Are food preservatives harmful to human health?

"Is preservative harmful to human body?" After experiencing various incidents about food additives such as Sudan red and malachite green, people have a strong vigilance against food additives. Under this psychological effect, preservatives have also become the focus of people's vigilance. Recently, the reporter visited some supermarkets in the city and interviewed relevant experts.

Preservative-free becomes a health selling point

"I only choose the food marked' This product does not contain any preservatives' to buy, because preservatives are chemical synthetic products, which are definitely harmful to the human body." In Trust-Mart, Ms. Li, who is choosing food, said, "According to some media reports, most preservatives have carcinogenic ingredients, so it is definitely useless to eat more."

"Now that living standards have improved, people have higher requirements for the quality of food, and they all want to eat green, natural and healthy things as much as possible. However, almost all foods on the market now contain various additives, flavors, pigments and preservatives, which makes people feel uneasy. Therefore, if food does not contain preservatives, it should be more popular. " Mr. Zhang, who lives in High-tech Zone, said, "People around me are keen on preservative-free products, and think that all kinds of diseases people suffer now are related to food additives in their diets, so preservative-free products are better."

In several major supermarkets in the city, the reporter also saw that many products do not contain preservatives as the focus of publicity. When buying, citizens should not only look at the production date of the product, but also carefully look at whether it contains preservatives.

Preservatives are necessary to preserve products.

Now that the living standards of ordinary people have improved, they are not only required to eat well, but also to eat healthily. It can be said that health has become a topic of great concern to the whole society. In view of the safety of food preservatives, the reporter interviewed relevant experts.

According to Liu Youquan, director of the Public Health Monitoring Institute of the Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, preservatives are substances that prevent food from spoilage, prolong the shelf life of food and inhibit microbial reproduction in food. At present, there are 29 kinds of preservatives allowed to be used in a certain amount in China, mainly natural preservatives extracted from animals and plants, and sorbic acid and benzoic acid are widely used. Most of these food preservatives will be normally digested by the human body, and reasonable use is harmless to the human body. "The shelf life of the drinks we bought is 12 months, or even 18 months, which can keep the food from going bad for such a long time. In addition to the sealed packaging of the product, the most important thing is to use a certain amount of preservatives, that is, if the food really does not contain preservatives, its shelf life will be shortened. " Director Liu said.

It is understood that each preservative has clear requirements for dosage and scope of use. Using preservatives according to national standards is the guarantee of food safety.

Proper preservatives are harmless to human body.

"Although it is safe to use preservatives within the scope stipulated by the state, because the food market is not standardized, there are always some unscrupulous vendors who use preservatives excessively in pursuit of profits, which is one of the important reasons why people are vigilant about preservatives." Director Liu explained. At the same time, he reminded consumers to correctly understand and rationally treat preservatives in food and master common sense about food preservatives, so that they can clearly choose when buying food. Children, pregnant women, etc. It belongs to a special population and should be protected in food intake. It is recommended not to eat foods that use more preservatives to protect health. When buying food and drinks, try to buy products with good reputation and quality that can stand the market test, because such products are more cautious and safe when using preservatives, and the labels are often more authentic. For unfamiliar brands, don't easily believe that "this product absolutely contains no preservatives" in product descriptions or advertisements.