Lin Zhiying, who was a father for the second time, posted a photo of homemade complementary food for the twin babies, and immediately received a round of applause. Families with babies know that homemade baby food requires not only patience and care, but also skills. In the case of minced meat, the heat, the degree of crushing, and the proportion of vegetables and meat must be taken into account, but even if you are busy, the baby may not buy it. At this time, duang! duang！ Finished food supplements have appeared.
Youke evaluated 9 models of baby meat puree this time, and the overall performance was still good. Among them, Heinz 3 models, Humana2 models, Merrill Lynch 2 models, all won excellent (A), Xibao salmon carrot mashed potatoes due to the detection of harmful substances benzene (B), Dhomez assorted salmon vegetable puree due to the detection of high content of cadmium (C).
Domez meat puree was found to have high cadmium content
Youke found a high cadmium content in the dormec assorted salmon vegetable puree. What is cadmium and where does it come from?
"Cadmium in complementary foods may come from the raw materials used to produce complementary foods, such as cadmium-containing water, beans, leafy vegetables, rice, and salmon." Liu Shaowei, a professor in the Department of Food Science and Engineering at the School of Biological Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, said.
Cadmium is a silvery-white metal widely present in nature, and as industrialization accelerates, large quantities of cadmium continue to enter soil, water and air.
As an insidious "killer", cadmium is a carcinogen that can cause malignant tumors in the lungs, prostate and testicles. However, short-term intake of cadmium-containing foods, the damage will not appear immediately; cadmium in the human body for up to 10-30 years, after ingestion mainly in the liver, kidney accumulation, cadmium on children's nervous system and intellectual development will also cause damage.
Based on the daily consumption of 190 grams of pureed meat supplements for infants weighing 7 kg, the cadmium content in Domez has exceeded 1/7 of the weekly tolerable intake tentatively set by the European Food Safety Authority. Therefore, Ucore has directly downgraded this product by 2 levels.
The harmful substance benzene was detected in the meat puree of Xibao
Youke detected a harmful substance, benzene, in the xibao salmon carrot mashed potatoes. Benzene is listed as a Class I carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), and long-term exposure to benzene can cause bone marrow and genetic damage.
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) points out that there are indications that benzene is produced when carrots are heated and sterilized for a long time more than 100 ° C. Normally, however, the resulting health risks are minimal, but since benzene is a carcinogen, its content in food should be minimized.
The international journal Food and Chemical Toxicology has also published that benzene, as a pollutant produced by heating, has been found in the juice of infant carrots.
Although the amount of complementary foods added to infants aged 3-12 months is limited, the amount of benzene ingested is not enough to cause health risks, but Youke.com recommends that manufacturers should try to improve the processing and production methods to avoid the occurrence of such substances in infant complementary foods, and parents are also best not to choose benzene-containing complementary foods for their children.
Thumbs up
• Most of the products in this review, which consumers can safely purchase, do not contain or contain only trace amounts of harmful ingredients.
• When you first add complementary foods, you should choose to buy small packages of products. At the beginning of the addition of complementary foods, most babies can only eat a few small spoons at a time. When feeding complementary food, a small amount can be taken out and heated in a small bowl, and the remaining product should be stored in the refrigerator and used up within 1 day as much as possible.
• Qualified consumers can also make their own complementary food, you can choose organic ingredients, after the production is put into a plastic box frozen preservation, take out when used, pay attention to the feeding and feeding spoon separately, thaw and heat to feed.
Test results
www.okoer.com evaluated 9 meat or fish baby vegetable purees, 4 containing salmon, 3 containing beef, and 1 containing turkey and pork each. As a result, 7 products were rated excellent (A), 1 was awarded good (B), and 1 was moderate (C).
The test consists of two parts: ingredient assessment and other defect assessments.
<h1> Ingredient assessment</h1>
No product degradation due to chlorate residues
The laboratory has tested some of the typical harmful ingredients that can appear in fish, meat and vegetables, and the overall results are good, no microbial contamination and pesticide residues have been detected in the products, and the chlorate residues are also better than the "7 baby vegetable purees and 5 models of good reviews, Heinz's two worst bottoms" released in 2015.
Once used as a herbicide, the substance in food today comes more from the use of chlorine-containing cleaners, and raw water that has been sterilized with chloride during the production of products may also be one of the sources. Chlorates prevent the thyroid gland from absorbing iodine. According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), long-term intake of chlorate exceeding the daily tolerable intake of TDI (3 micrograms per kilogram of body weight) may trigger mild or moderate symptoms of iodine deficiency in infants and young children, while high doses of chlorate can also have adverse health effects in a short period of time.
Only trace amounts of nitrate were detected in all products
In addition, all products detected nitrate content is only within the trace range, and the products sent for testing are sterile, and under the correct use, there is no risk of bacteria converting nitrate into nitrite, so there is no degradation.
Nitrates can enter food through agricultural fertilizers and groundwater. For example, leafy vegetables and rhizomes can store large amounts of nitrate, so it's not surprising that trace amounts of nitrate were detected in all products. Although, plant growth requires nitrates, which can be harmful to humans. Nitrates can be converted into nitrites in the human body, which can then be synthesized with protein breakdown products amines, which have been confirmed to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. In addition, in infants, nitrites bind more easily to hemoglobin, which affects the function of the blood in transporting oxygen.
All products were also not detected with nitrites.
Domez's assorted salmon vegetable puree was relegated due to the heavy metal cadmium
However, the lab detected more than traces of cadmium, a heavy metal element, in the domestax assorted salmon vegetable puree. Vegetables can absorb cadmium from the soil, and mineral fertilizers may also contain cadmium residues and bring them into the soil through fertilization, thereby increasing cadmium content in the soil. Cadmium can damage the kidneys and can cause cancer.
If calculated on the basis of 190 grams of canned supplementary food per day for infants weighing 7 kg, the product has exceeded one-seventh of the weekly tolerated intake (TWI, 2.5 μg/kg body weight) determined by the European Food Safety Authority for cadmium, which is the daily tolerated intake converted.
Xibao salmon carrot mashed potatoes are downgraded due to benzene
For two products with high carrot content, Youke also tested the carcinogenic benzene that may be contained in them.
The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) points out that there are indications that when carrots are heated for a long time to disinfect at more than 100 ° C, benzene is produced from the natural components of the carrots themselves. However, BfR also notes that under normal circumstances, the resulting health risks are minimal; however, since benzene is a carcinogen, its content in food should be minimized.
Xibao salmon carrot mashed potatoes is downgraded by 1 level because it contains more than trace amounts of benzene.
<h1> Other defect assessments</h1>
All products were evaluated due to a number of labeling defects
Unfortunately, all products have affected the overall rating due to 2 to 3 other defects.
Among them, Heinz products in the slogan marked with a snake "according to the "GB 2760 National Standard for Food Safety Food Additives Use Standards", has not been approved to add preservatives to infant canned supplementary foods, Heinz strictly abides by the national standards."
China's national standard does stipulate that these ingredients are not approved for addition in all manufacturers of children's bottled supplements, which is also a market access condition for such products, so manufacturers do not need to promote this on the packaging. Some manufacturers use these languages in their packaging to give consumers the impression that their products are superior to others. Youke's products with redundant slogans have all been downgraded by 1 in other defects.
If the manufacturer does not label the specific content of meat and fish in its products, it will also lead to a downgrade of 1 level in other defects.
Humana Turkey Carrot Puree product packaging pictures show rice motifs, but do not contain rice in the product ingredient list. As a result, the product's specific score for other defects has also been downgraded by 1 level.
In addition, the laboratory detected fat content in Heinz pork liver puree above its labeled value of 1.5 grams.
All products are packaged with environmentally polluting PVC, POLYVIN OR CHLORIDE.