What is the story behind the "cassava vermicelli" mentioned on March 15? How should we choose and eat vermicelli?

At this year's 315 Gala, CCTV exposed an incident of "fake sweet potato vermicelli". For friends who love to eat vermicelli or vermicelli, this is really "bad news".

You know, pork stewed with vermicelli, pickled vegetable vermicelli, minced meat vermicelli, etc. are all delicacies that many foodies like! Once this matter is exposed, how can the majority of foodies feel at ease to be "fans" of vermicelli?

So, what is the "fake sweet potato vermicelli" incident all about? What should we pay attention to when buying and eating vermicelli? Let's talk about it.

01 Fake sweet potato vermicelli, what’s fake about it?

At the CCTV 315 Gala, the "sweet potato vermicelli and yam vermicelli" produced by Yuzhou Xiadu Sanfen Factory, Yuzhou Ruitian Agricultural and Sideline Products Co., Ltd. and Yuzhou Yukang Sanfen Processing Factory were exposed for counterfeiting raw materials. Such vermicelli is called "currency" in the local area. One of the products is still very popular on the e-commerce platform, and it is estimated that many people have eaten it.

From the report we can find that these manufacturers all have three problems.

Raw material problem: A small amount of corn starch is added to cassava flour to replace sweet potato flour to make sweet potato vermicelli, while only about 20% of the raw materials of yam vermicelli are yam flour, and the rest are cassava flour. The reason why merchants choose cassava flour as the main raw material is that it is cheap, has low cost, and can obtain higher profits.

Although cassava and sweet potato differ by only one letter, they are two completely different species. The most obvious difference is that cassava is an upright shrub that can grow up to 2-3 meters tall, while sweet potato is a herbaceous plant that is very short. The main ingredients of both are starch, and both can be made into vermicelli and other foods. In fact, in many developing countries, cassava is often used as a staple food.

Cassava looks like this:

▲Cassava|China Plant Image Library

Sweet potatoes look like this:

▲Sweet potato|China Plant Image Library

In addition, raw cassava contains a lot of cyanogenic glycosides, which will turn into hydrocyanic acid in the stomach. Improper processing and excessive intake of cassava may lead to poisoning. However, there is usually no need to worry about this, because after peeling, rinsing, steaming and other processing, cassava is safe to eat. Otherwise, the "cassava vermicelli" may have one more crime to be charged with at the 315 Gala...

Food label violations: According to the General Rules for Pre-packaged Food Labels, food packaging ingredient lists must be listed in descending order of usage, that is, the ingredient that is used the most should be listed first. The yam vermicelli exposed in the news clearly has cassava starch as its main ingredient, but the first ingredient listed in the ingredient list is iron stick yam.

Poor hygiene: From the video exposed in the 315 Gala, we can see that the environment of the vermicelli processing plant is very poor. There are toilets and sewers near the vermicelli drying, and there are flies on the vermicelli.

Studies have found that flies can carry more than 60 kinds of pathogenic bacteria. The body surface of a fly can be contaminated with more than 10 million bacteria, and the largest can carry about 500 million. Flies carry and transmit many pathogens, including dysentery, typhoid, cholera, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, trachoma, hepatitis, parasitic diseases, and many other diseases. [1]

Although the vermicelli we buy will be cooked before eating, it is really disgusting to know that the vermicelli comes from such a dirty and messy environment.

02 These ingredients should also be paid attention to

After the "fake sweet potato vermicelli" was exposed, some friends said: "It's acceptable, after all, no edible glue, thickener or anything like that is added."

The thickener in vermicelli generally refers to gelatin. Currently, most of the vermicelli sold on the market do not contain thickeners, and only a small part may contain gelatin.

According to the provisions of the Food Additives Usage Standards for gelatin, gelatin can be used in various foods in appropriate amounts according to production needs. It is just a very common food additive used to increase the viscosity of food and improve taste and quality.

Gelatin is obtained by partial hydrolysis of collagen contained in animal skins, bones, ligaments, tendons and other tissues. It is a protein and is safe to eat. Don't worry. You can imagine that the "skin jelly" we usually eat is this kind of substance.

However, some unscrupulous workshops may use cheaper industrial gelatin, which is an illegal additive! Industrial gelatin is likely to contain heavy metals, especially hexavalent chromium. Chromium is highly toxic and can damage the liver and kidneys, as well as DNA and is carcinogenic. [2]

In addition to gelatin, there is another thing to pay attention to, that is alum. In March 2021, a hot pot seasoning owner in Hanzhong, Shaanxi, added an excessive amount of alum to make the cold skin and vermicelli produced by him last longer and make the taste more chewy.

Alum is actually a legal food additive, generally used as a leavening agent. GB 2760-2014 also mentions that if alum is used in vermicelli and noodles, the aluminum residue should be controlled at ≤200mg/kg. However, if excessive addition leads to a high aluminum residue, it will harm human health, mainly the bones and nerves.

So the question is, how do I know that the sweet potato vermicelli I bought is reliable?

03 How to choose sweet potato vermicelli?

There are many bulk vermicelli products on the market, and it is hard to tell what ingredients they are made of. How can we distinguish between real and fake sweet potato vermicelli? [3]

① Look at the price: Don’t be greedy when buying sweet potato vermicelli/shreds. The cost of sweet potato flour is higher than that of cassava flour. If the price of vermicelli is too cheap, it may be made of cassava flour!

② Look at the appearance: pure sweet potato vermicelli is transparent and shiny, and white powder can be seen at the broken cut; fake sweet potato vermicelli is dark in color.

③ Taste: When eating sweet potato vermicelli dry, you will smell a faint sweet potato aroma; during the cooking process of sweet potato vermicelli, the sweet potato fragrance will also be emitted.

In addition, you should check the ingredient list to see if there are any concerning ingredients such as gelatin or alum. However, in general, the quality of vermicelli still depends on the manufacturer's strict compliance with various production standards, and also depends on national supervision.

04 Is vermicelli a “dish” or a “meal”?

I don’t know if you have ever thought about this when you eat vermicelli. Although vermicelli is often fried into a dish or stewed into a soup and served on the table, it is essentially a kind of "rice", that is, a staple food.

This is because the main ingredients of vermicelli and noodles are starch, and the main nutrients they provide after consumption are carbohydrates. The calories of 100 grams of dry noodles/threads are similar to those of rice, but the carbohydrate content is higher than that of rice.

So, in terms of ingredients, the vermicelli dishes we eat can actually be roughly regarded as "pork stewed with rice", "ant on rice", "rice and spinach soup"...

If you often have such dishes on your table and eat staple foods at normal meal times, you may be consuming too much carbohydrates. So in general, you should swap vermicelli or noodles with rice as staple foods. For example, if you usually eat 80 grams of raw rice, and you plan to eat cabbage stewed with noodles, then it is recommended to change to 40 grams of raw rice + 40 grams of dry noodles for stew.

It should be noted that if you use part of vermicelli to replace the staple food, you should increase the intake of high-quality protein, such as meat, eggs and milk, because the protein content of vermicelli is relatively low, only 6% of rice.

Summarize:

Vermicelli and noodles are essential foods in many family kitchens. They are delicious and convenient. However, when buying vermicelli/noodles, you must choose a regular large manufacturer. Be cautious when buying too cheap ones, and don't be too tempted!

References:

[1] Chen Guohua. The harm of flies and comprehensive prevention and control measures in dairy stations [J]. Aquaculture Technology Consultant, 2012, (5): 51.

[2] What harm does chromium do to the human body? [J]. Meat Industry, 2012, (11): 15-15.

[3] China’s website on combating infringement and counterfeiting http://www.ipraction.gov.cn/article/zskt/sjbj/yjsp/202004/176437.html

Author | Xue Qingxin, member of Chinese Nutrition Society, registered nutrition technician, health manager, public nutritionist

Review | Han Hongwei, Director and Researcher of Risk Communication Department, National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center

Editor | Ding Zong

This article was first published on #ScienceRefutingRumors#