China Association for Science and Technology’s scientific rumor platform and chinese institute of food science and technology jointly released the "2020 food safety and health gossip list" to refute ten rumors.
In response to recent public concerns about cold chain food, Chen Junshi, academician of China Academy of Engineering and general consultant of National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, pointed out that COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease, not a food-borne disease. Although there is evidence in China that COVID-19’s route of transmission may be from person to person, but for consumers, the chance of this infection is very small; So far, there are no reports that consumers are infected by buying and preparing contaminated food. Workers who carry imported goods have a greater chance of being infected through person-to-person transmission if preventive measures are not in place.
Li Ning, vice chairman of chinese institute of food science and technology and deputy director of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, also said that Covid-19 may cause pollution to food and its packaging, and therefore put forward higher hygiene requirements for the safety of the whole food industry chain. Imported cold-chain food and its packaging may become the carrier of long-distance cross-border transportation to carry and spread Covid-19. Therefore, the prevention and control of epidemic situation should focus on strengthening the forward movement of customs. At the same time, the relevant food producers and operators should strictly implement the main responsibility of epidemic prevention and control, and do a good job of "people" and "things" prevention.
Myth 1 COVID-19 live virus was found in the outer packaging of cold chain food, so it seems that we can’t eat frozen food any more.
Truth: Normal frozen food purchased through formal channels can be eaten. Up to now, there are more than 80 million confirmed cases in the world, and no infection caused by direct consumption of frozen food has been found.
Myth 2: No nutrition in reconstituted milk is "fake milk".
Truth: reconstituted milk is a widely used raw material of dairy products, not a "inferior product", which can also provide nutrients such as protein and calcium for human body.
Myth 3: Soaking food is very dangerous, which will cause acidosis of rice yeast.
Truth: Oryzanol is a small molecular toxic metabolite produced by Pseudomonas cocoanum subsp. Oryza Sativa under specific temperature and growth conditions. Home-brewed cereal self-fermented food, deteriorated fresh tremella and deteriorated potato food are the main foods that are easy to cause this kind of poisoning.
Myth 4 Eating frozen meat is harmful to health.
Truth: Regular production of frozen meat has passed strict standards and production procedures, and its safety is guaranteed. After thawing, except for a little loss of nutrients, other edible quality has little effect.
Myth 5 Snacks with food additives are unhealthy.
Truth: Using food additives according to the relevant requirements of national food safety standards will not affect human health.
Myth 6: Frozen food has no nutrition.
Truth: Quick-frozen food is an excellent carrier of traditional food industrialization in China. It is produced by quick-frozen technology and enters the sales market under cold chain conditions. Its characteristic is to preserve the original quality of food to the maximum extent by using low temperature.
Myth 7: The standard of raw milk is low, so the taste of milk becomes weak.
Truth: The National Food Safety Standard Raw Milk is applicable to raw milk, not to ready-to-eat raw milk. "Milk taste" is a subjective factor, which cannot be used as an index to measure the quality of products and does not affect the nutrition of products.
Myth 8: Potassium ferrocyanide in domestic salt is toxic.
Truth: Potassium ferrocyanide is an anti-caking agent allowed in edible salt in China, and it will not produce potassium cyanide under normal cooking conditions. Reasonable use of potassium ferrocyanide in edible salt according to relevant regulations will not cause harm to human health.
Myth 9 Eating overnight dishes can lead to kidney failure.
Truth: Eating overnight vegetables in cold storage for a short time after sealing will not cause harm to health, but overnight vegetables that have deteriorated can no longer be eaten. Try to "make as much as needed to avoid leftovers".
Myth 10: Plastic packaged food can cause cancer.
Truth: Plastic allowed for food packaging has undergone strict safety review, and food is packaged in plastic that meets national standards, so there is no safety problem. Our reporter Zhang Nan