When it comes to instant noodles, people naturally classify them as junk food. In recent years, rumors about the carcinogenicity of instant noodles, such as 32-hour non-digestion and toxic packaging, have become more and more intense, causing consumers to smell "noodles" discoloration, but also bringing great obstacles to the development of instant noodles industry. In order to guide the public out of the misunderstanding of food safety and eliminate false rumors, the "Convenient Food Rumor Removal Conference" sponsored by China Food Rumor Removal Alliance and China Food Science and Technology Society was held in Beijing on September 9. On-site experts interpreted the rumors of instant noodles, which have long troubled consumers and lasted for a long time.
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Is instant noodles junk food?
"There is no so-called junk food, only unhealthy dietary mix, there is no good or bad food itself." Zhong Kai, deputy director of the risk exchange department of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, believes that fresh food is naturally the best, but in the absence of fresh food, instant noodles are still a good choice, which can not only quickly solve the problem of food and clothing, but also ensure basic food safety.
Usually, people regard the preservatives in food as the standard of judging junk food. Most consumers regard the preservatives in food as "poisons" and think that eating will cause great harm to human health. In this regard, Zhong Kai clearly stated that "food preservatives are harmful" is a misunderstanding, its role is to inhibit the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, protect food nutrition and sensory quality.
Zhong Kai believes that the misunderstanding of food preservatives still remains that it is formaldehyde (also known as formalin), a preservative used to preserve corpses in medicine. In fact, the preservatives used in medicine are not closely related to food preservatives. The function of food preservatives is to inhibit the reproduction of microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi. 。 If the food itself does not contain bacteria or fungi, there is no need for preservatives. Enterprises use more products and increase production costs for no reason. At present, fried foods such as instant noodles and potato chips with low water activity need not add preservatives.
Is Palm Oil Safe Nutrition?
The oil problem of instant noodles has long been one of the most widespread rumors. It is rumored that palm oil used in instant noodles is of the worst quality in vegetable oil. Long-term consumption of palm oil will cause excessive intake of saturated fatty acids in human serum, resulting in elevated cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein, which will lead to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and be harmful to human health.
Gu Keren, a professor at the Food College of Henan University of Technology, said that the saturated fatty acids of palm oil were relatively high and had good frying stability and oxidation stability. The national standard stipulates that the acid value of edible frying oil does not exceed 5%. The index of some enterprises is far less than this standard. Cross-over experiments showed that there was no difference in the effect of palm oil and olive oil on human blood lipids. In other words, to some extent, palm oil and olive oil had the same regulation effect on human blood lipids, and many foreign research data were the same as the experimental results.
Another study showed that saturated fatty acids were not associated with cardiovascular disease, and saturated fatty acids were not associated with heart disease, ischemia and death caused by type 2 diabetes. "A lot of data support this conclusion." Gu Keren said that palm oil meets the food safety standards set by the International Codex Alimentarius Commission and is a safe and nutritious edible oil.
Instant noodles do not digest for 32 hours?
In instant noodles rumors, the most widespread, so that consumers fear a sharp increase is undoubtedly "a bowl of instant noodles after 32 hours will not digest" rumors. So, where does this come from? Is instant noodles really hard to digest?
According to Shen Qun, a professor at the School of Food Science and Nutrition Engineering, China Agricultural University, the rumor originated in 2011 when an American scientist photographed a comparative experiment of digestion between "processed food" and "non-additive food" by capsule endoscopy. The results showed that the hand-pulled noodles had been completely digested after 32 hours, while the instant noodles still retained residue and had not been fully digested. The original intention of this experiment was to observe the digestion process of food, which was misinterpreted as poor digestion of instant noodles and harmful to health. With the development of social media, the rumor that instant noodles are not digested for 32 hours finally evolved.
In this regard, Shen Qun and other industry experts conducted research experiments on raw millet flour and raw wheat flour, and found that different food processing methods also affect starch digestibility. In addition, the observation method used in the network communication shooting can not record the noodle digestion for 32 hours. Shen Qun said that the additives used in instant noodles are in line with the national standards, and their main raw materials are the same as those used in home-made noodles, which will not cause harm to human body.
Food additives are not a monster of floods
On the scene of the conference, the experts not only analyzed the rumors of instant noodles, but also corrected the names of food additives misunderstood by consumers. Sun Baoguo, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, believes that the demonization of food additives in China is a black pot for illegal additives, the lack of popular science propaganda, unscientific interpretation and misleading propaganda by enterprises are the main reasons.
Sun Baoguo introduced that food additives are a great invention of human beings, and human use of food additives has a long history. In the past, there were many well-known appellations for food additives, such as