Return to the Kitchen, Stay Away from Food Additives
1. The only way to avoid a large intake of food additives is to purchase fresh, natural food ingredients yourself, and take the time to make healthy homemade meals using traditional methods.
2. Pregnant women and children under two years of age should best avoid any food containing additives. Do not give young children colored candies, sweetened beverages, or puffed snacks, and do not add MSG. There is evidence that after children stay away from various processed foods, conditions such as ADHD, inattention, learning disabilities, and aggressive behavior have shown improvement.
3. Try to choose plain, natural foods.
Recently, with the introduction of new national food safety standards, the Ministry of Health has also released four new food safety standards, once again pushing food safety and food additives to the forefront of public concern.
Food additives are something we cannot see or control; all we can do is—
Additives Make Life More Convenient
Chen Hong's breakfast is like this: a ham sausage and a bag of braised beef instant noodles. For a single person, this is the most hassle-free meal. If she feels it's not nutritious enough, she adds a cup of yogurt.
They are very cheap: instant noodles cost 2.5 yuan, and a pork and chicken ham sausage only costs 1 yuan. They are indeed very convenient; just add boiling water, and the ham sausage and instant noodles are ready. Their taste is acceptable.
However, let's look at the ingredients of this 45-gram ham sausage: pork, water, starch, egg liquid, white sugar, plant protein, edible salt, food additives (thickeners, moisture retainers, edible flavors, flavor enhancers, potassium sorbate, red yeast rice, sodium D-ascorbate, sodium nitrite), and pork bone extract. It actually contains 18 substances!
Although most people understand the principle that "homemade meals are healthier," busy work schedules make many people too lazy to cook. Processed foods have greatly enriched the tables of the lazy: frozen dumplings, eight-treasure rice, zongzi, meatballs, Indian naan, scallion pancakes, wontons, pizza, kebabs, pasta, various microwave-fried rice, and even if you don't want to cook at all, there are self-heating rice dishes that are ready with a pull... For housewives who spend over forty minutes cooking just two dishes a day, this is no small blessing. Although they may seem healthier than instant noodles, a careful look at the ingredient list on the packaging reveals that these foods contain no fewer additives, including "fresh" rice balls, sandwiches, and sushi bought from convenience stores.
Dr. Wen Jie, a public health doctor from Peking Union Medical College, introduced that currently, over 95% of processed foods contain more or less food additives. In addition to enhancing flavor, preservation is also a major function. Dr. Fan Zhihong from the College of Food Science at China Agricultural University pointed out that with consumers' demanding requirements for food appearance, texture, convenience, and shelf life, if food additives were truly not used, most food would be unattractive, unpalatable, and difficult to preserve. After using preservatives, things that would spoil quickly can be stored for a long time. "Potassium sorbate," "sorbic acid," and "sodium benzoate" all act as preservatives. Although some brands claim to be "preservative-free," a careful check of the ingredient list will reveal that one of these types of preservatives is always listed.
In fact, without preservatives, many foods could not be sold. For example, soy sauce would develop mold within two days if preservatives were not used. In reality, as long as nationally specified preservatives are used within the permitted limits, most are metabolized by the body and are harmless, so there is no need to worry.
Dangers of Excessive Additives
In the kitchen, when we stir-fry sliced meat, we usually add a little starch to the meat or a splash of light soy sauce to make the meat more tender. The tenderness from meat tenderizer, however, is due to the addition of sodium nitrite—sodium nitrite is a nationally permitted additive, but excessive amounts can cause acute poisoning, and long-term overexposure poses a cancer risk. Last week, our program even taught viewers how to remove nitrites from vegetables, yet meat tenderizers add this product which is of no benefit to health. Dr. Fan Zhihong from the College of Food Science at China Agricultural University pointed out that the sodium nitrite in meat tenderizer has a "color-fixing" effect on meat, making it pink and tender enough that the fibers are almost imperceptible. It also contains water-retaining agents like phosphates, which makes the treated meat not only tender but also able to absorb a lot of water, appearing softer and juicier. A study by the Food Nutrition Research Laboratory of China Agricultural University on more than 30 types of meat tenderizers and meat seasoning products on the market found that all products contained nitrites, but only two of them were labeled. This means it is difficult for users to control the amount used, and there is a high risk of nitrite levels exceeding the standard in the final product. The same problem is also found in crystal shrimp, hot pot bases, and dumpling fillings.
Your Own Kitchen is Always Better Than Restaurants and Factories
When possible, we should avoid consuming excessive additives, even if they are nationally permitted. Let's compare the difference between cooking at home and buying food outside:
We make beef balls in our kitchen: buy beef, chop it up, add some salt, chopped green onions, ginger, soy sauce, and MSG, mix into a paste, then bring water to a boil and poach the balls; add seasonings, place in a bowl, and serve.
Now let's look at the process of making beef balls in a factory, as described by ABE Tsukasa, the "God of Food Additives" in Japan, in his book "The Truth About Food": Beef scraps, which are parts from a cow bone that are barely meat, are mixed with chicken and egg paste to increase volume, and then "textured soy protein" is added to create a soft texture. This soy protein tastes meaty and is also called "artificial meat," which can partially replace beef and pork. Then, a large amount of beef extract and chemical flavorings are added. To make the texture tender and smooth, lard and starch are also added. For machine production, thickeners and emulsifiers are added; for a good color, colorings are used; to extend shelf life, preservatives and pH adjusters are used; and to prevent discoloration, antioxidants are added.
Thus, the meat balls are made. The sauce is a "imitation sauce" made by diluting glacial acetic acid with water, adding caramel coloring and chemical flavorings. "Imitation ketchup" is made by adding colorings, acidulants, and thickeners to tomato sauce, which is then poured over the meat balls, sealed in a vacuum bag, and heat-sterilized before being put on the market.
Five Key Points for Coexisting with Food Additives:
1. Turn the package over and carefully read the ingredient list before buying.
2. Choose foods with low levels of processing.
3. Learn about the food before you eat it.
4. Don't just go for the cheapest option; cheapness has its reasons.
5. Maintain a healthy dose of skepticism.
Recommended Book: "The Truth About Food"
Author: ABE Tsukasa (Japan)
Publisher: Tianjin Education Press
Reduce Additives, Cook at Home
To avoid a large intake of food additives, the only way is to purchase fresh, natural food ingredients yourself and spend some time cooking using traditional methods.
1. Buy fresh ingredients and prepare them yourself.
For example, use a reserved "starter" to ferment dough for steamed buns; if the timing is right, there's no need to add alkali or baking powder. Wash your own vegetables for salad and use only simple, small amounts of salt, sugar, and vinegar for dressing to avoid the additives found in commercial salad dressings.
2. Reduce the number and variety of seasonings used.
Try to make use of the natural flavors of food itself. Tomatoes and cucumbers have their own fresh aromas; reducing the interference of other flavors can help our taste buds regain sensitivity and experience the fresh, natural taste of the food. If you use salt, then don't use sugar and MSG; this is one way to reduce additives.
3. Make your own natural seasonings.
Buy your own raw materials, such as grinding Sichuan peppercorns to make peppercorn powder, or making curry powder according to a spice recipe to significantly reduce additives. All kinds of sauces can be made at home; using pure soy sauce and vinegar, or even making fruit vinegar with pomelo juice, is also delicious.
4. Buy fermented soy sauce and cooking wine.
The ingredients of soy sauce are soybeans, wheat, salt, and koji. The enzymes produced by koji convert the proteins in soybeans and wheat into amino acids and the starches into sugars. This is the fundamental reason for the delicious taste of soy sauce. The color of soy sauce is produced by the combination of some amino acids and sugars. If not through long-term fermentation, amino acids can be easily obtained by using hydrochloric acid to break down soy protein, but this loses the original flavor, aroma, and color of soy sauce. Making it look and taste like real soy sauce is all thanks to additives.
There is also a distinction between pure rice cooking wine and seasoning-type cooking wine, so be sure to distinguish them when purchasing.
5. Prepare in advance during free time and freeze for storage.
In your spare time, use fresh pork belly to chop into a meat paste, add sugar, soy sauce, cooking wine, salt, and ginger, cook it in a pot until the liquid is reduced to a thick sauce, divide it into small portions, let it cool, and then store it in the freezer. When you want to eat noodles, just take a portion of the meat sauce, thaw it in the microwave, and mix it with your noodles. This is much healthier than instant noodles and also very quick to prepare.
Make your own broth: Use pork bones, pig skin, chicken feet, etc., to make it in advance. You can simmer it until it's rich, let it cool, skim the fat from the top, strain out the solids, and then pour it into an ice cube tray. Freeze it in portions, and when you need it, just take the appropriate amount and thaw it. The soup bases sold on the market, whether liquid or gelatinous, no matter how healthily they are marketed, contain no fewer additives.
Returning to the kitchen brings us more than just physical health.