In vast rural areas, privately pressed rapeseed oil is a common phenomenon. However, from the point of view of food safety and health, experts believe that the illegal extraction of rapeseed oil in rural areas should be banned. This recommendation is not unfounded, but is based on in-depth consideration of the quality of the quality of privately pressed rapeseed oil and concerns about the health of farmers.
First of all, there is often a lack of strict quality control standards and testing methods in the production process of rural privately pressed rapeseed oil. Compared with formal oil processing enterprises, private oil mills usually do not have the perfect equipment and processes to effectively screen, clean and remove impurities from rapeseed. As a result, the oil may contain a lot of impurities, such as sediment, stones, moldy rapeseeds, etc. These impurities will not only affect the quality and taste of the oil, but may also carry a variety of harmful microorganisms and toxins, and long-term consumption of such oil will pose a potential threat to the health of farmers.
Secondly, it is difficult to ensure the hygienic conditions of privately pressed rapeseed oil during processing. Most of the oil mills in rural areas are in poor conditions and lack the necessary disinfection and dust control facilities. In the process of oil extraction, it is easy to be polluted by the external environment, such as dust, bacteria, mold, etc. in the air. Moreover, the equipment and tools used for oil extraction can also breed a large number of bacteria and fungi that can contaminate the oil if they are not cleaned and disinfected in a timely manner. In addition, due to the lack of professional operators and standardized operating procedures, there may be a risk of cross-contamination of privately pressed rapeseed oil, which further reduces the safety of the oil.
In addition, the quality of rural privately pressed rapeseed oil is unstable, and its key indicators such as acid value and peroxide value are often difficult to meet national standards. Acid value and peroxide value are important indicators to measure the quality of oil, too high acid value and peroxide value indicate that the oil has been oxidized rancidity, and will produce substances harmful to the human body, such as aldehydes, ketones, acids, etc. Long-term consumption of such oils and fats will increase the risk of chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer. Moreover, the amount of aflatoxins in privately pressed rapeseed oil may also exceed the legal limit. Aflatoxin is a strong carcinogen that is mainly found in moldy grains. If rapeseed is not strictly screened and tested before oil extraction, it is easy to mix rapeseed containing aflatoxins into it, resulting in excessive aflatoxin content in the extracted oil, which seriously threatens the life and health of farmers.
In addition, the nutritional value of privately pressed rapeseed oil in rural areas is also relatively low. In the formal oil processing process, some harmful substances in the oil and oil will be removed through refining and other processes, while retaining beneficial components such as vitamin E, sterols, etc., so as to improve the nutritional value of the oil. However, because the privately pressed rapeseed oil has not undergone these refining processes, there are many impurities and harmful substances in it, and the content of beneficial ingredients is relatively low. Long-term consumption of such oils and fats cannot provide farmers with adequate nutrition and is not conducive to physical health.
In the face of many problems in rural rapeseed oil, in order to protect the health of farmers, experts suggest that strict measures should be taken to prohibit rural rapeseed oil. First of all, the government should strengthen the supervision of rural oil mills, increase the frequency and scope of law enforcement inspections, and resolutely ban oil mills that do not meet hygiene and quality standards. At the same time, we should strengthen publicity and education for farmers, improve their awareness of food safety and health, let them understand the potential hazards of privately pressed rapeseed oil, and guide them to choose formal channels to purchase qualified edible oil.
Secondly, the relevant departments should increase the support for formal oil processing enterprises, encourage enterprises to reduce production costs, improve product quality through technological innovation and management innovation, and provide farmers with more high-quality and inexpensive edible oil. At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen market supervision, severely crack down on the production and sale of counterfeit and shoddy edible oil, maintain market order, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of farmers.
In addition, through the establishment of a rural edible oil distribution system, qualified edible oil can be directly distributed to rural areas, which is convenient for farmers to buy. At the same time, we should strengthen the construction of rural food safety monitoring network, discover and deal with food safety problems in rural areas in a timely manner, and escort the health of farmers.
In short, prohibiting the illegal extraction of rapeseed oil in rural areas is a necessary measure to ensure the health of farmers. Although this may change the traditional living habits of farmers to a certain extent, in the long run, it is of great significance to improve the level of rural food safety and promote the healthy development of rural economy and society. We believe that with the joint efforts of the government, society and farmers, we will be able to achieve a safe supply of edible oil in rural areas, so that farmers can eat safe and healthy edible oil.