Expert: Zheng Zhang, Ph.D. in Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Soochow University
This article is reviewed by Ma Xianghua, Deputy Director of the Endocrine Metabolism Center of Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital, Director of the Department of Nutrition, and Doctoral Supervisor
Chocolate, ice cream, cakes, sushi... These foods are no stranger to everyone.
But gild them and turn them into foil chocolate, gold leaf ice cream, gold leaf cake, have you ever eaten it?
Now it is popular in the market to add gold leaf to food, thereby enhancing its "appearance", and the natural value has also doubled, but there are still many people who buy it.
Seeing this, do many people also want to taste what is special about gold leaf food? Is "gold-encrusted" food more fragrant? Don't worry, read the following first.
Recently, the State Administration of Market Regulation, the National Health Commission and the General Administration of Customs jointly issued a notice, which clearly pointed out that according to the mainland food safety laws and regulations and food safety standards, gold leaf silver leaf, gold powder and silver powder are not food additives and cannot be used in food production and operation.
Image source: News screenshot
Why did the three departments jointly stop gold leaf food? What foods will put gold leaf? Is eating gold leaf food harmful to the body? Find out.
1
What is gold leaf food? Is it more advanced?
Gold leaf is a thin sheet of gold forged from gold. Gold leaf food refers to the food after eating gold leaf or sprinkling gold leaf powder on the surface of the food, and the golden sparkle adds a little "expensive" to the food.
But will gold leaf food be more advanced? The answer is no!
The gold element in gold leaf is not a trace element needed by the human body, and the gold leaf itself only has a faint metallic smell. Gold leaf food not only does not enhance the nutritional value and flavor of the ingredients, but also has potential health hazards.
Gold leaf food is only to meet people's psychological needs for luxury and novelty. The original ordinary ingredients, after the merchant decorated with gold leaf, the price increased by dozens of times or even hundreds of times, properly cutting the leeks of consumers.
2
Which foods often use gold leaf?
As early as 1983, the World Health Organization's Codex Commission on Food Additives included gold in the category of food additives, but the inclusion of gold leaf in vegetables has been a matter of recent years.
With the improvement of people's material living standards, dietary needs have gradually shifted to eating well or even expensive, and gold leaf food, as the new favorite of the "high-end" food industry, has also blown up a wave of "food gold" boom.
Common gold leaf foods on the market include: gold leaf pastries, gold leaf ice cream, gold leaf chocolate, and even gold leaf lobster, gold leaf steak, gold leaf fruit, gold leaf wine, etc., it can be said that everything can be gold leaf.
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3
Can I eat gold leaf food? What is the harm of eating?
Whether gold leaf food can be eaten or not, we must first start with food grade gold leaf.
According to the previous standard, the gold content of food grade gold leaf is usually 99.99% and above, and it cannot contain copper, lead and other heavy metals that will cause human poisoning. Although gold is a heavy metal, its chemical properties are not active, can not be digested by stomach acid, will not be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract, eat into what is out or what.
The metals in gold leaf are atomic, and only the salt compounds of gold in the ionic state (such as chlorphene, sodium gold thio malate and potassium cyanide gold) are toxic to the human body. The suicide of swallowing gold in film and television dramas and novels is not that the gold is poisonous, but that a large piece of gold is stuck in the throat or cut through the digestive tract, causing gastrointestinal bleeding and organ rupture leading to death.
Gold leaf is extremely thin, 1 cubic centimeter of gold can play about 10 square meters of gold leaf, it can be said that it is as thin as a cicada wing. The amount of gold eaten through gold leaf food is very small, so food grade gold leaf itself is not toxic to the human body.
However, gold leaf food is not completely safe, and eating a large amount of it will cause a burden on the gastrointestinal tract and lead to indigestion. If the merchant uses non-food grade gold leaf, the gold leaf may contain other metal elements harmful to human health, which can be dissolved by gastric acid and absorbed by the intestine after eating, which will cause harm to human health.
At present, some of the gold leaf sold on the market is not real gold leaf, but a large number of other metals and pigments of the "fake gold leaf", which is more harmful to the health of the human body.
Therefore, it is not recommended to eat whether the food is used in real gold leaf or fake gold leaf. As a consumer, we still have to look at these "gold-plated" "high-grade foods" objectively, rational consumption, and healthy consumption.
4
Is gold leaf in the category of food additives?
Food additives in mainland China are defined as synthetic or natural substances added to food for the purpose of improving food quality and color, aroma, taste, and for the needs of preservative, freshness and processing technology.
However, the gold leaf itself has no taste, can not improve the color, aroma, taste of food, nor can it play a role in food preservation, from the functional properties of gold leaf is obviously not in the category of food additives.
In January 2022, the State Administration for Market Supervision and Administration issued a document clarifying that according to the mainland's food safety laws and regulations and food safety standards, gold and silver foil powder is not a food additive and cannot be used in food production and operation.
Therefore, gold leaf cannot be added to food, and adding gold leaf to food is illegal. For example, in the process of consumption, it is found that gold leaf is added to the food, and the report can be reported to the market supervision and management department.
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