Although flour is banned, it is not necessary to talk about "agent" color change

A dispute over the retention and waste of flour whiteners for more than 10 years has finally come to fruition.

On March 1, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven ministries jointly announced that from May 1 this year, it is prohibited to add benzoyl peroxide and calcium peroxide to flour production. ), Food additive manufacturers may not produce or sell flour brighteners. Previous products that use flour brighteners according to relevant standards can be sold until the end of their shelf life.

Many consumers are also skeptical at the same time: As it is a good thing to ban the use of brighteners, why wait two months before they are implemented?

Ye Yongmao, a consultant of the Provincial Food and Drug Administration, once participated in the formulation of the National Food Safety Law. He frankly stated that the dispute over the retention and waste of flour brighteners has been going on for more than a decade, and it has been arguing for human harm. According to Wang Hong, deputy director of the Department of Food Production Supervision of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, when quality issues and safety issues are not particularly urgent, the government has given a transition period to allow companies to change course and have reasonable grounds.

This time, the use of whitening agents for flour is prohibited. According to the supervision of the Ministry of Health, there is no technical necessity for flour brighteners. “In this case, instant additives are safe and can not be used anymore,” said Ye Yongmao. According to the provisions of the Food Safety Law, food additives must first be technically necessary for use, such as satisfying preservation, nutrition, processing, etc. Technical needs, the second to ensure its safety and reliability, both are indispensable.

What is the impact of the ban on Zhejiang food additive companies?

Huang Xiantang, president of the Provincial Food Additives and Ingredients Industry Association, told reporters that there are currently no flour whiteners in Zhejiang, and there are not many flour processing companies, so the ban has little effect on Zhejiang.

But things are not so simple. Huang Xiantang said that after the existing channels for whitening are banned, it is difficult to guarantee that businesses will not use other methods to whiten, which may lead to more disorderly supervision of the industry.

"The key is to carry out strict blockades." Ye Yongmao said that the government must increase the supervision of law enforcement and impose severe punishment once it is discovered.

The incidents such as Sudan Red and melamine that occurred in recent years, together with the cancellation of the flour whitening agent, have caused the public to almost hear the “agent” change. In fact, food additives should not have been so famous.

“Food additives have always been in the dark for illegal additives.” Huang Xiantang said that the public’s misunderstandings and panic about food additives mainly come from food safety incidents such as Sudan Red that have occurred in recent years. These are all illegal additives, not food additives. .

"As long as food additives are added in accordance with the type, variety, scope of use, and amount of use prescribed by the government, it is safe." Huang Xiantang said that food additives have become the soul of the modern food industry. Without food additives, there is no modern food industry. At present, there are more than 6,000 kinds of additives in the world, and more than 2,000 kinds of additives are allowed in China, and are still increasing. Food additives such as monosodium glutamate, spices, preservatives, colorants, and sweeteners are already modern. People have created countless foods with delicious flavors. And the more economically developed places, the more food additives are used, the United States, however, has a population of 300 million, accounting for a quarter of the world's food additive use. Zhejiang food additive companies produced 8 billion yuan last year, accounting for the entire country. one tenth.

"Food additives are not a problem in themselves. The question is whether humans can use them well." Ye Yongmao said that for the public, there is no need to panic about food additives. For government regulatory agencies, it is necessary to severely crack down on excessive or excessive use of food additives. It is also necessary to crack down on illegal additives and effectively safeguard public food safety.