1986, under the impetus of Wang Ruiyuan, the Ministry of Commerce allowed benzoyl peroxide to be added to the newly released wheat flour standard, which has been used ever since. The Ministry of Health also listed benzoyl peroxide in the Hygienic Standard for the Use of Food Additives. 60 mg benzoyl peroxide is allowed to be added per kilogram. But later, when Wang Ruiyuan saw the unusually white pasta, he dared not eat it. He told the nanny at home never to buy flour with whitening agent, and he tried not to eat pasta outside.
The reason why Wang Ruiyuan's attitude towards brighteners changed 180 was because when he went abroad for inspection, he found that brighteners had been banned in Norway. 1997, officially banned by the EU; Oceania and New Zealand were subsequently banned. Southern Weekend reporter interviewed Nina Papadoulaki, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health and Consumer Protection of Council of Europe. In an interview, he said that EU regulations do not allow the use of any flour bleach.
The press officer of the European Commission explained that the adoption of the "precautionary principle" in EU legislation means that only those food additives that have been proved harmless can be used. Although, this does not mean that things outside the harmless list are dangerous. Anyone who wants to use benzoyl peroxide or other bleaching agents needs to apply to the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA). No merchants have applied to the European Union to use benzoyl peroxide as a flour additive. Two years ago, the European Union introduced stricter laws, stipulating that all food additives must be permanently observed, and food additives should be re-evaluated with the change of use conditions and the emergence of new scientific and technological information.
Wang Ruiyuan believes that the European Union has completely banned it, and although the United States has not restricted its use, "the concept of the legal system is strong, and enterprises will not mess around." Domestic flour is getting whiter and whiter, even "white as porcelain, which makes people afraid to eat". As a result, there are more and more fake and shoddy products, which cover up all the ugliness and shoddy. Wang Ruiyuan also heard that the local grain bureau specializes in producing flour without benzoyl peroxide, which is supplied to the staff of the grain bureau as a welfare during the Chinese New Year.
It seems that he opened Pandora's box himself, and Wang Ruiyuan felt heavy: "If you didn't agree to add it at the beginning, there would be no such problem today." Since 2000, he has called on enterprises to ban flour brighteners at various grain and oil industry conferences and grain industry conferences. At this time, he has retired from the position of director of the Industry Department of the Ministry of Internal Trade and served as the executive vice president of China Grain Industry Association and China Cereals and Oils Association. "I have a responsibility when setting standards. It is our responsibility to propose cancellation now, otherwise we will be ashamed of the people. In your lifetime, if you don't see the ban, you will die unsatisfied! "
At the initiative of Wang Ruiyuan, the national leading flour enterprises jointly wrote to the higher authorities four times, demanding that benzoyl peroxide be banned. Subsequently, the State Grain Administration stood on the side of prohibition. After 2003, it began to organize subordinate research institutions to revise the draft national standard for wheat flour, explicitly requiring the prohibition of the use of benzoyl peroxide. Whether adding benzoyl peroxide to flour destroys the nutrition of flour is actually a topic that does not need to be debated at all. The public can simply check the information themselves, whether the Ministry of Health wants to ban benzoyl peroxide or not, and judge whether benzoyl peroxide destroys the nutrition of flour. Who is talking nonsense? Who is cheating the public irresponsibly?
The role of benzoyl peroxide in wheat flour is mainly to accelerate the maturity of wheat flour, and whitening is a secondary role. The principle that benzoyl peroxide can whiten flour is that flour contains a small amount of carotenoids to make flour yellow, and benzoyl peroxide can oxidize the double bond of carotene to make flour white.
Some people who call for a ban take advantage of the public's ignorance of food additives to deceive the public that benzoyl oxide will destroy carotene in flour and be harmful to health, thus causing public dissatisfaction that the Ministry of Health has to use benzoyl oxide so far. Looking through the relevant reports, you will find that some reports calling for banning benzoyl peroxide tell the public that benzoyl peroxide destroys the nutrition in flour, but never provide any data to the public. Whether benzoyl peroxide will destroy the nutrition of flour is a fully verified fact. We only need to test the nutritional components of flour added with benzoyl peroxide, which can be tested by general testing departments. Those who call for prohibition only need to do a simple test to find out whether benzoyl peroxide will destroy the nutritional data of flour, which can be a good basis for banning benzoyl peroxide. Why not do this? There is only one reason: because benzoyl peroxide does not destroy the nutrients of flour at all!
In fact, it is very simple for the public to know whether benzoyl peroxide destroys the nutrition of flour. As long as you enter the "food nutrition composition table" on the Internet and check the data of carotene content in various foods, you will know who is talking nonsense irresponsibly. In the table of food nutrients provided by various countries, the content of β -carotene in flour is zero, that is, flour does not contain β-carotene. In fact, the content of β -carotene in flour is very small. Both foreign countries and China regard it as. Some experts told the public that the carotene in flour was destroyed by benzoyl peroxide, which was completely irresponsible to deceive the public. In fact, flour only contains 6μg/ 100g, while vegetable broccoli contains 72 10μg/ 100g, which is more than 1200 times of flour. Carrots contain 40 10μg/ 100g, which is more than 650 times that of flour. The content of vitamin A in meat food is high, and the conversion data of pig liver is 5000 times that of flour, and that of chicken liver is more than 10000 times.
For the public who are concerned about whether benzoyl peroxide destroys flour nutrition, they may wish to check the data themselves. For example, simply comparing the data, eating a bite of vegetables is equivalent to eating dozens or hundreds of kilograms of flour, and eating a bite of chicken liver and pig liver is equivalent to eating 100 kilograms or thousands of kilograms of flour.
Food safety is a matter of great concern to everyone. No matter what the purpose of calling for and opposing the ban on benzoyl peroxide is, one thing is certain. As long as there is scientific evidence to prove that the use of benzoyl peroxide in flour is harmful to human health and destroys the nutrition of flour, the ban is correct. But in order to achieve the purpose of prohibition, it is irresponsible to fabricate lies and deceive the public. Some voices calling for the ban on flour brighteners, under the slogan of considering food safety for the public interest, are widely publicized through the news media, actually for their own commercial interests. In order to prove that flour brighteners are harmful, some people equate flour brighteners with "hanging white blocks" that are not food additives, confusing concepts. China's standard stipulates that the dosage of flour whitening agent in flour is 60mg/kg (really low, which is inconsistent with the actual needs), while the excessive dosage of flour whitening agent in some flour enterprises in China is mostly 60- 100mg/kg, which can be confirmed by online search. It can be said that the excessive use of flour whitening agent by some flour enterprises does not meet the requirements of Chinese standards, and there is no safety problem at all! The US FDA is an internationally recognized authority on food additives, and it is also the main target of food additive standards in many countries. The following is part of the scientific basis for the safety of flour whitening agent (benzoyl peroxide):
1, benzoyl peroxide is widely used in American flour.
(1) benzoyl peroxide can be used as a bleaching agent for wheat flour.
(2) The dosage of benzoyl peroxide in wheat flour can be added according to the needs of normal production, and there is no maximum dosage limit (GMP).
2. The usage of flour whitening agent in Canada is 2.5 times that in China.
(1) benzoyl peroxide can be used as a food additive in wheat flour for bleaching, ripening and dough improvement.
(2) The maximum dosage of benzoyl peroxide in wheat flour is 150mg/kg.
3.CAC recently increased the dosage of flour whitening agent (benzoyl peroxide)
The eighth edition of General Standard for Food Additives (CXS- 192) issued by the State Food and Drug Administration in 2007 has officially listed benzoyl peroxide as a flour additive, and the maximum dosage in flour has been increased from 66mg/kg to 75mg/kg.
4, flour whitening agent safety evaluation report
Toxicological research was conducted in Korea, and the Organization for International Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published a detailed toxicological assessment report on benzoyl peroxide (Siam 15 SIDNIAL Assessment Report-Boston, USA, 2002122-25 October). The report discusses in detail that benzoyl peroxide is harmless to human body.
There is a lot of evidence to prove that flour whitening agent is safe, and the harmful reports about flour whitening agent in China can be said to be groundless. In addition, scientific tests have proved that flour whitening agent does not destroy the nutrition of flour at all, which is a well-verified ordinary test that can be verified by general provincial laboratory centers. According to the proof, flour brightener is a very safe food additive among many food additives, and its safety can be said to be impeccable, which some people who call for banning flour brightener did not expect. Looking at some reports about banning flour brighteners, there is no substantive scientific basis except some sensational words and inferences, and even the basic evaluation procedures and related safety evaluation indicators of food additives are not understood.