Abstract: Food refers to all kinds of finished products and raw materials for human consumption or drinking, as well as articles that are traditionally both food and medicine, but do not include articles for the purpose of treatment. Food additives are important raw materials for food production, so this paper will focus on the role of food additives, problems and countermeasures in their use, and introduce the current situation and corresponding problems of food safety in China.
Keywords: food additives, countermeasures, food safety status
With the improvement of people's living standard, the acceleration of life rhythm and the change of food consumption structure, the rapid development of China's food industry has been promoted, and food is required to be convenient, diversified, nutritious, flavored and advanced. In order to meet these requirements, food additives are essential.
I. Food additives
(1) Definition: Food additives refer to natural or chemical synthetic substances added to food to improve the quality, color and flavor of food and the needs of preservation and processing technology.
Classification: Food additives can be divided into chemical synthetic additives and natural food additives according to their raw materials and production methods. Generally speaking, except for chemically synthesized additives, the rest can be classified as natural food additives, mainly from plants, animals, enzymatic production and microbial cell production.
So far, there is no unified classification standard for food additives in the world, and China classifies food additives according to their main functions. It can be divided into 2 1 class: acidity regulator, colorant, emulsifier, preservative, sweetener, antioxidant, etc.
3. Features: many varieties, large sales volume, rapid change, rapid change.
(2) Introduction of main varieties
1. preservative.
Preservatives are additives that inhibit microbial activities and reduce economic losses caused by corruption in food production, transportation, storage and sales. Potassium sorbate and its salts, parabens, propionic acid and its salts are mainly allowed in China.
4. Emulsifier
Food emulsifier is an additive that makes immiscible liquids (oil and water) form stable emulsion in food processing. The amount of emulsifier in food additives is about 1/2, which is the largest additive in food industry. Commonly used are soybean phospholipids and polyhydroxy alcohol fatty acid ester and their derivatives.
3. Acidity regulator
In order to obtain food with good color and flavor, food flavoring agent is essential. Flavoring agents are generally divided into salting agents, acid agents, sweeteners, spices, spicy agents, umami agents, coolants and so on.
Acids are also called acid adjusters. Adding sour agent to food can give people a refreshing stimulus, stimulate appetite and have a certain antiseptic effect. Generally divided into inorganic acids and organic acids. The commonly used inorganic acid in food is phosphoric acid, and the commonly used organic acids are: acetic acid, citric acid, alkyd, malic acid, ascorbic acid, lactic acid, gluconic acid and so on. Citric acid is the most versatile and widely used sour agent. Phosphoric acid can replace citric acid and malic acid in beverage industry, especially in non-fruit beverages where citric acid is not suitable, with low consumption and low price.
4. umami agent
Flavoring agents are also called flavoring agents or flavor enhancers. It is mainly some substances that enhance the flavor of food and make it present a sense of umami. Monosodium glutamate is the most commonly used flavoring agent. The main component is sodium L- glutamate.
Step 5: Benefits
Sweetener refers to a flavoring agent that can give food sweetness. Commonly used are saccharin sodium, sodium cyclamate, aspartame, acesulfame, etc. Cheap price, cheaper than sucrose at the same sweetness, so it is widely used.
6. Colorants
Colorants are also called food pigments. In modern food industry, it is an important additive for decorative food. All the edible synthetic pigments allowed to be used in China have been listed in GB2760- 1996, and there are * * 13 varieties, namely amaranth red and amaranth red aluminum precipitate, sunset yellow, brilliant blue and so on. From 65438 to 0994, China officially announced that the development direction of food additives in China was "natural, nutritious and multifunctional". Up to now, 47 of the 60 kinds of edible pigments approved by our government are natural pigments.
From the above description, we can know how important food additives are in the food industry. However, in recent years, international and domestic food safety incidents have developed continuously, causing great anxiety among consumers. The form of food safety in China is not optimistic, and the management and control of food additives should be stricter.
Second, the problems and countermeasures in the use of food additives in China
(1) Problems: There are some serious problems in China's food industry, such as the use of additives beyond the scope and beyond the limit.
The varieties used beyond the scope are mainly synthetic pigments, preservatives and sweeteners. The main foods used are meat products (synthetic pigments and benzoic acid preservatives), bean products (benzoic acid preservatives), roasted seeds and nuts (paraffin, mineral oil, etc. ), dairy products (sorbic acid preservative, titanium dioxide white pigment and natamycin as mildewproof agents) and wine (synthetic pigments and sweeteners).
The most common food additives that exceed the standard are flour treatment agents, preservatives and sweeteners.
(1) benzoyl peroxide and bromoformic acid are seriously used in flour. Benzoyl peroxide mainly plays a whitening role, and bromoformic acid mainly plays a strengthening role. It is an oxidant and a bread improver.
(2) Sweeteners and preservatives: milk drinks and juice drinks produced by some small enterprises are particularly serious. Some enterprises even use sweeteners (mainly saccharin sodium and sodium cyclamate) or only a small amount of white sugar in their products. These products are mainly consumed by children and are extremely harmful.
1. Preserved fruit: Preserved fruit is a small food with traditional characteristics in China. The abuse of additives in preserved fruit is very serious If the management is not good, it will cause "snacks and great harm", and its seriousness can not be ignored. (Saccharin sodium, sodium cyclamate, synthetic pigment, benzoic acid, sorbic acid preservative)
2 cold drinks, jelly, etc. : (saccharin sodium, sodium cyclamate)
③ Pickled vegetables: (sodium benzoate preservative, saccharin sodium, sodium cyclamate)
13. Unknown identity.
When some enterprises use food additives, especially synthetic pigments, preservatives and sweeteners, they deliberately do not label them under food labels, which damages the rights and interests of consumers, especially some foods such as candied fruit, cold drinks, jelly, pickles and dairy products.
(A) Causes and countermeasures
The reason why food additives are abused is that on the one hand, our laws and regulations in this area are not perfect and the punishment is weak; There are still weak links in the coverage of government supervision; Business owners are weak in legal awareness and moral integrity; Enterprise management is chaotic and technology is low; Business owners forget righteousness for profit and steal the column.
In order to ensure food quality and safety, China formally implemented the food quality and safety access system (QS mark). This will play a great role in strengthening source management and standardizing the market, and will also promote the legal use of food additives. In view of the problems exposed in the use of food additives and their causes, the following measures are suggested:
1. Perfecting legislation and increasing punishment to ensure food safety in China.
4. Improve the food additive management regulations and standards system, and establish a modern information platform.
3. Strengthen the quality supervision of small and medium-sized cities and problem foods, and strengthen supervision by public opinion.
4. Strengthen the research and popularization of inspection methods and carry out risk assessment.
5. Strengthen the publicity of laws and regulations related to food additives and popularize scientific knowledge.
Strengthen the guidance for the healthy development of the food industry, especially the traditional food industry.
"Food is the most important thing for the people". With the acceleration of urbanization, the ecological balance system has been destroyed year by year, especially the deterioration of environmental sanitation and human environment, coupled with the reduction of food and water supply and other human factors, the form of food safety has become very serious. Shanxi 1998 Fake Wine Incident; Clenbuterol Event 20065438+0; The Sudan Red incident in 2005 made people realize the importance of strengthening food safety again.
Third, the analysis of the current situation of food safety problems.
1. pesticide pollution
The common pollutants are organochlorine pesticides and organophosphorus pesticides.
Organochlorine pesticides are the earliest pesticides used on a large scale in China. The results of investigation and inspection in recent years show that the residues of organochlorine pesticides in various foods are gradually decreasing and eliminating, but the residues in many foods still exist. Although the level of organochlorine pesticide residues in food in China has obviously decreased compared with that in 1970s, it is still far higher than that in developed countries. This is because organochlorine pesticides are stable in nature, difficult to degrade and high in fat solubility, and their effects have not been completely eliminated so far. Organophosphorus pesticides are widely used in China because of their many control objects, wide application range, rapid degradation in the environment and low residual toxicity.
Big pesticide. Due to farmers' lack of understanding of the characteristics and laws of pesticide residues, the use of banned pesticides on some crops is the root cause of pesticide pollution in food.
environmental pollution
The most prominent impact of environmental pollution on human health is the threat of food pollution caused by environmental pollution to human health. The environmental pollution in our country is quite serious. According to 1998 China Quality Bulletin, seven major water systems, lakes, reservoirs, coastal groundwater and coastal waters in China have been polluted to varying degrees. After algae, fish, shrimp, shellfish, crabs and other organisms growing in polluted water are polluted, harmful substances are enriched and concentrated through the food chain, and finally reach the top of the food chain-the human body, thus causing acute or chronic poisoning of human beings and even endangering future generations.
3. Animal food pollution caused by veterinary drugs and feed additives.
With the development of intensive animal husbandry, the scope of action of veterinary drugs is also expanding, and some drugs such as antibiotics, sulfonamides and hormones are widely used. Therefore, the problem of veterinary drug residues in animal foods is becoming more and more serious.
4. Food additive pollution.
Long-term (or excessive) use of food additives will bring harm to human production. Its main manifestations are: carcinogenesis, genotoxicity, residue in human body, destruction of metabolism and so on.
5. Harmful substances in fake and shoddy food.
Fake and shoddy food, fake wine, fake pesticides, etc. In recent years, there have been a series of large-scale shocking poisoning incidents. For example, during the period of 1998, hundreds of people were poisoned by the pork poisoning incident in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province and the poisoned wine incident in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province, which shocked the whole country. According to the Ministry of Health, from June 1 9 9 8 to June 10, the Ministry of Health received 48 reports of food poisoning, with 53 people poisoned, including 83 deaths.
6. Pathogenic microorganisms and parasitic pollution.
Pathogenic microorganisms are the biggest problem leading to food safety, and their harm ranks first in food-borne diseases. According to the food poisoning incident report received by the Ministry of Health in 2000, bacterial food poisoning accounted for 45.8%. Harmful to health
There are a wide range of objects, first from the source of the biological chain-aquaculture. If strict hygiene management is neglected in the process of organic fertilizer collection, composting and application, pathogenic bacteria, parasites and eggs will enter the farmland environment, farms and water.
The body, and then into the human food chain.
Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, pathogenic Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium botulinum, heat-resistant and acid-resistant bacteria, various molds and their toxins, Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spiralis, parasitic eggs and other contaminated foods.
It will cause serious food safety hazards.
After China's entry into WTO, the food safety situation is quite grim. Therefore, we should establish and improve the manufacturers or suppliers of food safety evaluation and inspection products in China as soon as possible, and change the safety control consciousness of final product inspection into the inspection system, establish a new concept of rapid detection method of food pollutant residues and safety control in the whole process, ensure food safety, and establish various standard management systems and certification systems that are in line with international monitoring systems and food safety work networks. Accuracy is the top priority of food safety in China at present.
Specifically, it should be studied and implemented from the following aspects.
① Strengthen the government's supervision on food safety.
② Establishment and standardization of safety detection methods for chemical hazard factors.
③ Establishment and standardization of safety detection methods for biological hazard factors.
④ Establishment and institutionalization of safety monitoring system
⑤ Establishment and standardization of safety evaluation methods
⑥ Formulation and standardization of safety limits
⑦ Formulate food safety laws and regulations and establish a security system.
Bibliography:
1. Food Science and Technology 2003. Volume 24. The sixth issue-Jiang Hong talks about the problems and countermeasures in the use of food additives.
2. Food Science and Technology 2004. Volume 25, No.2 —— The development trend of edible pigments is strict
3. Food Science 2003. Volume 24, Issue 8-Food Risk Analysis and Preventive Measures
4. Food Science (Vol.26, No.5, 2005)-Causes and Countermeasures of Food Safety Problems in China.