The issue of "plasticizers" in wine has not been thoroughly clarified. Someone else broke the news that "the content of "plasticizers" in soy sauce and vinegar is 400 times that of wine." Are the soy sauce and vinegar that we buy back home "toxic"? Xinhua News Agency reporters conducted an in-depth investigation.

"Plasticizers exceed the standard by 400 times", is it credible?

"I only learned yesterday that "plasticizers" are so close to us. Now we know that it is white wine (containing "plasticizers"), and the content of soy sauce, vinegar, and beverages that we need to consume every day is 400 times that of wine!" Gong Yechang, who is certified as "Executive Director of Beijing Green Waist Food Co., Ltd." on Sina Weibo, said on Weibo.

This Weibo has been forwarded more than 15,000 times. The reporter hopes to know the source of the information and contacted Gong Yechang through Weibo. As of press time, he has not received a reply from him.

However, Gong Yechang said on Weibo: "I heard someone in the industry talk about "plasticizers" a few days ago, so I posted it casually without thinking much, but who knew it would be forwarded more than 10,000 times."

The reporter wanted to contact "Beijing Green Waist Food Co., Ltd.", but no relevant information about "Beijing Green Waist Food Co., Ltd." was found under the "Enterprise Credit Information Inquiry" column on the official website of the Beijing Municipal Administration for Industry and Commerce.

During the interview, a food company manager proposed that if someone doubts that the "plasticizer" in the condiment exceeds the standard, they should produce corresponding evidence.

So according to national regulations, what is the limit value of "plasticizer" in soy sauce and vinegar? Relevant experts told reporters that China has no clear limit value for the content of "plasticizers" in soy sauce and vinegar, and there is only a temporary document that can be used as the basis for the supervision of "plasticizers".

This temporary document refers to the "Document No. 551" of the Ministry of Health. It stipulates that the maximum residual amounts of "plasticizers" such as di(alpha-ethyl)hexyl phthalate (DEHP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) in food and food additives are 1.5mg/kg, 9.0mg/kg and 0.3mg/kg respectively.

Professor Han Beizhong, Vice President of Beijing Food Society and Vice Dean of the College of Food Science and Nutrition Engineering of China Agricultural University, mainly engages in teaching and research in food microbiology and fermentation engineering. He said: "Soy sauce and vinegar produced by legal enterprises according to normal processes will not have the problem of "excessive plasticizers", and will not cause food safety problems."

"If you buy fake and inferior soy sauce and vinegar from illegal channels, I can't guarantee that there will be no "excessive plasticizers" because I haven't done any investigation." Han Beizhong said that if illegal processing enterprises produce soy sauce and vinegar, they may use illegal additives and the products may have "excessive plasticizers", but this cannot represent the level of the entire Chinese soy sauce and vinegar industry, nor can it represent the quality level of soy sauce and vinegar on consumers' tables.

Will the production process lead to "plasticizer exceeding the standard"?

The reporter called some condiment companies, and the companies said that they would never add "plasticizers" to soy sauce and vinegar.

Han Beizhong pointed out that legal companies will not add "plasticizers" when producing soy sauce and vinegar according to regular methods. "If added, it will not only fail to improve product quality, but also increase costs."

So, during the production process of soy sauce and vinegar, is it possible that the "plasticizers" in the plastic containers or plastic tubes used by the companies are dissolved into the soy sauce and vinegar, resulting in "plasticizer exceeding the standard"?

Han Beizhong said that it can be said with certainty that as long as regular companies follow the normal process, the "plasticizers" dissolved from plastic containers or plastic tubes can be ignored, because the dissolution rate of "plasticizers" in soy sauce and vinegar is extremely low. "Due to the complex production environment, it would be a bit exaggerated to say that there is none at all, but it will definitely not cause unqualified products, let alone harm the health of consumers."

Hao Fengtong, chief physician of the Department of Occupational Diseases and Toxicology at Beijing Chaoyang Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University, said that modern medicine has given a positive answer to the biological toxicity of experimental studies on phthalates ("plasticizers"). However, whether "plasticizers" will cause harm to the human body depends mainly on the amount.

Hao Fengtong introduced that scholars gave mice phthalates with concentrations of 250 mg/L, 500 mg/L, 1000 mg/L, and 2000 mg/L through drinking water for 60 days, and the organ coefficients of the liver, kidney, heart, and lungs of female and male mice showed abnormalities to varying degrees. Although phthalates are widely distributed in the environment, people's actual exposure is far lower than the exposure dose of experimental animals.

Does "soy sauce" have to be in a glass bottle?

When buying soy sauce and vinegar, are those in glass bottles safer than those in plastic bottles? Han Beizhong said that not all plastic bottles contain "plasticizers". Even if some plastic bottles may contain "plasticizers", the dissolution rate of "plasticizers" in soy sauce and vinegar is extremely low. As long as qualified plastic bottles are used to pack soy sauce and vinegar, the soy sauce and vinegar will not dissolve the "plasticizers" in the plastic bottles, thus causing the problem of "plasticizers exceeding the standard".

Dong Jinshi, Secretary General of the International Food Packaging Association, said that most edible oil, soy sauce and vinegar products now use plastic packaging marked with PET, which complies with regulations. Only packaging made of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) contains "plasticizers".

Every time a food safety "explosion" comes out, it often causes panic among consumers. In response to this, Han Beizhong said that on the one hand, the country should severely crack down on illegal addition of "plasticizers" to food. On the other hand, it is hoped that all sectors will correctly guide consumers to avoid panic, because "zero-risk" food does not exist, that is, absolutely safe food does not exist.

Qiu Baochang, head of the China Consumers Association's lawyer team, said that asymmetric food safety information is the key to consumer panic. Food safety information should be released in a unified manner, with a regular release mechanism and a continuous and dynamic monitoring information disclosure system. "Don't passively explain or disclose information only after it is exposed by the media. Consumers' right to know about food safety information should be fully protected."

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