There are no high or low standards for food additives at home and abroad

"Why are food additive standards different between China and abroad?" This is a problem
that many people have.
In the subconscious of many people, it is always believed that "Chinese standards are lower than foreign standards"
.
But this is actually a misunderstanding, not only "Chinese and foreign food additive standards are different", but also different "foreign" food additive standards are different
.

This starts with the basic common sense of food additives
.

In modern food processing, food additives are almost indispensable
.
Even foods that claim to be "additive-free" often only do not add certain types of food additives, rather than not using
any food additives.

According to the definition of national standards: food additives are "synthetic or natural substances
added to food for the purpose of improving food quality and color, aroma, taste, as well as for the needs of preservative, preservation and processing technology.
" Food spices, basic substances in gum-based confectionery, and processing aids for the food industry are also included
.
”

Foreign food additives are the same concept
.
Moreover, the management of food addition in all countries in the world adopts a "white list system", that is, a substance can only be used as a food additive if it is approved by the government regulatory department to be included in the permitted list, and the scope and dosage of use must meet the approved use specifications
.

In the approval of food additives, there are two basic principles: first, additives will not cause harm to consumers' health under the approved use and dosage; Secondly, the use of additives brings positive benefits
to food.

The former is "security" and the latter is "necessity"
.

For a possible additive, experimental data for safety assessment are shared across countries
.
Trials are for animals and for people, and regulations need to protect everyone
.
This requires collating the data and selecting a "safety factor" to exclude human-animal differences and human-to-human differences to obtain a "safe dose"
for humans.
The collation of this data and the selection of safety factors are based on human operation, so different countries may be different
.

The public is concerned about the standards
for the use of additives in food.
This standard is calculated based on safe dosages and the amount people are likely to consume
.
If a food is consumed in a large amount in a country, the amount allowed in it is relatively small, and conversely, if it is eaten very little, then the allowable amount can be larger
.

For the assessment of necessity, artificial subjective selection is stronger
.
For example, the United States believes that the flour whitening agent benzoyl peroxide is necessary to add to flour, so it is allowed; China does not consider it necessary, so it prohibits its use
.
For another example, Japan believes that gold leaf is meaningful to add to food, so it is allowed; And China did not consider it necessary, so it did not approve
it.

For food manufacturers, which country to sell their products to, they need to comply with the regulations
of which country.
This has nothing to do with double standards and discrimination, it is simple business logic: what customers need, manufacturers produce
.

Regarding the standards of traditional foods, food additives and different countries, borax can be used as an example
in various countries.

Borax is used medically for disinfection, and it
is used in traditional foods in some places.
However, because it is relatively toxic, the national standard clearly cracks down
on it as an "illegal additive".
Because the role of borax is easy to be replaced by safe additives, in China, "combating illegal addition of borax" has encountered little resistance
.

Europeans like to eat caviar, and borax is used in the traditional processing of caviar, which is "unauthentic" after replacing it with other additives
.
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) evaluated this and concluded that "borax not exceeding 4 g/kg is allowed in caviar, and people do not consume borax in harmful doses", so the use of borax in caviar continues to be allowed in Europe
.
And the United States has also adopted the same "total ban" policy of borax as China, so European "authentic caviar" cannot be sold to the United States
.

Now, China also has a lot of caviar production
.
If it is sold domestically, borax cannot be used; If exported to the United States, borax cannot be used; And if you want to export to Europe, you can add
it.
Therefore, for enterprises, it is also necessary to choose
whether borax is added to caviar according to the regulations of the country of sale.

(Cloud Wuxin)

China Food News (October 17, 2022, Edition 06)

(Editor: Yang Xiaojing)