Don't eat too much pre-made egg liquid, but the problem is not the 20 food additives...

“Why use semi-finished products when two eggs and a bowl of water can make the food?” “Are the egg custards sold in restaurants made with this concentrated egg liquid?” “Is it harmful to the body if eaten?”... Who would have thought that eggs could also be used in a “new way”!

(Source: Screenshot of a shopping platform)

When we open our mobile phones and search for "egg liquid" on the shopping platform, we will find that there are dozens of merchants selling this product. This pre-made egg liquid can be retailed or wholesaled. A small bag is 400 grams, the unit price is 8.8 yuan, and a box contains 30 small bags. If you buy by box, the price is less than 240 yuan, and the unit price per bag is less than 8 yuan. A bag of 400 grams of egg liquid can be made into 7 to 8 bowls of 200 grams of egg custard after adding water. Under freezing conditions of minus 18 degrees Celsius, egg liquid can be stored for 9 to 12 months. Compared with eggs, egg liquid is cheaper. Its appearance has made many people very happy, allowing cooking to achieve the goal of "5 minutes for a dish, 8 minutes for a soup", and more importantly, it has a longer shelf life.

Relatively low in nutrients

▲Pre-made scrambled eggs (Source: Screenshot from a shopping platform)

Compared with pre-made egg liquid, pre-made scrambled eggs are ready to eat right out of the bag. They are golden in color, well-balanced, tender, and good looking, making it difficult to distinguish them from homemade scrambled eggs. Taking this "Chinese-style tender scrambled eggs" product as an example, according to the nutritional composition table, it contains only 7.7 grams of protein per 100 grams, while normal eggs contain about 13.3 grams of protein per 100 grams, a difference of nearly double in protein content.

▲Pre-made egg liquid (Source: Screenshot from a shopping platform)

Let's look at the pre-made egg liquid. Its performance is also disappointing. According to the product nutrition information table in the figure, the protein content of 100 grams of pre-made egg liquid is 11.4 grams. After diluting it 2.5 times according to the consumption method, the protein content of 100 grams of pre-made egg liquid is about 3.3 grams. Compared with the protein content of normal eggs per 100 grams, it is more than four times lower.

The ingredient list of pre-made egg liquid products repeatedly lists condiments such as acid hydrolyzed vegetable protein seasoning powder, acid hydrolyzed vegetable protein seasoning liquid, and maltodextrin. The main purpose of adding these condiments is to enhance the flavor and flavor, and to help the pre-made egg liquid form a state that can solidify into egg custard. In addition, there are colorants such as soy sauce and caramel color, which are added to make it look like the color of egg custard. Although pre-made egg liquid tastes like egg custard, the nutrition it contains is far different from egg custard .

Moreover, according to the nutritional composition table of the product, the sodium content of every 100 grams of pre-made egg liquid is 1375 mg, and the nutrient reference value is as high as 69%. It is undeniable that sodium is a necessary substance for muscles and nerves to maintain normal function. However, excessive sodium intake can lead to a variety of diseases such as high blood pressure, kidney disease, and stomach disease. According to the World Health Organization's recommendations, the daily sodium intake per person is 2000 mg, and the FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) guidelines recommend that the daily sodium intake should be less than 2400 mg (about one teaspoon of table salt). In this regard, Wang Huaiji, a nutrition and diet expert at the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that foods with a high percentage of nutrient reference values ​​for sodium should be eaten as little as possible.

Food additives are not the culprit

Caramel color, MSG, maltodextrin, sodium glutamate, butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, L-alanine, disodium succinate, disodium 5'-ribonucleotide, disodium 5'-inosinic acid, β-carotene, edible flavors... The ingredient list of this egg liquid product shows that in addition to fresh eggs, table salt and cooking wine, it also contains a variety of food additives.

However, the product must be marked with a food production license, product standard code, and other information such as the types of additives used. The types and contents of additives contained should comply with national standards.

There are about 15,000 food additives approved worldwide. my country currently has more than 2,300 approved food additives, which are divided into 22 categories according to their functions. Common ones include antioxidants, leavening agents, colorants, preservatives, sweeteners, food flavorings, etc. In China, only products listed in the food additive use standard list are food additives, and anything else is illegal. Well-known melamine, Sudan red, "clenbuterol" and so on are not food additives.

Regarding the issue of food additives, Sun Baoguo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of China Business University, once made a very pertinent statement: "Almost all packaged foods cannot do without food additives. Reasonable use of additives is beneficial and harmless, and it makes food richer and safer. The abuse of food additives is the fault of people, not the fault of food additives. So far, none of the food safety incidents that have caused harm to human health in China have been caused by the reasonable and legal use of food additives ."

(Photo source: Visual China)

People buy compliant pre-prepared meals for convenience and speed, which is also conducive to the rapid development of the catering industry. It can standardize restaurant dishes and increase the safety factor of ingredients. However, if you only eat pre-prepared meals for a long time, it is easy to increase the risk of chronic diseases such as high blood pressure due to excessive intake of salt, sugar and fat. Wang Huaiji reminded that although there is no need to be afraid of additives, it is recommended that people eat less concentrated egg liquid for nutritional and health reasons.

Food additives in my country

Strict standards have been set for the scope of use and dosage

In order to ensure food safety, China has formulated strict and detailed standards for the use and dosage of various food additives. At the same time, it is clearly stipulated that food additives should meet the following basic requirements when used:

It should not cause any health hazards to the human body.

Food spoilage should not be covered up.

Food additives should not be used to cover up quality defects in the food itself or in the processing process, or for the purpose of adulteration, falsification or counterfeiting.

The nutritional value of the food itself should not be reduced.

While achieving the intended purpose, reduce its usage in food as much as possible.

Processing aids used in the food industry should generally be removed before the final product is made, except for those with regulated residual amounts in food.

If we want to stay away from illegal additives in our daily lives, we should do the following:

Go to regular, well-known and large chain supermarkets to buy "food produced by big manufacturers".

Pay attention to the information on food labels and refuse to buy food without any labels.

If you dine out, please choose a restaurant that is well-known, clean, and has a fast food turnover rate.

Food additives should be viewed scientifically

When it comes to the merits and demerits of pre-prepared meals, we cannot deny that pre-prepared meals are convenient and fast, have a long shelf life, and their nutrition can be "fixed". In addition, under unified production standards, their hygiene and safety are easy to control. However, the uniform taste of pre-prepared meals cannot meet the different needs of consumers, and the taste of ingredients is affected by additives, refrigeration environment, etc. and is no longer original. At the same time, pre-prepared meals are mostly meat dishes, with relatively simple nutrition and insufficient vitamins and minerals. Moreover, pre-prepared meals that are mainly meat dishes have the problem of high oil and salt content, and long-term consumption can easily increase the risk of chronic diseases.

Whether food additives are safe or not depends on whether their use complies with food safety standards. What needs to be severely cracked down on are illegal food additives such as over-range use and over-standard use. It is neither necessary nor possible to condemn food additives. At the same time, we should be more concerned about how to prevent unscrupulous businesses from using illegal additives to harm people's health. In any case, more attention to food safety issues is not a bad thing for everyone.

Compiled by Duan Dawei and Zheng Churong (internship)

Reference sources: China Food News, China Quality News, Jimu News, Wuhan Evening News, "Science Popularization China" WeChat public account, etc.