Chocolate, ice cream... add it to become "luxurious"? Latest notice: non-food raw materials

"There's some gold foil on the chicken nuggets.

The presentation is even better than the taste.”

"The croissant has a small piece of gold foil on it, but it has no taste.

Will it taste better? No, it will be more expensive.”

“The food is decorated with gold foil, which makes it look good in photos.”

......

Open review websites

When many netizens share delicious food

They all mention a kind of "ingredients" - gold foil

In recent years

Some businesses try to make their food look more upscale.

Gold foil or gold powder is often added to food.

"Gold-plating" food has also become a consumer gimmick

This not only improves the appearance of the food

The price is also high

Ice cream scoops coated with gold powder cost 38 yuan

An 8-inch cake "covered" in gold foil costs double the price...

Even so

It will also attract many people to try it out.

Many people admit that after adding gold foil

The food looks better than it tastes

These decorative gold foil

Thin and light, easily broken

Therefore, many consumers eat

It is difficult to separate it from the dish and can only be eaten together

but

Producing and operating this kind of "golden food"

All of them are illegal!

Recently, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Health Commission, and the General Administration of Customs issued the "Notice on Investigating and Handling Illegal Production and Operation of Foods Containing Gold and Silver Foil Powder in Accordance with the Law" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), which clearly stated that gold and silver foil powder is not a food additive, and food production and operation entities are not allowed to purchase, use, or produce and sell meals containing gold and silver foil powder; online trading platforms must remove them from the shelves in accordance with the law, and sales of imported products must be stopped immediately; and illegal acts of falsely promoting that gold and silver foil powder is edible must be severely cracked down.

The three departments clearly stated in the Notice

According to my country's food safety laws and regulations

and food safety standards

Gold (silver) foil, gold (silver) powder and other substances

(Hereinafter referred to as gold and silver foil powder)

Not a food additive

Cannot be used for food production and operation

The Notice requires that market regulatory departments at all levels strictly supervise food safety, "Food producers are not allowed to purchase and use gold and silver foil powder to produce and process food, food sellers are not allowed to purchase and sell food containing gold and silver foil powder, and catering service providers are not allowed to prepare and sell meals containing gold and silver foil powder." Customs departments at all levels must strictly supervise the safety of imported food, and food importers are not allowed to import food containing gold and silver foil powder. If they have already imported food, they must immediately stop selling it.

The Notice requires strict supervision of online transactions, strengthening the qualification review of operators on the platform, and strictly prohibiting operators on the platform from selling foods containing gold and silver foil powder. Strengthen online transaction monitoring of "foods containing gold and silver foil powder" and "edible gold and silver foil powder", and promptly urge online transaction platforms to take legal measures such as removing products from shelves.

at present

Enter "edible gold" or "gold foil" on the online shopping platform

Search by keywords

You can see that some merchants are still selling

Many buyers

Is gold leaf edible?

Don't know

Many gold leaf shops

Although it is marked "not edible"

Most gold leaf stores are listed in "Use"

The marked materials are decoration materials

Handicraft production, beauty, decoration, etc.

But there are still pictures of food decoration

Can easily mislead consumers

It should be noted that

There are precedents for punishment of related illegal acts

↓

In August 2021, a restaurant in Shanghai used gold foil as a food ingredient, added it to the production of the dish "Grilled Wagyu Sushi", and sold it to the public at RMB 48 per serving, and was punished by the Shanghai Market Supervision Bureau.

Last December, law enforcement officers from the Shangcheng District Market Supervision Bureau of Hangzhou City conducted a surprise inspection on a restaurant. During the inspection, law enforcement officers found that the restaurant used decorative gold foil to decorate the surface of four dishes, including seared wagyu hand rolls, caramelized foie gras, chocolate brownies, and beef treasure boxes.

In the restaurant kitchen, law enforcement officers found eight bottles of decorative gold foil. These gold foils were purchased in July last year, and the product labels did not include information such as product ingredients, nutrition information, product production standards, producers, production time, and production license number. The store claimed that these gold foils were "edible gold foils", but the restaurant could not provide relevant proof.

Law enforcement officers believe that the "edible gold foil" added by this restaurant is a "three-no" product. There is no information about "gold foil" or "gold" in the "Food Additive Quality Specifications and Related Standards" column of China's "National Food Safety Standard Catalog". Therefore, the restaurant's behavior of selling dishes decorated with gold foil is suspected of violating Article 34 of the "Food Safety Law" and constitutes an illegal act of producing and selling food produced with non-food raw materials.

The Shangcheng District Market Supervision and Administration Bureau made an administrative penalty decision to fine the restaurant operator 100,000 yuan.

On February 22 this year, law enforcement officers from Xiamen Siming District’s Yundang Market Supervision Office conducted a surprise inspection of a high-end western restaurant and found a plastic bottle containing a small amount of gold powder in the restaurant’s kitchen. The English label contained “gold”, but the instructions stated that it was “for decoration and not edible”. According to the investigation, the gold leaf powder was used in a dish called “Seared Goose Liver”.

On February 17, the market supervision department of Tongxiang, Jiaxing, found in a bakery that an 8-inch-high cake was sprinkled with gold foil, and a bottle of material labeled "decorative gold foil" that had been opened and used was found in the cake-making room. The supervision department filed a case against the store for suspected use of non-food ingredients to produce food.

On February 18, the Dinghai District Branch of Zhoushan Municipal Supervision Bureau investigated and punished two bakery shops, whose operators added gold and silver foil powder when making decorated cakes.

On February 20, the Market Supervision Bureau of Lucheng District, Wenzhou, inspected a Japanese restaurant and found that the operator added gold foil to two dishes, "Tuna Sashimi" and "Matcha Gold Foil Pudding", and sold them. Information about the gold foil dishes was included in the menu and posters at the door.

Market supervision department reminds

In my country, gold foil and gold are not listed as food additives and are considered non-food raw materials. It is illegal for businesses to use decorative gold foil to embellish dishes and mislead consumers that it is edible.

Food safety is no small matter. If you find any illegal or irregular activities such as producing and selling foods containing gold or silver foil powder, please call 12315 to complain and report it in time.

Source: Science Popularization China WeChat Official Account