Why is the ＂aluminum ban＂ on fried dough sticks still banned for three years？

　　Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 10th (Reporter Huo Yao, Feng Guodong) Fried dough sticks are traditional breakfasts, which are deeply loved by the public, but the problem of adding alum has been criticized. Recently, the incident of "aluminum of fried dough sticks in online celebrity Store exceeded the standard by 9 times, and plasticizer was detected in McDonald’s fried dough sticks" caused widespread concern. The reporter found that although the country has already issued a "ban on aluminum", the old problem of "excessive aluminum content" in fried dough sticks still occurs from time to time.

　　Experts believe that the range of food additives containing aluminum should be further expanded and the use of aluminum in fried food should be restricted, so as to guide merchants to use aluminum-free baking powder when making fried dough sticks and really make consumers feel at ease.

　　Can the "assured fritters" claimed by the merchants actually be assured?

　　On December 4th, the Shanghai Consumer Protection Committee and the Shanghai Food and Drug Administration jointly released the Data Sheet on the Physical Examination of Fried Bread. The results showed that the fried dough sticks sold by many "assured" merchants who claimed that they had no alum fried dough sticks also contained aluminum. Among them, a shop named "Si donkey kong" found that the aluminum content of its fried dough sticks exceeded the standard by nearly 10 times (980 mg/kg), far exceeding the national standard. In the detection of plasticizer components, the crisp sesame oil strips sold by two McDonald’s detected plasticizer components, but the content did not exceed the standard.

　　"I saw that the shop I often went to was found to be unqualified, and I was suddenly embarrassed." Ms. Xiao from Shanghai told reporters that she chose to go to a brand store because she was not at ease with the fried fritters in a small workshop on the street. I didn’t expect there were problems. "When can the use of food additives be standardized?" Many consumers asked.

　　It is no small matter that the aluminum in fried dough sticks exceeds the standard. The medical community believes that aluminum is a chronic and accumulative neurotoxin. Excessive intake for a long time will damage the brain and nervous system, causing diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, and it is called "intellectual killer".

　　In 2014, the National Standard for Food Safety and the Standard for the Use of Food Additives issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine clearly defined the aluminum content in food: alum is allowed to be used in fried noodle products (including fried dough sticks), but the residual aluminum (dry sample) in the final fried noodle products should not exceed 100 mg/kg.

　　Sun Hui, a researcher at the Scientific Research Institute of the State Grain Administration, said that the ban standard was already strict, and the residue limit of 100 mg/kg was easily exceeded. The actual meaning is that as long as the merchants add alum to the flour to improve the taste, the fried fritters will definitely exceed the aluminum standard.

　　However, the reporter found out that since the implementation of the "aluminum ban" for three years, the aluminum content in fried foods in the breakfast market still exceeds the standard.

　　"aluminum" is forbidden: a game between "taste" and "health"

　　In the face of a paper ban, why is aluminum exceeding the standard repeatedly banned? According to industry insiders, after adding aluminum-containing bulking agents such as "Alum", the fried dough sticks are more golden in color, better in appearance and crisper in taste.

　　In fact, at present, other food additives with the same function have replaced alum in the market, such as a new aluminum-free leavening agent for fried dough sticks. It is understood that Angel Yeast introduced aluminum-free leavening agent to replace alum in 2009, and the annual sales growth rate remained between 30% and 50%, reaching more than 5,000 tons at present. "The key to ensuring the taste is health." Yu Xuefeng, head of Angel Yeast, said.

　　However, the reporter found that there are still small pasta workshops that are reluctant to part with "Alum". At a breakfast place selling fried dough sticks near the tuanjie village vegetable market in Wuchang District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, the stall owner said that although aluminum-free fried dough sticks are healthier, some old customers are not used to this taste, so they like crispy alum fried dough sticks.

　　The reporter visited several breakfast shops, and some shopkeepers revealed that the use of aluminum-containing baking powder can quickly foam, which saves the long time required for traditional fermentation and is more efficient. More importantly, the cost of aluminum-free baking powder is 3-4 times higher than that of aluminum-containing baking powder.

　　Wei Fenglu, executive director of the Fermented Pasta Branch of China Cereals and Oils Society, said that in terms of cost, the alum that small workshops like to use is indeed cheaper than the aluminum-free leavening agent, but in fact, the oil absorption rate of alum fritters is as high as 30% or more, which requires higher oil temperature. Therefore, the comprehensive cost of the two is basically the same.

　　Wei Fenglu believes that there are three main reasons for the current "aluminum" ban: First, customary factors. The use of alum in fried dough sticks is an "old tradition" handed down for many years. It is difficult to change the habit formed for a long time, so that many masters will not do it if they change the processing materials. The second is the taste factor. There are still many people who think that the brittleness of alum skin may be better, so they know that aluminum exceeds the standard, but they still use it; The third is the law enforcement factor. The law enforcement of food and drug supervision in cities is stricter than that in remote areas, and there is still room for improvement in the safety of pasta food in remote areas.

　　Experts call for abolishing the use of aluminum in fried food.

　　Experts interviewed believe that after the introduction of the "aluminum ban order" by the state, some additives have indeed been removed from the market or their application scope has been narrowed. Yu Xuefeng said: "In the past three years, the degree of social attention has been increasing, the public’s health concept has been slowly changing, and the production of pasta with sales volume has become more standardized than before."

　　However, experts believe that stricter standards should be adopted to restrict and further expand the range of food products that prohibit the use of aluminum-containing food additives.

　　Sun Hui believes that the "aluminum ban order" in 2014 prohibited the use of aluminum-containing additives such as alum in steamed bread, cakes and steamed buns, but did not completely cancel its use in fried foods, which opened a small hole for merchants and led to the simultaneous sale of aluminum-containing and aluminum-free additives in the market.

　　"Merchants are profit-seeking. As long as the state does not prohibit it, it is unrealistic for merchants to take the initiative to use aluminum-free baking powder." To this end, experts believe that the system standards should be tightened from the source, so that fritters can completely "say goodbye" to alum.

　　As breakfast shops and roadside stalls are the "hardest hit areas" where aluminum-containing food additives are used beyond the scope, in terms of supervision, experts call for strengthening inspections, not only increasing the number of random inspections, but also strengthening surprise "flying inspections" and severely punishing illegal additions and excessive use of aluminum-containing food additives found in supervision and inspection.