■ Press: Among the convenience store beers and Internet celebrity beers, which one is better to drink?
What kind of beer tastes and tastes best? Only after drinking can it be compared; formaldehyde, arsenic, cadmium and other risk substances may exist in beer, so how safe is the beer?
In July 2021, Consumer Reports sent 12 mainstream beers to authoritative third-party testing agencies to provide a reference for your selection.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > test product</h1>
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="89" > test indicator</h1>
Safety indicators: formaldehyde, urethane, lead, cadmium
Subjective blind assessment: taste and texture
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="90" > test results</h1>
1. Yanjing, Qilin and other 2 models are more popular with volunteers, with subjective taste scores of 7.4 and 7.3 respectively, while 3 models such as Harbin, Snowflake and Suntory are inferior, with scores of only 6.4, 6.5 and 6.5 respectively.
2. In terms of safety, a certain amount of formaldehyde was detected in 12 beers, with a content between 0.16mg/L and 0.23mg/L, of which 0.23mg/L was 0.23mg/L in Qingdao, but all beer formaldehyde content was also within the standard limit.
3, 12 beers have not detected urethane, cadmium, lead and other risk substances, to a certain extent, the overall safety of the beer tested is good.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="91" > 3 beers subjective evaluation is average</h1>
Is the malt aroma strong or not? How lethal is it? Is the wine mellow? Is the bitterness harmonious enough? Evaluating a beer is inseparable from these indicators.
In order to investigate consumers' preferences for different beers, Consumer Report organized a group of volunteers with drinking experience to conduct subjective beer evaluation experiments.
The dimensions of the evaluation include four indicators, such as aroma, lethality, wine body and bitterness, and the score is based on a 10-point system, and then the score of each indicator is weighted and averaged to get the total score.
The results show that Yanjing, Qilin and Corona are more popular, with a total score of 7.4, 7.3 and 7.0 respectively. Most of the volunteers said that Yanjing wine is fragrant and sweet; qilin has the darkest color, overall coordination and aroma; Corona is more refreshing, but the bitter taste is stronger.
Carlsberg, Pearl River, Heineken, Qingdao, Budweiser, Wusu and other 6 models are in the "second echelon", with a total score of 6.9, 6.8, 6.8, 6.8, 6.7 and 6.6 respectively.
Some volunteers believe that Carlsberg and Qingdao are light in body but coordinated in bitterness; the Pearl River is more mellow and easy to enter; Heineken wine is mellow, good killing power, but bitter taste is strong; Budweiser is general and not cool enough; Wusu has a strong sense of stimulation but is a bit sour.
Snowflake, Suntory, Harbin and other 3 models were inferior in evaluation, with a total score of only 6.5, 6.5 and 6.4 respectively. Some volunteers believe that the snowflakes are very full but too bitter; Suntory has a slight fruity aroma, but the wine is thin; The Harbin wine is light and average.
Some food experts have told this magazine that the vast majority of Chinese are still primary consumers of beer, drink less beer, and have low requirements for taste.
Therefore, more than 90% of the beers sold in the domestic market are light beers. In order to meet the needs of the market, major beer brands have also launched lighter beers.
However, most of the volunteers who participated in this subjective evaluation complained that some beers and liquors were too thin, and could even be described as "water beer".
Therefore, in order to gain the favor of consumers, beer manufacturers still need to start from raw materials, and only beer brewed with real materials can occupy the hearts of consumers for a long time.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="92" > 12 beers were detected with trace amounts of formaldehyde</h1>
China's beer industry has used formaldehyde as a stabilizer in the beer production process, which can reduce the color of beer and greatly shorten the time of wine.
In 2011, the former National Health and Family Planning Commission issued GB 2760-2011 "Standards for the Use of Food Additives", which removed formaldehyde from the list of food processing aids. After that, formaldehyde will not be used in food production, business and use.
However, the formaldehyde in beer is also derived from a series of biochemical metabolites produced during beer fermentation, because formaldehyde is easily soluble in water, and there are trace amounts of formaldehyde dissolved in beer.
Formaldehyde is a toxic substance, not only can accumulate in the human body, but also can be combined with protein, long-term intake may cause nasopharyngeal cancer, nasal carcinoma, sinus cancer and leukemia, etc., so the content of formaldehyde in beer has gradually become the focus of the public.
GB 2758-2012 "Fermented Wine and Its Formulated Wine" stipulates that the residual amount of formaldehyde shall not be higher than 2.0 mg/L; the drinking water quality and safety guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) state that the formaldehyde content ≤ 0.9 mg/L.
The test results showed that a certain amount of formaldehyde was detected in 12 beers, with a content of between 0.16mg/L and 0.23mg/L, of which 0.23mg/L was in Qingdao, but the formaldehyde content of all beers was also within the standard limit. It is worth mentioning that the formaldehyde content of the 12 beers is lower than the WHO's maximum limit on drinking water.
"Formaldehyde is also a natural product of yeast metabolism in the brewing process, and the test results are extremely small and far below the national standard, indicating that these beers are not a big problem." The inspection technician said.
However, for some consumers who drink a lot of alcohol, the intake of formaldehyde may be more, so do such consumers need to worry?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends an acceptable daily intake of formaldehyde at 0.2 mg per kilogram of body weight, which means that an adult weighing 60 kg should not consume more than 12 mg of formaldehyde per day.
Taking Tsingtao Beer (classic 10 °P) (0.23 mg/L) with the highest formaldehyde content as an example, an adult weighing 60 kg needs to drink about 100 bottles of 510 mL canned beer every day to exceed the standard.
In fact, formaldehyde is widely present in nature, and the metabolism of humans and animals also produces trace amounts of formaldehyde. Trace amounts of formaldehyde are quickly metabolized into formic acid in the human body, which is excreted from the respiratory system and urine, and will not harm the health of the human body, and consumers do not have to worry too much.
【Special Notice】: The test results and mentioned brands in this report are only responsible for the test samples and do not represent the quality status of the same batch or other models of products.