillin on rats via oral and intra-peritoneal administration. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2011. 49(1): p. 25-30.
[6]. Oliveira, C., et al., Comparative Study on the Antioxidant and Anti-Toxoplasma Activities of Vanillin and Its Resorcinarene Derivative. Molecules, 2014. 19(5): p. 5898-5912.
[7]. Fuentes, C., et al., Relevant essential oil components: a minireview on increasing applications and potential toxicity. Toxicol Mech Methods, 2021. 31(8): p. 559-565.
[8]. Yemis, G.P., et al., Thermal tolerance and survival of Cronobacter sakazakii in powdered infant formula supplemented with vanillin, ethyl vanillin, and vanillic acid. J Food Sci, 2012. 77(9): p. M523-7.
The image originates from the Internet, if there is any infringement, please contact to delete