What is the additive in rice?

Food additives are causing many people to eat hard, and recently they have "shocked out" the heavy news that "the use of food additives in rice has been for many years." The "food staples" of rice, coupled with the mere "food additives" that make people uneasy, are not surprisingly attracting so much attention that the Ministry of Health has responded almost immediately.

For any food additive, if we want to understand the whole picture of the matter, we should first understand the two key issues of “what is added, what is the role” and “how is it safe?” On this basis, consider again the question of "there is no need to add" and "should it be forbidden to add".

What is "rice additive"?

According to the latest edition of the “Standard for the Use of Food Additives”, there are three types of food additives that can be added to rice:

Sodium starch phosphate: It is actually a modified starch. In modern food technology, improving the performance of starch by "modification" is a conventional technique. Commonly used "modified" technologies are physical, chemical, and enzymatic treatments. Sodium starch phosphate is a starch that has been treated with phosphoric acid and belongs to the category of "chemical modification". Its role is to increase the viscosity.

Sodium diacetate: It is not a single chemical component, but it is a mixture of acetic acid and sodium acetate. If you still remember junior high school chemistry, you should understand that acetic acid is the active ingredient of acetic acid and vinegar. Sodium acetate is the sodium salt of acetic acid. Each of them has a preservative function, and they also act as antiseptics when mixed together.

Chitosan: A polysaccharide extracted from the shells of animals such as shrimps and crabs. In fact, chitosan is sold more in the form of health products. It is a soluble dietary fiber that increases the viscosity of foods, which can extend the emptying time of foods and increase satiety, which may theoretically help to lose weight. In addition, soluble dietary fiber can take away some of the bile and help lower cholesterol. As a food additive, it can also be thickened. It is hardly soluble in water and can form a film on the surface of rice, which makes it look smooth.

How safe are these things?

For food additives, people are more concerned about its safety. According to the evaluation of Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) of WHO and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), China's permission to add these additives to rice is a very safe substance.

Starch Phosphate Sodium: There are many ways to modify starch. There is a need for a kind of safety review and approval to enter the food industry. Sodium starch phosphate is a type of pass that is obtained because of its high safety and not limited by usage.

Sodium diacetate: The safety limit for sodium diacetate determined by JECFA is 15 mg/kg body weight per day. A 60-kilogram person can consume 900 milligrams a day. The national standard is to add no more than 200 mg per kilogram of rice. Because sodium diacetate is not stable, only part of it will actually remain. National standards specify residues of no more than 30 milligrams per kilogram of rice. In other words, even if a person eats a kilogram of rice a day, there is only one-thirtieth of the upper limit of safe intake at the legal maximum residue. Even if one kilogram of rice was added in accordance with the maximum allowable amount, it would not reach one-fourth of the upper limit of safe intake. Sodium diacetate is also allowed to be added to a variety of other foods, and its allowable addition amount is similar to this. No matter how good a person has a good appetite, he cannot eat tens of kilograms of food a day. Therefore, no matter how many kinds of food contain it, as long as it is used in a standard manner, it will not cause people to exceed the standard.

Chitosan: Can be approved as a health supplement because it does not have security concerns. However, the national standard still set a limit of 100 milligrams per kilogram. Even if one kilogram of rice is eaten every day, the amount of chitosan added is relatively insignificant with respect to the health care products.

Is it necessary to add

The expert opinion of CCTV's program is basically that these additives in rice are “not necessary”. After clarifying the first two issues, this issue will be more clear.

Sodium starch phosphate: In fact this is a very strange "add". Rice is granular, adding starch to it, and keeping the rice in its original form, both troublesome and without much benefit. Sticky rice is not necessarily more expensive than it is not sticky.

Sodium diacetate: Its role is antiseptic, but the water content of rice itself is very low, as long as the normal preservation conditions can be stored for one or two years without deterioration. This is enough for normal rice production and marketing. Adding preservatives to extend storage time can hardly bring economic benefits, but it can increase costs.

Chitosan: A better "sales" can be obtained by smoothing the surface of rice with chitosan. The thickening effect of chitosan itself can also improve the taste of rice or porridge. From this perspective, the addition of chitosan may be marketable. What it has played is a kind of "icing on the cake" and there is no question of "necessary". Chitosan is also not cheap, and whether or not it is added depends on the cost and whether the ‘flower’ results are sufficiently attractive. In theory, the membrane formed by chitosan also contributes to preservation, but rice is not easily degraded, and this effect does not make much sense.

Whether to prohibit adding

Indeed, as the experts requested by CCTV have stated, these additives in rice are not necessary. In fact, it is only the national standard that allows doubts to be added. In the end how many rice products were added to the market, relevant reports were not provided.

From the principle of use of food additives, "there is no need to add" should not be added. However, "there is no need" and "should not be prohibited" are still two different concepts. As the competent authority, the main basis for "should not be banned" should be "how safe." "Whether to allow use" is not "whether use is required" - like cigarettes, the law "allows smoking" does not mean that people cannot prohibit smoking when they open a restaurant, nor does it mean that people cannot include "no smoking" in marriage. Claim. The question of "necessary" should be given to the market. The responsibility of the competent department should be to guarantee the truthful provision of the results of the assessment of the safety of these substances, and to regulate the allowable additions. At the same time, in the actual supervision, it is ensured that the merchants faithfully provide added information to consumers. On this basis, if the product using the additive can be recognized by the consumer, then it is "necessary"; conversely, if the consumer does not accept it, it is "not necessary".

As the media, to demonize these substances in order to oppose the addition is to create panic; to exaggerate the benefits in order to support the addition is false propaganda.

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