Industry insiders believe that for small and medium-sized restaurants and other areas with a high incidence of "aluminum harm", more publicity should be carried out to make them understand the law and abide by the law
A few days ago, the Henan Provincial Drug Administration announced the results of spot checks, and more than 40 enterprises were famous for the excessive aluminum content in flour products. Subsequently, the Food and Drug Administration of Zongyang County, Anhui Province, seized two school canteens for illegally using aluminum-containing baking powder totaling 500 grams.
Three years after the release of the "most strictly prohibited aluminum in history" "GB2760-2014" in May 2014, the news of aluminum content exceeding the standard in food is still endless, and "aluminum harm" has become a common topic. Reporter Lu Cuiping / Wen
【Background】 The "strictest prohibition of aluminum order" was introduced
Aluminum is an element that is widely present in nature. Because the soil contains trace amounts of aluminum, some areas of flour and potatoes and other vegetables will also contain trace amounts, but this will not bring much harm to the human body. The presence of aluminum in food additives poses a potential threat to human health.
On March 1, 2012, experts from the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center released the "Dietary Aluminum Exposure Risk Assessment of Chinese Residents", which showed that nearly 1/3 of The aluminum intake of residents in China exceeded the safe value, and in the northern region dominated by pasta, more than 60% of people exceeded the standard aluminum intake. The culprit that leads to this situation is aluminum in food additives, which contributes as much as 75%.
The assessment believes that as the main source of dietary aluminum intake for Chinese residents, flour, steamed buns, fritters, noodles, etc., may be due to the excessive use of aluminum-containing food additives, and the aluminum content exceeds the standard.
In fact, the use of aluminum-containing food additives in China has been strictly controlled. "GB2760-2005" stipulates the residual amount of aluminum in flour products, and "GB2760-2011" clearly stipulates the scope of use, dosage and residue of aluminum-containing food additives in flour products.
In January 2013, the former General Office of the Ministry of Health issued the "Letter on Soliciting Opinions on the Regulations on the Adjustment of the Use of 12 Aluminum-containing Food Additives, Including Potassium Aluminum Sulfate", which specifically adjusted the scope and dosage of potassium aluminum sulfate and ammonium aluminum sulfate, reducing the application to "wheat flour and its products" to "fried flour products, batter, wrapped flour, fried powder", reducing the application to "aquatic products and their products" to "suitable for pickled seafood, only jellyfish", and stipulating that the aluminum content in food should not exceed 100mg/kg.
In addition, it is forbidden to use all aluminum-containing food additives (synthetic colorant aluminum lake) in puffed foods, including potassium aluminum sulfate, ammonium aluminum sulfate, erythrospermum aluminum lake, indigo aluminum lake, bright blue aluminum lake, lemon yellow aluminum lake, sunset yellow aluminum lake, carmine aluminum lake, temptation red aluminum lake, etc.
On May 22, 2014, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and other five departments officially issued an announcement on adjusting the regulations on the use of aluminum-containing food additives, clearly stating that since July 1, 2014, it is prohibited to use acidic aluminum phosphate, sodium aluminum aluminate and aluminum octenyl succinate in the production, operation and use of food additives; aluminum-containing food additives must not be used in the production of puffed foods; and potassium aluminum sulfate and ammonium aluminum sulfate shall not be used in the production of wheat and its products (except fried flour products, batter, flour and frying powder).
This is what the industry calls the "strictest aluminum order".
【Impact】Homemade fried noodle products have become the hardest hit areas
Although "GB2760-2014" is known as the "most strictly prohibited aluminum order" in history, in fact, for fried noodle products, there is not much change, aluminum-containing food additives aluminum potassium sulfate, ammonium aluminum sulfate can still be used, and the aluminum content limit in the product has not been adjusted, still 100mg/kg. The items that should have been the least affected were exposed to the "scandal" the most.
From the sampling list released by the Henan Provincial Food and Drug Administration in February this year, it can be seen that the products with excessive aluminum content are mainly concentrated in fried noodle products such as fritters, oil cakes, and oil buns, and the more than 40 enterprises involved are mainly peppery soup shops, breakfast shops, and the shopping mall's own cooked food area.
The situation of aluminum exceeding the standard of fried noodle products is not limited to Henan, which is a common disease throughout the country.
In September 2016, Wenzhou Metropolis Daily reported that a breakfast stall owner in Yongjia County was convicted of producing and selling food that did not meet safety standards because of the aluminum content of homemade fritters as high as 800mg/kg, and was sentenced to 7 months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan.
In December of the same year, the owner of a breakfast shop in Nanchang City was sentenced to 6 months in prison, suspended for one year, and fined 6,000 yuan for adding fritter powder and alum to his own store arbitrarily, resulting in the amount of aluminum residue in the fritters exceeding the national standard by more than 8 times.
In Hebei, Shandong, Hubei and other places, such news is not uncommon.
Steamed bun fermented noodle products have a great impact
"GB2760-2011" stipulates that aluminum-containing food additives such as potassium aluminum sulfate and ammonium aluminum sulfate can be used in wheat and its products, and can be added in an appropriate amount according to production needs, just to ensure that the aluminum content in the final product is not higher than 100mg/kg.
However, "GB2760-2014" stipulates that aluminum-containing food additives can no longer be used for fermented noodle products, which is a huge impact on steamed bun production enterprises. Because aluminum-free food additives are much more expensive than aluminum-containing ones, prohibiting the use of aluminum-containing food additives for fermented noodle products means that the production cost of such products will rise.
This has prompted many companies with a fluke mentality to know the law and break the law.
According to the "China Business Daily", on July 11, 2016, the aluminum content of the small steamed buns produced and sold by a bun shop in Xunyang seriously exceeded the standard. Originally, the store originally used the red double xi brand aluminum-free baking powder ran out, the boss Luo Mou immediately bought sweet baking powder in the market to use, the aluminum ammonium sulfate contained in the baking powder was banned by the state. On October 13, Luo was criminally detained in accordance with law on suspicion of producing and selling food that did not meet safety standards.
Different from Luo's fluke psychology, there are many small shopkeepers who do not know where they are wrong because they do not understand the laws and regulations.
In September 2014, during the daily inspection and sampling inspection of the Chengdu Food and Drug Administration, 13 catering enterprises were found to have illegally added aluminum-containing food additives. The owner of one of the shops said that he was not clear about the state's new regulations on aluminum-containing food additives. Because baking powder was allowed before, it has been used all the time.
【Suggestion】
Whether it is fried noodle products or fermented noodle products industry, has launched a tough battle to eliminate "aluminum harm", so how should related enterprises deal with it? What advice do people in the industry have for this?
Carry out more legal publicity for small and medium-sized restaurants
Individual food processing is an area where aluminum is harmful
As a pioneer in removing aluminum hazards, Angel has witnessed the entire process of China's food industry from strange to familiar to widely used aluminum-free additives. So after more than 10 years of market cultivation and promotion, what kind of views and views does Angel now have on the prevention of aluminum damage in the food industry?
Wei Fenglu, technical director of Angel Yeast Chinese fermented pasta, introduced that with the country's increasingly strict control over food safety, especially in 2014, GB2760 revised the scope of use of aluminum-containing food additives, and enterprises that factory-produced fermented noodle products began to use aluminum-free leavening agents.
Moreover, in order to prevent the aluminum content from exceeding the standard, some fried noodle products companies that can use aluminum baking powder have also begun to use aluminum-free leavening agents, and they would rather increase the cost than bear the negative impact of quality problems on the company's brand.
In addition, some large-scale production, responsible enterprises in order to avoid food safety hazards, when the relevant national laws and regulations change, will also organize the relevant responsible persons to study the new regulations, thoroughly understand the policy, which to a certain extent standardizes the food safety behavior of enterprises.
Therefore, now the regular food enterprises are very strictly controlled, and the areas where aluminum damage is really frequent are common small and medium-sized restaurants.
First of all, most of these shops are husband and wife shops, whether it is steamed steamed buns or fried fritters, they use the traditional way, there is no quantitative standard for the use of raw materials in the production process, completely "by feeling", there is not much understanding of new regulations, new raw materials, and new technologies; secondly, the number of small stalls is large, widely distributed, and the mobility is strong, and the food regulatory department is often limited to manpower and has insufficient spare capacity. This is the reason why the aluminum of small and medium-sized restaurants exceeded the standard in many places in China.
Wei Fenglu suggested that in view of this situation, more publicity activities should be carried out to popularize the law.
In 2011, the Shanghai and Ningbo Food and Drug Administrations and Angel jointly launched a series of aluminum-free leavening agent promotion activities, in which they organized small and medium-sized restaurant owners to learn relevant laws, explained the use of aluminum-free leavening agents, and the unique advantages of new technologies, with remarkable results. "Small and medium-sized restaurants have a broad mass base, so they should be educated, supplemented by punishment, actively guided, and effectively publicized, so that they understand the law and abide by the law." Wei Fenglu said.
Wei Fenglu Standing Director of Fermented Pasta Branch of China Cereals and Oils Society, Technical Director of Angel Yeast Chinese Fermented Pasta
The comprehensive cost of aluminum-free leavening agent is not high
Since aluminum-free leavening agents can avoid excessive aluminum content in enterprise products, why are some companies still reluctant to use it? One important reason is that its price is more expensive than similar products containing aluminum.
In Fenglu's view, the price problem is not a problem at all. "The cost of a manufacturer to produce a product should not look at a single raw material, but should look at the synthesis." He introduced that the products produced by ordinary baking powder will be particularly oil-absorbing when fried, but the aluminum-free baking powder is more fuel-efficient, "We have done experiments, using aluminum-free fritter leavening agent than the traditional 'alum salt' method to save about 5% to 10% of the oil." Combined, the cost of the two is not much different."
In addition, Wei Fenglu pointed out that although the law gives the provision that aluminum-containing leavening agents can be used for fried noodle products and clarifies the limit standards, the actual situation of the current industry is embarrassing, and it is almost impossible to do aluminum-free.
"According to the traditional production methods of fritters and the like, in order to achieve the ideal fluffy effect, the amount of addition will definitely exceed the standards stipulated by the state." If added according to national standards, the fluffiness of fritters will be affected. Wei Fenglu said that therefore, enterprises should not directly choose aluminum-free fritters.
No added ≠ does not contain aluminum, and enterprises should strengthen self-inspection
The market sales are mixed, and the users do not know that they are breaking the law
Guangzhou Food Industry Research Institute Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guangshi Research Institute") is one of the earliest enterprises in the industry to see the development trend of the industry and develop aluminum-free baking powder. However, in the view of its chairman Zeng Yongqing, the use of aluminum-free baking powder can not completely guarantee that the aluminum content in food does not exceed the standard, in order to truly solve the problem of aluminum harm in food, we should also start from raw materials, strengthen self-inspection, and ultimately ensure that the product is qualified.
Zeng Yongqing believes that according to the provisions of "GB2760-2014", fermented noodle products cannot use aluminum-containing baking powder, but fried noodle products can, therefore, it is not that aluminum-containing baking powder cannot be sold. Therefore, the market has formed an aluminum-containing baking powder and aluminum-free baking powder sold at the same time.
Food producers are in a better situation, at least they know that aluminum-containing baking powder cannot be used for fermented noodle products. However, in some roadside shops, there may be both fermented noodle products such as buns and fried products such as fritters, and many do not know that the former cannot be beaten with aluminum.
When those small shopkeepers buy raw materials, they generally purchase in accordance with the principle of low price, and naturally choose aluminum-containing baking powder. In addition, when used, they do not look at the scope of use, which leads to the occurrence of some illegal additions.
Zeng Yongqing believes that what the relevant departments have caught now are all illegally added out of ignorance, and few people still intend to do so under the conditions of knowing the relevant laws and regulations. "There have been many examples of this in Guangzhou in recent years, and they didn't know why they broke the law or even committed crimes until they were investigated."
Zeng Yongqing, Chairman of Guangzhou Food Industry Research Institute Co., Ltd
Do not use aluminum-free additives≠ do not contain aluminum, enterprises should actively self-test
In actual work, Zeng Yongqing encountered another situation, the company did not use aluminum-containing food additives when producing fermented noodle products, but the regulatory authorities detected the existence of aluminum when sampling. This makes many companies have a feeling of "jumping into the Yellow River can't be washed away".
In this regard, he analyzed that this is related to the raw materials used by enterprises. Because aluminum is a very common element, in some areas, wheat flour carries trace amounts of aluminum. If the company in the production of fermented noodle products, the raw materials used contain aluminum, if the filling is a plum vegetable pickled products, invisibly brought some aluminum, so even if the enterprise does not use, may also detect aluminum or aluminum content in the final product exceeds the standard. Because when the regulatory authorities are sampling, they are testing a cumulative value of aluminum content brought by various raw materials.
In response to this situation, Zeng Yongqing believes that if enterprises want to prevent aluminum from being detected in food, they must eliminate the introduction from the source. "When many companies import raw materials, they will ask suppliers to provide an inspection certificate that the product does not contain aluminum. Some companies will also check whether there is aluminum in raw materials such as flour. "These methods sound like just one more process, but in practice they are difficult.
"The content of aluminum in raw materials is very low, so some common inspection methods will be inaccurate." Zeng Yongqing introduced that the current better way is the determination of aluminum in GB/T 23374-2009, that is, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), but the equipment required for this method is very expensive, and one will cost millions of yuan. This is a great investment for any business.
In view of the instability of detection in the national standard, and the ICP-MS is too expensive, the spectrophotometric method successfully developed by Guangshi Research Institute, through the improvement of the original detection method (GB/VT 5009.182-2003 and GB25591-2010 Appendix D), the cation exchange resin is used to remove anion interference such as phosphate and perchlorate, and the iron is covered with ascorbic acid; in the buffered solution of acetic acid-sodium acetate, aluminum and chromium azure S, cetyl trimethylamine bromide form chromate, It can effectively remove the interference of anions on the measurement, the operation is simple and fast, the accuracy and precision are good, and the effect is remarkable. By adding ethanol sensitizers, the sensitivity of spectrophotometric aluminum measurement can be improved.
Zeng Yongqing believes that it is always more important to prevent problems before they occur than to make up for them, so he suggested that enterprises should actively self-test and stifle the risk of aluminum harm in the cradle.