reporter Tang Qiwei intern, Jiangdan
potassium ferrocyanide, a mysterious substance hidden in salt, is used to prevent the condensation of salt into a block. It is also known as anticoagulant. When the temperature is above 400 C, it will decompose potassium cyanide. Potassium cyanide is a highly toxic substance. Excessive intake of human body can damage the kidneys and even cause death. The discovery of
once caused panic. To this end, the Ministry of Health issued a special statement that the standardized use of potassium ferrocyanide in salt does not cause harm to human health. However, today, the abuse of food additives has not completely dispel public concerns.
recently, a bag of salt that smelled of agricultural flavor has reminded Ji'nan residents, Ms. Chen, of this kind of salt additive. Is this an anti knot agent on earth? Is it harmful to the human body... The reporter launched a survey.
nutrition salt has a pesticide flavour of
the distrust of food safety, making consumers habitually incrimination a lot of ununderstandable chaos to the additives. Fortunately, this false alarm is not related to the additives.
when the reporter saw Ms. Chen, the bag of salt that she had just opened was still smoking white smoke.
in June this year, Ms. Chen's husband bought two bags of nutrients at a supermarket in Quancheng Road, a kind of edible salt containing calcium, zinc, selenium, iodine and other compound nutrients.
in July 18th, after eating the common salt in the house, Ms. Chen opened a bag of nutrients with curiosity, but was stunned by the white smoke from the inside, followed by a pungent smell of pesticide.
additive! This is the first thing Ms. Chen thought. "I have been keeping well before, and this is definitely an additive problem."
in July 20th, reporters and Ms. Chen came to the supermarket on Quancheng Road, and bought a bag of similar brands and nutrients. The white smoke and pungent smell appeared again after opening, but because of the different batches of production, the smoke and smell produced by the bag of salt were obviously lighter than those of the previous two bags.
although supermarket staff insisted that the quality of the nutrient salt had no problem and promised to return it, Ms. Chen was not convinced, and entrusted the reporter to find out the reason.
according to the label on the bag, the reporter called the nutrition salt producer's telephone number. Mr. Sun, the person in charge, said that the smell of white smoke and pungent taste was normal. "Calcium added to nutrients is made from oyster shells and is alkaline, and it has a pungent odor."
to this, the director of the salt administration department of Ji'nan City Salt Bureau Zhu red confirmed: "this nutrient salt added calcium, zinc, selenium and other substances, of which active calcium and zinc gluconate have a certain irritating odor. Such odour is normal and consumers can rest assured. "
however, there is no quality problem in the production of nutrients according to the formal process, but it should not be eaten blindly. As a low sodium salt, potassium in nutrients is harmful to people with renal insufficiency.
anticoagulant phobia
no matter official or scholar, it is proved that the anticoagulant in salt is harmless to human body. But today, food safety incidents are frequent, and this is still unable to completely eliminate people's fears.
as Ms. Chen suspects, the salt does contain additives, a substance called potassium ferrocyanide, which is used to prevent the condensation of salt into blocks in the process of damp or long-term storage, so it is also known as anticoagulant.
in July 21st, at a supermarket in the east culture Road, reporters found a variety of "green salt" and "green snow salt" sold on the shelves, and the price was higher than the ordinary salt. The so-called "green" means that salt does not contain anticoagulants.
if it weren't for the appearance of a web post in 2009, I'm afraid many people still don't know the existence of anticoagulant. This article, titled "the mysterious anti knot agent in salt", says that the salt contains an anti - junction agent called potassium ferrocyanide, which will decompose potassium ferricyanide to produce potassium cyanide, which is a toxic substance that can damage the human kidney and even cause death.
however, the ingredients and contents of the anticoagulant were not marked on many bags of salt at that time. Once the matter has been exposed, the netizens have a strong concern.
later, another netizen turned over a news in 2002 to the Internet, which made people's panic continue to ferment. The news said that since June 2002, a number of salty processing enterprises in Sichuan have been informed by Japanese customers that Japanese food salt, which is prohibited by Japanese food hygiene law, has been found out of the salt made by Japan from a supermarket sold in a supermarket. Therefore, the official health care agency in Japan and some customers require the Chinese salt pickling processing enterprises to provide the laboratory evidence for the ingredients of the table salt. This has led to serious impact on Sichuan's export of salted vegetables in Japan.
but then official news has confirmed that potassium ferrocyanide is a widely used salt resistance agent both at home and abroad. The Codex Alimentarius Commission and Australia and New Zealand, and the European Union all allow it to be used as food additives. In Japan's food hygiene law, which was revised in 2004, it also allowed to add potassium ferrocyanide in the salt. After
, the Ministry of health further rejected the rumor and quoted food safety experts as saying that the structure of iron and cyanide in potassium ferrocyanide was structurally stable and that potassium cyanide could be decomposed only at temperatures above 400 degrees, but the daily cooking temperature was usually lower than 340, so that under cooking temperature The possibility of decomposition of potassium ferricyanide is minimal.
, however, many consumers still do not believe this statement. Ms. Chen is one of them. "Now that there are so many food abusers, who can guarantee that the anti binding agents in the salt will not be excessive?"
, Zhu Luhong, director of salt Affairs Office of Ji'nan City Salt Bureau, said that in the present salt, anti knot agent is completely used in the safety range according to the relevant state regulations, and the composition and content of anti knot agent will be identified on the packaging bag.
Zhang Bingwen, a professor of food nutrition at University of Jinan, also confirmed to reporters that only when human body contains excessive potassium cyanide can it damage health. "But according to the content of potassium ferrocyanide in salt, if one wants to be poisoned, he must eat dozens of kilograms of salt a day." Zhang Bingwen said.
Legend of sea salt
fear of anticoagulant makes sea salt popular. About this kind of salt that does not contain any additives, there are some reports in the market, such as beauty, weight loss, and treatment. But it turns out that this is just a beautiful legend.
some consumers have no doubt about the anti - knot agent, which provides business opportunities to some businesses, the sea salt is starting to sell, and the network is its main marketing channel.
the news of a number of sea salt online stores saw that sea salt, the most common seasoning of the past, was given magical functions, such as reducing fat, treating skin diseases, promoting blood circulation and metabolism.
contact with one of the sellers, he said on QQ, "the sailors in Europe have long been exposed to the sun, wind and rain, but why is the skin so good? It is because they often use seawater to bathe, and sea salt has the function of cleanliness and medical treatment.
, however, Zhang Bingwen told reporters that these functions are not based on scientific basis, and Haiyan is just an ordinary salt.
Zhu Luhong, director of salt administration of Ji'nan salt bureau, reminds consumers not to buy Haiyan blindly. "Some businesses claim that their sea salt is imported from Japan and Australia, but they are likely to be imported after the export of domestic sea salt." In addition to the consumption of sea salt in parts of Weifang, more than 90% of Shandong's salt is well salt, and sea salt is basically used in chemical and small industries, such as antifreeze, cleaning, and softened water. In addition, illegal production, transportation and operation of sea salt will be punished.