When it comes to food additives, many people think that they are harmful to health and feel that only natural foods are the healthiest foods.
In order to cater to the psychological needs of consumers for food safety, many food production enterprises have labeled their products as "without any food additives" and "without any preservatives"... So, are food additives really the "health killer" in the population?
Of course not, food additives are an auxiliary means for food color, flavor improvement, and prolong shelf life, and it is precisely because of their existence that the food we eat can have a suitable taste.
In the development process of the Chinese nation's dietary civilization, the figure of food additives can be seen everywhere, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, people used salt brine as a coagulant to produce white and tender tofu; Jia Sixun, an agricultural scientist in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, recorded the method of using natural pigments for food in the "Qi Min Yao Shu"; at the beginning of the Southern Song Dynasty, the formula of fritters with one alum, two alkalis and three salts was recorded, and nitrite was used in bacon production. In 1500 BC, the Egyptian people knew to color candy with food coloring, and in the 4th century BC, people began to artificially color wine...
But now, with the exposure of illegal use of food additives, and more and more people's awareness of healthy eating, everyone is very sensitive to the problem of food additives, so that when buying food and beverages, they will pay attention to the additive labels on the outer packaging of the product, and even some people are worried that the use of a variety of food additives in food will not produce any terrible consequences?
In fact, all the food additives allowed to be used in the "National Standards for Food Safety" and the Announcement of the National Health commission are legal and healthy. (Sudan Red Heart "duck eggs, melamine milk powder, these are added illegal additives)
At present, there are 23 categories of food additives in our country, more than 2,000 varieties, such as preservatives, sweeteners, thickeners, flavors, antioxidants, bleaching agents, flavor enhancers, leavening agents, colorants and so on.
Before the production and use of each food additive, the relevant national agencies carry out strict and meticulous risk assessment, and ensure safety by leaving sufficient safety factors, while strictly stipulating the scope and amount of use.
Additives that meet national standards have their own functions and roles in each kind of food, such as preservatives, which can kill or inhibit microorganisms that contaminate food, prevent food corruption from producing some toxic and harmful substances that pose a threat to human health and safety;
In sausages, meat sausages and other processed meat products, there may be "Clostridium botulinum", the "botulinum toxin" it produces is one of the most toxic substances in the world, only sodium nitrite can inhibit the growth of the pathogenic bacteria, prevent meat products from spoiling.
In our common food, it may also contaminate Salmonella, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, pathogenic E. coli, dysentery bacillus, Staphylococcus aureus... Without the use of food preservatives, the safety of the above foods cannot be guaranteed.
It is no exaggeration to say that without food additives, people can only eat white boiled vegetables, or go back to the primitive era of eating wild fruits and wild vegetables.
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Edit / Uncle Meat
Image source / network pexels
This article is originally produced by the China Meat Association