Chinese people often say "food is the first necessity of the people." In the modern diet, in addition to three meals a day, snacks are also an indispensable delicacy for leisure time. A survey by the National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows that over 60% of children and adolescents aged 3-17 in our country eat snacks every day; most adults also can't do without snacks when chatting, watching TV, or relaxing. Although snacks are delicious, they also hide many hidden dangers and can even become terrifying health killers unknowingly.
In recent years, cases of unqualified snacks harming children's health have frequently been reported in the news: In 2007, four elementary school students in Lehong Village, Zhaotong City, Yunnan Province, died from food poisoning after eating fried instant noodles. In March 2009, a sixth-grade student at Hope Primary School in Wuhu County, Chaohu City, Anhui Province, died from food poisoning after eating a snack called "Dadaorou." In September 2009, three students at the Seventh Primary School in Shuangcheng City, Harbin, developed symptoms of vomiting and convulsions after eating a snack called "Lanzhou Xiaolaojuan." Shanghai media also reported that local children developed kidney failure from eating snacks with excessive additives.
Among unqualified foods, 70% are snacks
Zhang Man (pseudonym), 28, works near the Guomao area in Chaoyang District, Beijing. Her desk drawer is filled with various snacks, and her bag is also stuffed with a few small bags. Zhang Man told reporters that some of these snacks are bought from supermarkets, and some are ordered online with colleagues and friends. "Almost everyone in our office keeps snacks. Spicy dried meat, salty dried tofu, potato chips, and sweet preserved fruits are all very popular. Some people buy a lot at once and even take them home for their children to eat."
The "snack tribe" in life is mostly children and young and middle-aged women. When buying snacks, they usually consider whether they are delicious first, but rarely pay attention to quality and hygiene issues. In this regard, Jiang Weibo, a professor at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, said that his research team once analyzed and statistically examined the food samples tested by the Beijing Food Safety Office from January to July 2008. The results showed that among more than 150 batches of food with不合格 safety indicators, nearly 70% were snacks.
After statistically analyzing the results of food spot checks conducted by the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce from October 2009 to January 2010, the reporter found that snacks appeared in the "blacklist" of unqualified foods announced almost every week. These mainly included various preserved plums, apricot meat, dried sweet potatoes, dried pineapple, melon seeds, beef jerky, squid silk, seaweed, and flavored sausages, etc.