Recently, soy sauce has been caught in a food safety storm again, which has made everyone panic. Consumer Reports magazine tested 13 supposedly "additive-free" soy sauces, and the results were astonishing: cadmium, a carcinogen, and total arsenic in seven. As soon as this news came out, it instantly exploded on the Internet, after all, soy sauce is a must-have condiment in every kitchen, and three meals a day are inseparable from it, who would have thought that the soy sauce eaten every day may hide a crisis.
Carcinogens were detected in "zero-additive" soy sauce
Among the soy sauces that were exposed this time, Qianhe Flavor's "Imperial Honjo 380 Days" soy sauce is particularly eye-catching. Qianhe is the first soy sauce brand to play the banner of "zero additives", and in the hearts of consumers, it has always been the representative of healthy soy sauce. However, in this test, the cadmium content of this soy sauce reached 0.0110mg/kg, ranking first among the products submitted for inspection. As soon as the news came out, netizens expressed shock and anger. Some people say that they have always trusted Qianhe's "zero additive", but they didn't expect such a thing to happen; There are also people who feel that they have been fooled by the concept of "zero additives", and the soy sauce they bought at a high price is actually not safe.
Cadmium, which sounds unfamiliar, is actually extremely harmful. It is a toxic element that the body does not need, and not only can it cause cancer, but it can also cause genetic mutations. The scary thing is that cadmium remains in the human body for an extremely long time, with a biological half-life of up to 10 to 30 years. Even if you stop ingesting, most of the cadmium remains in the body, slowly eroding health, and chronic cadmium poisoning often takes 20 to 30 years to show symptoms. Arsenic, which you may be more familiar with, is its compound arsenic trioxide, which is commonly known as "arsenic", which is often used for insecticide, sterilization, and weeding. Although the heavy metal content in the soy sauce in this sampling is within the national standard, after all, soy sauce is eaten every day, and after long-term accumulation, no one dares to guarantee that these heavy metals will not cause harm to the body.
Is "zero additive" a marketing gimmick?
In response to doubts, Qianhe Flavor responded that the trace amount of "cadmium" in soy sauce comes from raw materials, and the raw materials used meet national standards. Regarding the "Qianhe 0" trademark, Qianhe emphasized that this is the logo of a zero-added product and there is no misleading situation for consumers. But consumers aren't buying it. Looking back on the development history of Qianhe, the "zero additive" product was launched in 2007, the application for the "Qianhe zero additive" and "Qianhe zero Tianjia" trademarks was rejected in 2018, and the "Qianhe 0" trademark was successfully registered in 2020. From the perspective of product packaging, the word "0" of "Qianhe 0" is particularly eye-catching, which is easily reminiscent of "zero additive". Many consumers feel that Qianhe is deliberately using trademarks to mislead everyone, making consumers think that "Qianhe 0" is equal to "zero addition".
In fact, the concept of "zero additives" has been controversial in the food industry. Professor Ma Guansheng, vice president of the Chinese Nutrition Society, has publicly stated that in the modern food industry, it is almost impossible to achieve complete "zero additives". In the process of food production and processing, various additives and ingredients are inevitably used, and the so-called "zero additives" are more like a marketing tool. Zhu Danpeng, an analyst of China's food industry, also believes that with the current level of the food industry, it is unrealistic to have completely "zero additives", and many brands use "zero additives" to increase product prices, resulting in inflated prices.
In July 2020, the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Food Labeling (Draft for Comments) issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation clearly stipulate that food labels cannot be marked with words such as "no additives", "zero additives" and "no contains" to emphasize that a substance is not contained or used. This provision also reflects the problems of the concept of "zero addition". In this soy sauce turmoil, the falsity of the concept of "zero additive" has been exposed. Consumers thought that "zero-additive" soy sauce was healthier and safer, but they didn't expect that they still couldn't avoid the risk of heavy metal pollution.
There is a precedent for soy sauce to cause cancer
This is not the first time soy sauce has been caught in a carcinogenic storm. As early as 2016, the Hong Kong Consumers Association inspected 40 types of soy sauce and found that 11 products contained a possible carcinogen 4-methylimidazole. The darker the soy sauce, the higher the content of 4-methylimidazole, which comes from the caramel pigment used in soy sauce toning. However, experts at the time explained that although 4-methylimidazole is listed as a group 2B carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the content in soy sauce is extremely low, and normal consumption will not cause cancer, because the mainland has strict restrictions on the content of 4-methylimidazole in soy sauce, which must not exceed 200mg/kg.
This time, heavy metal carcinogens were detected in the "zero additive" soy sauce, which made the safety of soy sauce the focus again. Although the heavy metal content of soy sauce in the current sampling does not exceed the standard, the potential risks of long-term consumption of soy sauce containing heavy metals cannot be ignored. In particular, substances such as cadmium, which are difficult to excrete in the human body, accumulate over time and are likely to cause damage to organs such as the liver and kidneys, increasing the risk of cancer.
How to choose safe soy sauce?
In the face of the dazzling array of soy sauce on the market, how should consumers choose to ensure safety and health? Here are a few tips. First, look at the ingredient list. The ingredients of high-quality soy sauce are simple, generally only water, soybeans (or defatted soybeans), wheat, and salt. If there are many additives in the ingredient list, and even some unintelligible chemical names, then you should buy with caution. Secondly, focus on the brewing process. The brewing process of soy sauce mainly includes high-salt dilute fermentation and low-salt solid-state fermentation. The fermentation time of high salt dilute is long, generally 3 to 6 months, so that the flavor and quality of the soy sauce brewed are better; The low-salt solid-state fermentation time is short, 15 to 45 days, and the quality is relatively inferior. Therefore, try to choose soy sauce labeled "high salt dilute".
Also, pay attention to the quality grade of the soy sauce. According to the national standard, soy sauce is divided into special grade, first grade, second grade and third grade according to the amino acid nitrogen content, the higher the amino acid nitrogen content, the better the quality of soy sauce, and the richer umami. Also, don't just try to be cheap. Soy sauce with a low price is likely to cut corners in the selection of raw materials and production processes, and there are potential safety hazards. Finally, choose formal channels to buy, such as large supermarkets and formal e-commerce platforms, the quality of these channels is relatively guaranteed, which can reduce the risk of buying low-quality soy sauce.
The detection of carcinogens in "zero-additive" soy sauce has sounded the alarm for consumers. In today's pursuit of healthy eating, we can't blindly believe the propaganda of merchants, whether it is "zero additives" or other concepts, we must remain rational and carefully screen. After all, food safety is about everyone's health, and there is no room for sloppiness. When choosing soy sauce, pay more attention and follow the above selection methods to make your family eat with peace of mind
[This content is a story-based medical and health science article, and any name, place name, or event that appears in the article except for the health science content is artistic processing, and it is not intended to offend or belittle any individual, group or organization. If there is any similarity, it is purely a coincidence, please read it rationally. 】
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