The business agency reported shortly before July 12th that the Ministry of Health issued the “Supervisory Letter of the Ministry of Health” on the supervision letter [2012] No. 293 of the Ministry of Health to ask for advice on the adjustment of 13 aluminum-containing food additives such as aluminum sulfate and potassium. Inside and outside the industry has caused great repercussions. Some food companies are concerned that these aluminum-containing additives will be cancelled or narrowed due to safety issues, reducing the use of applications and thus adversely affecting the production and operation of food companies.
Is there any food safety risk for these 13 aluminum-containing food additives? Should it be withdrawn or reduced? To this end, this reporter interviewed the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Food Additives Industry Association, Professor Ji Heli. Professor Ji Heli believes that the adjustment of the standards for the use of food additives should follow the objective and effective principle. Among the 13 aluminum-containing food additives, 9 are aluminum lakes and aluminum lakes are used as food coloring materials. They have been used in the food industry in Europe and the United States for many years. Various colorants have safety risk assessment data, but their corresponding Alumina Lake did not conduct safety risk assessment anymore, and believed that its safety has been guaranteed, and the dose and scope of use have not been adjusted. Therefore, it is suggested that the dose and scope of use of aluminum lakes in China need not be adjusted.
Reporter: Professor Ji, you are the authoritative expert in the field of food additives in China. What effect does the food additive aluminum lake have?
Ji Heli: Food additives constitute an important factor in the modern food industry. They play an important role in improving the color, aroma, and taste of foods, increasing food nutrition, improving food quality, improving processing conditions, preventing food spoilage, and extending food shelf life. . Therefore, the food additive industry occupies an important position in the food industry. It can be said that without food additives, there can be no modern food industry.
Aluminum lake is a fat-soluble food color that can be used to color various fat-soluble foods, including chocolate and chocolate products, cocoa products, butter products, meat enemas, salad dressings, puffed foods, and the like.
Reporter: At present, what is the status of production and application of food colorants for aluminum lakes in China?
Ji Heli: As a food additive, the production, operation and application of aluminum lake are strictly limited by laws and regulations such as GB2760. Moreover, aluminum lake is insoluble in water, so the scope of use of this additive is severely restricted and there are not many manufacturers. Compared with additives such as preservatives, the industrial scale of coloring agent aluminum lake is not very large, and the overall quality of the product is good. . Shanghai Dye Research Institute Co., Ltd., a world-famous food additive company, is a member of the National Food Standards Development Group for food coloring. It specializes in the research, development and production of edible aluminum lakes. Its aluminum lake products are not only used in the domestic food industry but also exported because of its good quality. Many countries and regions.
Reporter: Professor Ji, please tell us about the background of the Ministry of Health's plan to adjust the use of 13 aluminum-containing food additives.
Ji Heli: Excessive intake of aluminum in the human body causes Alzheimer's disease. The Codex Alimentarius Commission has commissioned Korea to investigate the "Aluminum Daily Intake of the Human Body." Recently, the Ministry of Health of the People's Republic of China also organizes risk monitoring of aluminum in foods. The results show that the aluminum exposure of residents in China is relatively high, which may be related to the use of aluminum-containing food additives. To this end, the Ministry of Health recently issued the “Supervisory Letter on the Use of 13 Aluminum-Containing Food Additives, such as Aluminum and Potassium Sulfate, etc.” issued by the Office of Health Supervision [2012] No. 293. According to the "Administrative Measures on New Food Additives," the Ministry of Health intends to adjust the use of 13 types of aluminum-containing food additives in the "Standard for the Use of Food Additives" (GB2760-2011), the scope of use, and the amount of aluminum-containing food additives, and to reduce the use of aluminum-containing food additives. Departments, industry associations and companies solicit opinions.
Reporter: What do you think about this letter issued by the Ministry of Health?
Ji Heli: Adjusting the regulations for the use of aluminum-containing food additives shows that the government attaches great importance to the safety of food additives. However, the adjustment should adhere to the principle of objectiveness and effectiveness, and after considering the adjustment, the feasibility of using aluminum-containing food additives and their substitutes in the food industry, as well as the possible use of other materials, will lead to new issues such as food safety. .
Among the 13 aluminum-containing food additives listed in “Supervisory Supervision Letter [2012] No. 293”, according to the provisions of GB 2760, four additives of aluminum potassium sulfate, ammonium aluminum sulfate, sodium niobate, and aluminum octenyl succinate starch Are used in moderation according to production needs. Our panel of experts believes that in the daily diet, the amount of aluminum in the four aluminum-containing food additives is greater, and the maximum amount of these four additives should be specified, and infants and young children should not use foods. The specific amount to be determined.
Reporter: Food companies and consumers are concerned about the safety of aluminum lakes. Do you think that the use of aluminum lakes in foods will have a negative impact on human health?
Ji Heli: The long-term use of aluminum lakes in the food industry in Europe and the United States, and the safety of food colorants, aluminum lakes, are no problem and can continue to be used in foods.
Reporter: You just mentioned that the coloring agent, aluminum lake, is a safe food additive. In which aspects do you explain this?
Ji Heli: The safety of aluminum lake products can be explained from four aspects. First, aluminum oxide aluminum oxide (alumina) is actually a carrier, aluminum oxide accounted for 15% -17% in aluminum lake, the highest not more than 18%. The aluminum content in aluminum oxide is 53%. The amount of colorant aluminum lake is generally 0.01-0.1g/kg, and the content of aluminum is 0.0008-0.009g/kg, which is much less than that of the other four aluminum-containing food additives mentioned above.
Second, aluminum lake was first used in Europe and the United States, and it has been used now. Its allowable usage is much higher than our country's standard. The United States uses 1-3g/kg. The United States is a country with relatively high safety requirements for food additives, but so far it has not conducted toxicological experiments on Al2O3 in aluminum lakes. Because, they always think that aluminum oxide in aluminum lake is safe.
Third, aluminum lake is insoluble in water, used for oil and fat foods, therefore, there is a greater use of limitations, can be used for cake decoration, cold drinks on the fancy, but also for chocolate, high-fat candy and so on. Consumers actually consume very little aluminum from aluminum lakes. In addition, if the application of aluminum lakes is eliminated, no safer water-insoluble pigments can be substituted.
4. From a biological point of view, aluminum lakes are different from aluminum potassium sulfate, ammonium aluminum sulfate, sodium niobate, and aluminum octenyl succinate. Aluminum lakes enter the human body. In the stomach, some of them are decomposed into pigments. And aluminum oxide, and aluminum oxide may also be partially decomposed into trivalent aluminum, so the actual precipitation of aluminum is trace. How much aluminum in the aluminum lake is absorbed actually is because it has been highly safe for a long time. Therefore, no one has ever conducted biological tests in this area.
Reporter: According to your introduction, we have a deeper understanding of aluminum lakes. Since the aluminium content in aluminum lakes is very small and the safety is good, then we can understand that “the Ministry of Health does not have to Use dose and scope of use to adjust?"
Ji Heli: The hazards to human health of aluminum-containing food additives such as aluminum lakes are the result of a number of unscrupulous companies that have exceeded the scope of standards and used additives in excess. The abuse of aluminum lakes and other food additives cannot be exaggerated due to the abuse of a few enterprises, thus prohibiting the use of aluminum lakes. For a small number of companies exceeding the use of aluminum lake and other food additives, the key to the administrative department is to strengthen management, to severely crack the lawbreakers to prevent the occurrence of such food safety accidents.
In addition, the regulation of the use behavior of aluminum-containing food additives such as aluminum lakes may be subject to mandatory labeling, that is, the companies that require the use of the product include aluminum on the outer packaging of the products they produce and their subsequent processed products. The words “lake” are used to allow consumers to choose whether to buy foods containing aluminum lakes or foods that do not contain aluminum lakes. The practice of labeling prompt text on external packaging also has precedents in other food raw materials and processed products in China. For example, on the packaging of edible soybean oil, China has required companies to mark whether raw materials are genetically modified soybeans or not; According to the packaging of food raw materials, it is required to mark such contents as “irradiated by this product”.
More phenomena indicate that the substance of the debate over the use of aluminum-containing food additives in the use of standard adjustment may not be limited to the scope of health risks. Therefore, given the low aluminum content in aluminum lakes, it is not an important source of aluminum in human diets, and it is not necessary to use standard adjustments for aluminum lakes.
Reporter: According to the survey results of the Ministry of Health, the exposure of aluminum to the diet of Chinese residents is relatively high. What are the main sources of aluminum in the diet?
Ji Heli: China's national standard "Standard for Food Contaminants" stipulates that the content of aluminum in foods should not exceed 100 mg/kg. This standard is not to be adjusted. It needs to be decided by an expert from the National Food Safety Standards and Evaluation Committee. There are many sources of aluminum in food, in addition to aluminum-containing food additives, it may also come from the transfer of aluminum in water, food ingredients, and packaging materials.
Reporter: If the Ministry of Health really needs to adjust the standards for the use of aluminum lakes in the future, what impact do you think will have on the development of the food industry? What response measures should be taken?
Ji Heli: Once adjustments are made to the use standards for aluminum-containing food additives such as aluminum lakes, it may instead increase the risk of illegal additives to replace legitimate aluminum lakes. If the standards for the use of aluminum lakes that have been safely used for many years are adjusted and the market still has a demand for products made with aluminum lakes, then some substances that cannot be used for food are likely to be added to foods by illegal producers. in. Once substances other than the food additive standards are used, and because of lack of monitoring basis, these illegal and illegal additives will escape the supervision like the Sudanese and melamine of the same year, causing more serious damage to food safety. Therefore, even if the standards for aluminum lakes are actually adjusted later, relevant regulatory measures should be improved to ensure true food safety.
At the same time, before the Ministry of Health officially adjusts the standards for the use of aluminum-containing food additives, it should be based on reality and follow scientific and objective principles to carry out extensive investigations on the sources and contents of aluminum in foods. It is impossible to unilaterally attribute aluminum in foods to aluminum-containing foods. Additives, because there are many sources of aluminum.
In addition, adjust the use of standards should also adhere to the principle of effectiveness.
Reporter: What does the validity principle you just mentioned mean? Please talk in detail.
Ji Heli: The effectiveness here refers to the use of food additives in accordance with the adjusted new standards, which must be effective without causing any other problems. After using the standard adjustment for a certain food additive, using the new standard may cause several problems -
First, if the amount of this additive is reduced, the additive may not achieve the desired effect after it is used in foods. For example, the national standard allows Jiaoyakelu to be used in rice cakes. The effect is to prevent corrosion and prevent browning. However, the permitted amount is too small to achieve the desired results. Therefore, this standard of use is unreasonable and lacks validity.
The second is that this additive is replaced by other additives, but the use of substitutes is not satisfactory.
The third is that this kind of additive is replaced by other additives and brings new health problems. Taking non-aluminum baking powder as an example, the food additive uses phosphate instead of the alum in the original aluminum-containing baking powder. Although it does not bring aluminum into the fermented noodles, it will bring another health problem, that is, fermented noodles. Phosphate content in the excessive. Excessive phosphate intake in the human body can lead to calcium loss, osteoporosis and other nutritional health problems.
Before adjusting the standards for the use of aluminum-containing food additives, relevant departments such as the Ministry of Health should also fully consider these factors.
