The explosion of "HexTechnology Technology" attracts attention

Original title: Short video blogger reveals the secret of "technology and ruthlessness" in food, netizens are shocked at the same time, more attention to food safety issues (introduction)

"Hextech" explosion attracts attention (theme)

Tonight News reporter Tian Ying

In the blink of an eye, it has entered winter, and since this autumn, the popular term "Hextech" has always been "hot and unreceding", and recently, some content based on this theme has almost become the "king" in food videos. For a long time, whether it is Weibo, Douyin, or B station, Xiaohongshu, on various new media platforms, there is no lack of high-quality creators in the food sector, and the content often revolves around the display, production, tasting of food, etc., until the two bloggers Xin Jifei and Liu Yi opened up a new angle and began to reveal the "technology and ruthlessness" in food. While netizens were shocked, they also paid more attention to food safety issues.

More and more consumers are paying attention to the food "ingredient list". Photo by Tian Ying, reporter of Tonight's News

What is the meme of "Hextech"

"Hextech" was originally a game term, from the game League of Legends. In the game, "Hextech" is a new accidental fusion of magic and technology, which is used to create beautiful crafts that anyone can use. But nowadays, the term "Hex Technology" is popularized by short video bloggers, referring to the food cooking process, because the addition of a certain food additive will make the taste and appearance of the food quickly improve qualitatively, as magical as the use of magic. For example, milk tea made with creamer powder and vegetable fat powder, steak pressed with minced meat and leftovers, white goat soup made with Sanhua evaporated milk... This kind of processed food concocted using food additives or special production processes has been dubbed by netizens as the product of "Hex Technology".

Ms. Liu, a citizen, told reporters that she learned about "Sanhua Evaporated Milk" because she has recently seen so-called "comparative evaluation" on some short video platforms. She said frankly: "When I usually can't think of what to cook, I will go to the short video platform to find inspiration and see what innovative dishes netizens are doing." But a while ago, I found that some platforms launched videos of making sheep soup, in which several bloggers emphasized in the video that the sheep soup they made was made from bone broth, without adding 'Sanhua evaporated milk'. Some people use two methods to boil a lamb soup, compare, analyze, and explain in front of the camera, and teach netizens to distinguish between true and false. I was curious about what this 'Sanhua Evaporated Milk' was, so I searched for it, and then found 'Hex's Technology', which was really 'heart-pounding' the more I looked at it. ”

During the interview, the reporter found that for some citizens who are good at cooking, adding milk to bone broth to enhance the color and taste of the soup base is not a novel practice. Mr. Mingtian said that he adds milk when he boils bone broth at home, and in recent years he has tried to make his own spicy hot soup at home, and adding milk to the soup base is also a basic practice. "In fact, this trick was told to me by the chef of our unit cafeteria, to be honest, I didn't feel strange when I saw the operation of adding milk in the video, and even thought it was acceptable, although it was not pure bone broth, but after all, it was not a mess added to it." Mr. Tian said, "I think what people really dislike is not that someone adds milk to the goat soup, but that someone uses this way to make false propaganda." If there is not even a 'sheep' in the sheep soup, this is what makes people more worried. ”

What exactly are food additives? What role does it play in food processing? Zheng Yunliang, director of Tianjin Institute of Modern Health Technology and vice president of Tianjin Health Management Association, told reporters: "Qualified food additives are substances added to food for the needs of anticorrosion, preservation and processing technology in order to improve the sensory quality of food in food manufacturing. For example, some specific food nutritional fortifiers can make up for the nutrients lost during food processing, thereby improving the nutritional value of food; In the process of food processing, through the application of thickeners, emulsifiers, stabilizers, etc., the processing operation of food is more convenient and efficient. "But it must be clear that food additives cannot be used to cover up food spoilage, and cannot cover up quality defects in the food itself or during processing."

Legal food additives "back black pot"

After watching the relevant videos of Xin Jifei and Liu Yi, many netizens left messages saying: "I completely crushed my love for takeaway food." "My parents have not changed their mentality for 20 years, but they have been quickly changed by several videos." "I don't dare to buy the food in the market that has more complicated processing procedures, so I only buy fresh ones now and make them at home."

In the past, people mostly paid attention to the brand, price, taste, capacity, etc. when purchasing food, but the reporter recently found in many large supermarkets in the city that more and more people pay attention to checking the ingredient list on the food packaging. "Because the food additive matter is too hot, I also began to pay attention to the ingredient list, but at a glance, so many chemical terms are really a little 'dizzy'." Especially the seasoning, stir-fry every day to cook, always worry that eating too much will be bad for the body, but if you are going to 'zero addition', not only the price is high, most of them are still small packaging, the cost of cooking will go up all of a sudden. A citizen who was shopping for condiments said.

The people's worries and disgust about "food additives" are also related to some food safety problems exposed in recent years, such as "melamine milk powder" and "Sudan red duck eggs". In this regard, Zheng Yunliang said that "melamine" and "Sudan red" are not food additives, but non-food additives added to food, and this illegal act will inevitably be severely punished by law. "To some extent, legal food additives are indeed because of these incidents 'behind the black pot', but also many people regard 'additives' as 'flood beasts', and even talk about it." On the one hand, this shows that the health awareness of the people is constantly improving, but on the other hand, it also shows that the public still has misunderstandings about food additives. Zheng Yunliang said.

Previously, Sun Baoguo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Beijing Technology and Business University, and Li Shuguang, professor of the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene at the School of Public Health of Fudan University, used the traditional soy product - tofu as an example in an interview with the media about food additives. Li Shuguang said more clearly: "If you don't put gypsum into soy milk, how can there be tofu?" Gypsum is an additive. ”

As for what to think of the ingredient list that makes many people "dizzy", Zheng Yunliang said that according to the GB7718-2011 General Principles for Prepackaged Food Labeling, food ingredients are generally arranged in the proportion of addition from more to less (in descending order). That is, the first place has the most additions, the second place has the most additions, and so on. However, if the amount added is less than 2% (most of them refer to food additives), an exception can be made, that is, arranged arbitrarily, without descending. In addition, consumers should pay special attention to the manufacturer, and among the regular manufacturers, if the food enterprise has applied the food safety management system 'HACCP', it can be preferred. ”

For the "zero addition" problem of soy sauce that everyone is more concerned about, Zheng Yunliang believes that there is no need to be overly superstitious about "zero addition" food. "In soy sauce processing, the most commonly used food additives are sodium benzoate, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. The rational use of food additives can improve umami, prevent the growth of bacteria, moderately extend the shelf life, and make soy sauce more cost-effective. Zheng Yunliang further reminded, "The production process determines that if preservatives are not added, the shelf life of soy sauce after opening will be greatly shortened, especially in summer." Some soy sauces choose to use salt to reduce the use of preservatives, but this method may cause high sodium content in soy sauce, and excessive sodium intake by the human body may lead to high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis and other diseases. 'Zero addition' soy sauce generally adopts a high-salt dilute fermentation process to meet the health demands of consumers, but its production cycle is long, costly and expensive. ”

Products that "hang sheep's heads to sell dog meat" should be punished

On June 27 this year, the National Health Commission held a press conference, and Li Ning, director of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, introduced that the mainland has adopted a strict approval management system for the use of food additives. Li Ning said that only if the process technology is really necessary and after a risk assessment, safe and reliable food additives will be approved for use. At the same time, the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center has strict regulations on which foods each food additive can be used and how much it is used. There are also strict requirements for the management and labeling of food additives and the production license of food additives.

Zheng Yunliang told reporters that at present, there are more than 10,000 kinds of food additives in the world, and there are 23 categories, 2,325 varieties, 1,870 kinds of edible spices and equivalent spices, 38 kinds of unlimited food processing agents, 417 kinds of enzyme preparations and other preparations that can be used in the mainland. "It is understood that at present, the approval speed of new additives in mainland China is relatively slow, only more than 10 kinds per year, which largely takes into account the public's acceptance of food additives."

Where is "ruthlessness" in "technology and ruthlessness"? More lies in the abuse and illegal addition of food additives. "According to the provisions of the Food Safety Law, adding food additives beyond the scope of use and amount specified in national standards, or violating the principles of using food additives, are all abuses of food additives; Adding substances that are not within the scope of national standards to food is an illegal addition. If the above-mentioned acts are serious and even cause serious consequences, they are involved in a criminal case. Duan Wei, an associate researcher at the Institute of Law of the Tianjin Academy of Social Sciences, said, "Article 143 of the Mainland Criminal Law for the crime of producing and selling food that does not meet safety standards, and Article 144 for the crime of producing and selling toxic and harmful food, both have clear punishment provisions for corresponding illegal and criminal acts. ”

If the operator uses false truth, shoddy charging, adulteration, etc., it may be suspected of constituting false publicity and consumer fraud. Duan Wei said that the above-mentioned so-called "sheep's head to sell dog meat" products should be deemed to be adulterated, adulterated, and fake products expressly prohibited by Article 5 of the Product Quality Law, as well as adulterated and adulterated products that should be investigated and dealt with as fake as genuine products as stipulated in Article 56, Paragraph 1, Item 2 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law. The aggravating circumstances constitute the crime of producing and selling counterfeit and shoddy goods under article 140 of the Criminal Law, and at the same time committing the crime of fraud.

"It can be said that as long as the production and processing of food complies with the provisions of the Food Sanitation Law, within the safe dosage range, food additives are safe and will not be toxic to the human body." When synthetic food additives are ingested in small amounts in the short term, no obvious harm can be seen, but if a large amount of ingestion for a long time leads to excessive accumulation in the body, it is likely to cause damage to the liver and kidneys. Zheng Yunliang said, "It must be emphasized that manufacturers should strictly follow relevant regulations to indicate the generic names of food ingredients, including food additives, on products, and give the choice to consumers." ”

Arguments make netizens more rational

After the "Hextech" food was brought to the fire, the use of food additives has been debated. In the debate over whether "food additives" are angels or devils, many netizens examine this issue in a more rational and objective manner. Some netizens said, "Food additives have attracted people's attention, but also a kind of science, many people pay attention to the list of ingredients on food packaging, mastering a way to choose healthy food, is a good thing." Some netizens said, "This kind of video exposes some secrets of the food industry, and also reminds regulators to rectify those abuses of additives for profit, so that consumers can eat with confidence." ”

In this regard, Zheng Yunliang said that the popularity of "Hex" is indeed a popular science opportunity. "Many people have begun to pay attention to the information in the food ingredient list, understand the types and use of additives, which are conducive to the public to improve food safety literacy, have the ability to distinguish various food safety topics on the Internet, and make correct judgments." Zheng Yunliang also said that the popularization of food safety science should not only be oriented to consumers, but also to food enterprises and food processors. "As the first responsible person for food safety, they are the most critical barrier to food safety."

Duan Wei also said that food safety problems must be grasped from the source, while supervising the whole process of production and strict market access, we must strengthen the popularization of law among food production and processing enterprises and food industry practitioners, and be wary in order to stop. "Of course, consumers should also further improve their awareness of self-protection, contact relevant departments in time to complain and report when they find or encounter food safety problems, and jointly create a safe and secure food consumption environment." Duan Wei said.