Unveiling 13 Common Foods That May Easily Contain Additives
Introduction: To reduce costs and improve appearance, unscrupulous merchants use industrial raw materials as food additives or exceed the permitted limits for food additives, thereby misleading and deceiving consumers. For everyone's health, we have selected some common foods from recent illegal food additive cases to remind consumers to be vigilant when making purchases.
1. Bean Sprouts
Phenomenon: To accelerate the growth of bean sprouts, unscrupulous vendors often soak soybeans in plant hormones. These sprouts are typically unusually white, long, and rootless, and sometimes have a faint smell of ammonia. Consuming such sprouts can easily cause nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, and long-term consumption is harmful to health.
Expert Reminder: As market inspections and regulations by relevant departments have been strengthened, hormone-treated sprouts have become rare. Consumers should note that natural foods often retain their original state. If the color is exceptionally bright or the shape is unusually large and special, consider whether there might be a problem.
2. Grapes
Phenomenon: Some greedy vendors and growers use a diluted ripening agent (ethephon) to soak immature green grapes, which turn into "fully ripe" purple grapes in a day or two. Additionally, hormone-treated strawberries, waxed apples, and sulfur-fumigated bananas have been discovered in various regions.
Expert Reminder: Fruits should be soaked and washed before consumption. Since many pesticides are not water-soluble, simple soaking may not be sufficient to remove pesticide residues. It is best to peel them before eating whenever possible. Furthermore, consumers should choose seasonal fruits that have not undergone preservation treatments.
3. Flour
Phenomenon: The overuse of flour whiteners is a common problem in the market. These so-called whiteners mainly refer to benzoyl peroxide and calcium peroxide. Besides their whitening effect, these additives do not improve the quality of wheat flour.
Expert Reminder: As of May 1st, the state has explicitly banned the addition of whiteners to flour. Currently, our provincial quality supervision departments have also launched special inspections on flour manufacturers regarding food additives. This means that consumers can now purchase flour with peace of mind.
4. Braised Meat
Phenomenon: As a food additive, sodium nitrite is permitted for use in food, primarily for color preservation, color enhancement, tenderizing, and preservation. However, due to its potential health risks, the state has strict limits on its addition. Some enterprises may excessively add sodium nitrite during production, which can lead to poisoning or even be fatal if the distribution is uneven.
Expert Reminder: Normal cooked meat products will appear grayish in color. Meat products with excessive sodium nitrite may remain red after cooking.
5. Tangyuan (Rice Balls)
Phenomenon: Saccharin sodium is an artificial sweetener often used in sweet foods, and its use is strictly limited by the state. However, unscrupulous companies often exceed the limits or scope of use to alter the taste of food, and they even illegally add it to staple frozen foods like tangyuan, steamed buns, and sweet corn, posing health risks to consumers.
Expert Advice: It is difficult to distinguish effectively through daily observation. If a food has an unusual sweetness, it should be discontinued.
6. Biscuits
Phenomenon: Some manufacturers use leavening agents like baking powder to achieve a crispy texture and expanded volume in biscuits. However, excessive addition can be harmful to health. Currently, permitted leavening agents in China include sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, calcium hydrogen phosphate, potassium aluminum sulfate (potassium alum), potassium carbonate, precipitated calcium carbonate, and composite leavening agents. The aluminum contained in these additives can cause diseases such as Alzheimer's.
Expert Advice: Relevant authorities are currently researching the reduction of certain leavening agents in food production. When purchasing biscuits, consumers should check the ingredient list and choose products with simpler processes and fewer additives.
7. Rice
Phenomenon: To reduce costs, some merchants use industrial-grade silicone oil to remove musty odors and add shine to recycled old rice. Others treat ordinary rice with fragrance to turn it into expensive Thai jasmine rice. Such rice can have excessive heavy metal content, posing a health hazard.
Expert Advice: The best way to determine if rice is old or artificially fragrant is to steam it at high temperature and then smell it. If the fragrance disappears, it might be fake fragrant rice. If it has an unusual smell and a dull color, it might be old rice.
8. Tremella (Silver Ear Fungus)
Phenomenon: To make the product look more appealing, merchants often fumigate tremella with sulfur. Although this makes the tremella look "whiter," it leaves a large amount of sulfur residue, constituting an overuse of sulfur dioxide. Consuming such sulfur-fumigated tremella can cause vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea, and in severe cases, it can harm the liver and kidneys.
Expert Advice: When choosing tremella, do not blindly believe that whiter is better. If it has a strange smell, try not to buy it. Also, soak it thoroughly in warm water before consumption.
9. Chicken Feet
Phenomenon: During food inspections, quality supervision departments found that some vendors use hydrogen peroxide to process chicken feet. These chicken feet look white and tender and have a long shelf life, but they pose health risks to consumers.
Expert Advice: Chicken feet bleached with hydrogen peroxide often appear unnaturally white compared to normal ones, and they can be overly plump. Sometimes they also have a strange smell.
10. Canned Food
Phenomenon: According to regulations, food coloring is permitted, but it is not allowed in foods that are claimed to be all-natural. Some small companies use lower-quality fruit for canning and excessively add coloring to improve appearance, creating health risks, especially for children. Research has shown that the intake of artificial colors can exacerbate symptoms of ADHD in children.
Expert Advice: Generally, eating fresh fruit directly is better than eating canned fruit, as it avoids many issues from processing. If canned food must be chosen, avoid products with overly bright colors and excessively long shelf lives.
11. Hot Pot Base
Phenomenon: Hot pot bases often contain various food additives or inedible substances. Some small hot pot shops excessively use carmine in spicy broths to make them look attractive, calling it "red oil." Some merchants may also add paraffin to the base as a substitute for beef tallow.
Expert Advice: Some people experience diarrhea after eating hot pot, which could be due to the paraffin causing increased intestinal motility. The hot pot base is crucial. Consumers should choose reputable and well-established hot pot restaurants.
12. Soy Milk
Phenomenon: To save costs, some merchants use a small amount of soybeans to make soy milk and then add large quantities of water, flavors, and thickeners to pass it off as a better product, which also poses a health threat to consumers.
Expert Advice: Some additives are simple to use, and soy milk made with them looks good, smells fragrant, and is cheap, making it marketable. In fact, many beverages contain such substances.
13. Chili Powder
Phenomenon: A very few unscrupulous vendors misuse the non-edible substance Sudan Red to make chili powder appear brightly red, causing significant harm to consumer health. This substance is difficult to distinguish with the naked eye and even harder to identify in products like chili oil.
Expert Advice: Regular chili powder has a fragrant chili smell and contains chili seeds. When purchasing processed products like chili oil, it is best to choose reputable department stores or supermarkets.