When eating hot pot, in addition to a variety of meat, seafood and green vegetables, many people are also accustomed to ordering a powder skin, because it is not only easy to absorb the delicious taste of the soup, but also the taste of Q bomb is irresistible.
However, not long ago, Shaanxi Hanzhong #hot pot seasoning boss plus exceeding the label of alum lifetime ban # event let many pink skin cool skin lovers learn new knowledge, the original addition of alum can make the production of cool skin, powder skin state to maintain a longer period of time, the taste is more tendon.
At present, the owner of the hot pot seasoning workshop has been sentenced to 6 months in prison, the person in charge is not allowed to engage in food production and operation management for life, and the production license has also been revoked.
▲Screenshot of Weibo
Speaking of alum, many people just know that this thing is not good, and even many people's first reaction is "illegal additives", do not understand its role and the harm of excessive addition, then we will pick up its bottom today!
01
What is alum?
Leavening agent
The first thing to explain is that alum is not absolutely not allowed to be added to food, and some foods can indeed improve their quality by adding alum. Studies have shown that the quality of fans who add alum and do not add alum is very different, as long as 0.3% of alum is added to the fans, the quality of the fan can be improved, and the quality of sweet potato flour can be achieved by adding 0.4%. [1]
The scientific name of alum is "potassium aluminum sulfate dodecahydrate" and contains metallic aluminum. Under normal circumstances, alum can be added to food as a leavening agent, but it needs to comply with the provisions of "GB2760-2014 Use of Food Additives".
The standard stipulates that alum can be added to bean products, batter, fried noodle products, shrimp flakes, baked foods, and the residual amount of aluminum should be ≤ 100mg/kg; alum can also be added to pickled jellyfish, and the residual amount of aluminum should be ≤500mg/kg. [2]
▲Image source: GB2760-2014
This hot pot seasoning workshop is to add alum to the skin of vermicelli powder, GB2760-2014 also mentioned that if alum is used in vermicelli and vermicelli, then the residual amount of aluminum should be controlled at ≤ 200mg/kg. [2]
That is to say, alum is a legal food additive, but if it is added in excess, the residual amount of aluminum will be high and it will endanger human health.
02
What are the dangers of excess alum?
Mainly harmful to bones and nerves
So, how much aluminum residue in food will have an impact on health?
JECFA (Joint FAO/WORLD Committee of Experts on Food Additives) tentatively has a tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) of 2 mg/kg body weight. That is to say: if it is a 60-kilogram adult, then eating 120 mg of aluminum per week will not lead to the accumulation of aluminum, nor will it endanger health.
Excessive consumption of alum will lead to excessive metal aluminum residues in food, excessive aluminum into the body is not easy to be excreted, will accumulate in the human body, resulting in harm.
At present, there are no acute poisoning incidents of aluminum, but its residue will cause chronic damage to physical health - the harm of excessive aluminum in the human body is mainly reflected in the health of the bone and nervous system, such as osteoporosis, osteomalacia, hyperaluminemia, and may also affect the health of the reproductive system. [3]
Aluminum is a neurotoxin that has a good affinity with the brain, and excessive consumption is easy to accumulate in the brain, endangering the health of the nervous system [3]. Some people may have heard such a rumor - eating aluminum-containing foods is easy to get Alzheimer's disease.
Indeed, some literature suggests that there may be implications, but the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a note in July 2008 that a risk assessment of aluminum in the diet showed that, based on the available evidence, aluminum intake from food is not considered to be at risk of developing dementia in older adults [4].
Evaluations conducted by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in 2006 and 2011 also concluded that current studies could not conclude that aluminium causes Alzheimer's disease.
That is to say, the relationship between aluminum-containing foods and Alzheimer's disease is not yet clearly concluded.
However, the damage of excessive aluminum intake to children's health is clearly concluded: it will lead to a decline in children's ability to exercise and learn, affecting intellectual development [3]. Especially for children who love to eat puffed foods, it is more necessary to pay attention to the amount of control.
03
Avoid aluminium intake
What should we do?
(1) In addition to powder skin, cool skin, some fritters, oil cakes, baked foods, puffed foods, etc. may also have aluminum-containing additives, such foods are recommended to eat as little as possible, pay attention to not eating too much to reduce the risk.
(2) When purchasing packaged food, carefully look at the ingredient list and try to choose food without aluminum additives.
(3) It is also necessary to minimize the use of aluminum utensils and aluminum foil, and avoid containing acidic foods, such as tomatoes, vinegar, etc., when using, to avoid the precipitation of aluminum elements and endanger health.
To summarize:
Alum is not an illegal additive and there is no need to talk about discoloration. But if you add too much alum to food, it will be harmful to health.
If you want to reduce the intake of aluminum, it is still recommended to eat more at home, eat less out, and eat less snacks. Remember: The freshest, most nutritious, safest food comes from your own kitchen.
bibliography:
Yang S J, Yu Kang N, Huang Qi S, et al. Effects of alum substitute on quality of sweet potato vermicelli[J]. Journal of the Chinese Cereals and Oils Society, 2009, 24(010):54-58.
[2] GB 2760-2014 National Standard for Food Safety - Standard for the Use of Food Additives.
Gao Qi, Miao Xuan, Jiao Zhiping, et al. Discussion on the harm of aluminum to children's health[C]// The 13th Symposium of China Society for Trace Element Science. 2006.12.
Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety. Risk Assessment Study, Report No. XXXIV. The content of aluminum in food.https://www.cfs.gov.hk/sc_chi/programme/programme_rafs/programme_rafs_fa_01_06_ra35.html.
Author | Xue Qingxin Member of Chinese Nutrition Society Registered Nutrition Technician Health Manager Public Dietitian
Audit | Gao Chao is an associate researcher at the Institute of Nutrition and Health of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention
This article was first published on the "Scientific Rumors Debunking Platform"
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