How many harmful chemicals are in the human food chain (3)

How many harmful chemicals are in the human food chain (3)

Jiang Gaoming

This article is excerpted from Rural Revitalization: Choice and Practice, by Jiang Gaoming, China Science and Technology Press, 2019

food additives

There are 35 types of food additives in China's commodity classification, including flavor enhancers, defoamers, leavening agents, colorants, preservatives, etc., and more than 10,000 kinds of foods containing additives. Among them, the "Food Additive Use Standards" and the Ministry of Health Announcement allowed to use food additives are divided into 23 categories, a total of more than 2400 kinds.

(1) Preservatives Benzoic acid, sorbic acid and propionic acid (and its salts), dehydroacetic acid and its sodium salts, parabens (a, ethyl, propylene, butyl, isobutyl, heptane, etc.), streptococcus lactate, sodium biacetate, grammycolin, phenylbutyl hydroxyanisole (BHA), dibutyl hydroxytoluene BHT, propyl gallate (PG), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) and other more than 30 kinds. (3) Colorants carmine, amaranth red, lemon yellow, indigo, etc. (4) Thickeners and stabilizers can improve or stabilize the physical properties of cold diet products, so that the appearance of food is lubricated and delicate. These food additives keep frozen foods such as ice cream in a soft, loose tissue structure for a long time. (5) Leavening agent Sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, potassium aluminum sulfate (alum), composite leavening agent and other 4 kinds. (6) Sweetener xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, lactitol, maltitol, isomaltitol, hexanol, steviol glycyrrhizin, glycyrrhizin, kiwi, monk fruitin, somasme, saccharin, sodium cyclohexylsulfonate, acesulfame potassium, methyl aspartic acid (also aspartame), 1-a-aspartyl-N- (2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-3-sulfide trimethylene) -D-alanamide (also known as ali sweet), sucralose, isomaltitol (also known as paragose), There are more than 30 kinds of new sugars (fructose oligosaccharides) and cyclamates. (7) Acidulant Citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid and other additives. (8) Flavor enhancers Sodium glutamate, disodium 5'-guanylate and disodium 5'-inosinate, 5'-flavored disodium nucleoglycate, disodium succinate and L-alanine. There are 9 kinds of sodium glutamate (i.e. monosodium glutamate). (9) Whitening agentbenzoyl peroxide is the main component of flour whitening agent. (10) Bleach sulfur, sulfur dioxide, etc. (11) Color protector nitrate (sodium or potassium) or nitrite, etc. (12) Enzyme preparations Papain, α-amylase, endosporine, pectinase, etc. (13) Fragrances, chemical synthetic fragrances and many others.

In addition to the above legal food additives, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and other relevant departments have announced 151 illegal food additives in batches, which unfortunately also appear in the human food chain:

Hanging white blocks (tofu bamboo, vermicelli, flour) (illegally added objects, the same below), Sudan red (paprika, chili paste, eggs, duck eggs), wang jinhuang (block yellow), protein essence (melamine), boric acid and borax, sodium thiocyanate, rose red B, fine art green, alkalin tender yellow, industrial formaldehyde (cabbage transportation), industrial fire alkali (sea cucumber, squid and other dry aquatic products, fresh milk), carbon monoxide, sodium sulfide monosodium glutamate, industrial sulfur (white sugar, chili pepper, preserves, white fungus, longan, carrot, ginger, etc.), Industrial dyes (millet, corn flour, cooked meat products, etc.), poppy husks, leather skin hydrolysate, potassium bromate (flour), β-lactamase, dimethyl fumarate, waste edible oils and fats (gutter oil), industrial mineral oil (aged rice), industrial gelatin (ice cream, meat skin jelly, etc.), industrial alcohol (blended with fake wine), dichlorvos (ham, dried fish, salted fish, etc.), hair water soy sauce, industrial acetic acid (vinegar blending), adrenaline receptor agonists (Clenbuterol hydrochloride, Feeding or processing of beef and mutton and liver such as ractopamine), nitrofurans (pork, poultry, animal aquatic products), corn gibberellol (beef and mutton and liver, milk, antibiotic residue pork, sedative pork), fluorescent whitening substances (bisporus mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, white spirit mushrooms, flour), industrial magnesium chloride (fungus), aluminum phosphide (fungus, filling raw material bleach baked goods), acid orange II. (yellow fish, abalone, marinade meat products, red shell melon seeds, chili noodles and watercress sauce, etc.), chloramphenicol (aquatic products, Meat products, pig casings, honey, quinolone spicy scalding), water glass (noodle products), malachite green (fish), ulotos (humus, rice noodles, etc.), sodium pentachlorophenol (river crab), quinoethanol (aquaculture feed), alkaline yellow (yellow croaker), sulfamethazine (char siu meat), dimethalosine (roasted meat), insects (pickled food), etc.

In the process of agricultural product processing, the national AA level green food standard does not allow the use of the following 37 kinds of food additives:

(1) potassium ferrocyanide; (2) 4-hexylresorcinol; (3) sulfur; (4) potassium aluminum sulfate; (5) ammonium aluminium sulfate; (6) erythrosin; (7) erythrospermumin; (8) new red; (9) new red aluminum ingot; (10) titanium dioxide; (11) caramel color (ammonium sulfite method with ammonia production) ;(12) sodium sulfate (potassium); (13) sodium nitrite (potassium) ;(14) plate 80; (15) plate 40 (16) plate 20; (17) Twain 80; (18) Twain 20; (19) Tween 40; 20) benzoyl peroxide ;(21) potassium bromate; (22) benzoic acid; (23) sodium benzoate; (24) ethoxyquine; (25) sec-butylamine; 26) cinnamaldehyde; (27) thiabendazole; (28) hydrogen peroxide (or sodium percarbonate) ;(29) ethanafol; (30) biphenyl ether; (31) sodium 2-phenylphenol salt; (32) 4-phenylphenol; (33) glutaraldehyde; (34) neojel, (35) 2, 4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid; (36) sodium saccharin; (37) sodium cycloethylsamisulfonate.

In the "Notice on Further Regulating the Management of Health Food Raw Materials" issued by the Ministry of Health, the following natural raw materials are prohibited: 59 kinds of natural raw materials, such as octagonal lotus, earth green wood spring, mountain sycamore, Sichuan bird, Guangfangji, horse mulberry leaf, periwinkle, stone garlic, cinnabar, yew, red fennel, digitalis, toad crisp, etc.

Judging from the above rough introduction, the ordinary agricultural products and processed foods around us may face up to 50626 kinds of chemicals (except for heavy metals, the vast majority of which are synthetic chemicals), including pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, mulch film, synthetic hormones, antibiotics, and non-food ingredients caused by genetic modifications. Of course, these ingredients do not appear in a single food at the same time, but from feed production, animal farming, plant cultivation, food storage and food processing, humans may face tens of thousands of chemicals, which is inevitable.