On September 22, the National Health Commission and the State Administration for Market Regulation released 50 national food safety standards and amendments, covering food products, additive specifications, special diets, production specifications, inspection and testing, toxicological evaluation and other fields. From source, production to testing, the entire chain protects people's "safety on the tip of the tongue."
Strengthen source and process management of food contaminants
Foods such as fried French fries and roasted coffee are common in daily life, but high-temperature processing can produce acrylamide, a contaminant that needs to be controlled.
"Acrylamide in food is mainly a by-product of the Maillard reaction between asparagine and reducing sugars at high temperatures and low water activity." Wang Jun, a researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, said that the newly formulated "Acrylamide Pollution Control Specifications in Food" are oriented by full-chain risk prevention and control, and are applicable to the control of acrylamide in foods that use potatoes, grains, coffee beans, etc. as the main raw materials and are processed by frying and/or baking. For example, the specification emphasizes reducing the reducing sugar and asparagine content in raw and auxiliary materials, as well as the corresponding baking or frying time and temperature.
Long-term or excessive intake of lead can cause damage to the human nervous system, cardiovascular and kidneys. In this regard, Wang Jun pointed out that the "Standards for the Control of Lead Pollution in Food" and the previously formulated lead limit standards have formed a closed loop to control the risk of lead pollution from the source to the end product. For example, the specification requires that the use of ink or paint should be minimized on direct food contact surfaces, and non-food products such as toys and cards in food packaging should be individually packaged.
Also released at the same time was the "Specifications for the Control of Tin Pollution in Tin-plated Sheet Steel Canned Foods". Wang Jun said that the three pollutant control specifications of acrylamide, lead and tin are basic mandatory standards and can provide legal basis for regulatory authorities to carry out on-site supervision and law enforcement.
Improve product standard protection
Complementary food nutritional supplements and nutritional supplements for preschool children are foods that supplement micronutrients and high-quality protein for specific groups of people. Fang Haiqin, a researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, introduced that the revised standards for nutritional supplements for complementary foods and nutritional supplements for preschool children have expanded the applicable age for preschool children from 60 months to 72 months old according to the current standard, and set permissible maximum values for nutrients that do not have maximum requirements in the current standards to further ensure the nutritional safety of the people who eat them.
Many consumers are confused when faced with labels such as "casein" and "milk protein" when purchasing milk. How to choose? Chen Xiao, associate researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, said that in order to protect consumers' right to know and choose, and to provide technical basis for the supervision, inspection and market enforcement of domestic and imported milk protein products, my country has formulated product standards for milk protein for the first time, clarifying that "milk protein" is a powdered or liquid product that is made from raw milk as raw material, skimmed (or directly used skim milk), separated and other processes and contains casein and whey protein.
Chen Xiao further explained that based on different protein contents, milk protein is divided into concentrated milk protein and isolated milk protein. The former retains the casein and whey proteins in milk, and also contains part of lactose and minerals. It is widely used in food processing; the latter has higher protein content and extremely low lactose content, and is suitable for the production of special foods that require high purity of raw materials. Milk protein product labels must indicate "milk protein concentrate (milk protein concentrate)" or "milk protein isolate (milk protein isolate)".
It is understood that the newly released "General Principles for Food Flavors" stipulates the sensory indicators, main ingredient content, impurity requirements and technical indicators such as lead and arsenic for food additives such as food spices, adds commercial product descriptions, and improves the management requirements for related food additives.
Improve the standard system of biotoxin testing methods
Inspection method standards can provide strong scientific support for food safety supervision. Xiao Jing, a researcher at the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, introduced that the 11 newly released biotoxin test method standards cover the test methods of aflatoxin, citrinin, alternatoxin, tetrodotoxin and other biotoxins, and can meet the needs of simultaneous determination of multiple toxins.
Xiao Jing said that the new standard not only fills the gaps in many domestic and foreign biotoxin testing method standards, achieving high-throughput and accurate detection of various biotoxins in food, but also closely connects with the existing mycotoxin limit standards to build a complete system of "limited control + accurate testing" to provide scientific and efficient technical support for food safety risk investigation, law enforcement supervision, and enterprise compliance self-inspection.
Food is the first priority for the people, and food safety is the first priority. Gong Guoqiang, deputy director of the Food Department of the National Health Commission, said that the implementation of 50 new national food safety standards is not only an important guarantee for consumers' health rights, but also a "hard yardstick" for supervision and law enforcement, and an important basis for enterprises to produce in compliance with regulations.
