Alum exceeded the standard and was banned for life, and defending food safety required a heavy blow

Recently, Peng Mou, the person in charge of a hot pot seasoning factory in Hanzhong, Shaanxi Province, was sentenced to 6 months in prison for adding alum to the production of powder skins in excess of the standard. However, after Peng's sentence ended, he continued to operate a hot pot seasoning factory. The Market Supervision Bureau decided to revoke the production license of the small food workshop of the hot pot seasoning factory involved in the case, and the person in charge, Peng Mou, was not allowed to engage in food production and operation management and was banned from business for life.

"The people take food as the sky, and food takes safety as the first." Food safety has always been the focus of attention of the people and the focus of the national government's work. The market supervision bureau's severe punishment for never rubbing sand on this matter won unanimous praise from netizens as soon as it was announced. To defend the people's "security on the tip of the tongue", the country must strike hard.

What is alum? Did the Market Supervision Bureau decide to impose a lifetime ban on business as an excessive penalty?

As an aluminum-containing food additive, the toxic effect of alum comes from the aluminum contained. Studies have shown that aluminum has neurotoxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, which can cause a decline in motor ability and learning and memory ability, affect children's intellectual development, and may also affect male reproductive ability and inhibit fetal growth and development. In addition, the interaction of aluminum with calcium and phosphorus in the body can cause bone damage and deformation, causing osteochondrosis and osteoporosis. There are also studies suggesting that excessive intake of aluminum can predispose to Alzheimer's disease. In view of the various hazards of alum, as early as 2014, the state banned the addition of alum to pasta and puffed foods.

It can be seen from this that black-hearted businesses have laws that do not follow the law and know that the law is broken, and if the state does not severely punish them with the law, where will the lives of the people be safe?

From the early "adulterated lamb" and "poisonous ginger" scandals to the current "hot pot seasoning alum exceeding the standard" incident, the public's concerns about food safety are not unfounded. For a long time, food safety improvement has been a systematic and complex project in China. Strong medicine to remove the boils, heavy rules to cure chaos. In addition to the standards for conviction and sentencing, the intensity and fairness of law enforcement have also become the top priorities of the relevant departments. Only by severely punishing the phenomenon of untrustworthiness and immorality and cracking down on violations of law and discipline can the people truly eat, dare to eat, and can they eat, and can they rebuild the people's confidence in food safety.

Text/Lou Xiaojie (Zhengzhou University)