The beautified Huaniu instantly turned into a "snake fruit"

It's the season when apples are on the market in large quantities, and many consumers have discovered that the apples have been waxed. A reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily visited the Xinfadi market and found that it has become a norm to apply fruit wax to make apples look good. Especially for domestic Huaniu apples that resemble the American red snake fruit, waxing is almost an inevitable process. What¡¯s more, some Merchants use a fungicide containing the pesticide ingredient "imazal" to replace food-grade fruit wax to "beautify" Huaniu apples.

The reporter learned that "imazal" is a pesticide used to sterilize citrus. Its use on apples is illegal and can easily cause pesticide residues to exceed standards.

Scene

Businessmen use slightly toxic pesticides to beautify Huaniu apples

"Now on the market The apples look very bright and bright, but if you scratch them with your fingernails, a layer of white wax will appear on the surface." Ms. Wu, a citizen, told reporters that she did not know whether the wax was edible or healthy for the human body.

Yesterday, a reporter from Beiqing Daily came to the Xinfadi Wholesale Market, where more than 70% of Beijing¡¯s apples are sold. In the fruit sales area, many stall owners said frankly that waxing apples is now a standard in the industry, especially for some luxury brands. Waxing is almost inevitable in order to look beautiful and preserve freshness. A stall owner gave an example to reporters: There is an apple that looks like an American snake fruit. If it is not waxed, it is actually a "Huaniu" apple from Gansu. After waxing, it can be called domestic snake fruit. It looks almost the same as American snake fruit, and the price can be much better.

In the boutique fruit area of Xinfadi Market, two vendors selling Huaniu apples in gift boxes directly stated that they can wax the apples on-site in the store. In each of these two stores, there was a white plastic Buckets, all filled with brown liquid. Two vendors also confirmed that the brown liquid was used to wax the Huaniu apples in the gift boxes.

The reporter noticed that one of the vendors¡¯ white barrels had an instruction label on it. Its name was ¡°Imidazole¡± lubricant. In addition to the pesticide registration certificate number, there were two red ¡°slightly toxic¡± words on it. The manufacturer is American Shannon Co., Ltd. A pair of plastic gloves sat on top of the white bucket, alongside two stainless steel basins containing the remaining brown liquid.

At noon, a reporter from Beiqing Daily witnessed the whole process of waxing Huaniu apples by this vendor. "Do you want to buy waxed apples? I can polish them quickly. How many boxes do you want?" The vendor said as he sorted the apples in the ordinary carton into gift boxes according to size, and then used A towel was used to wipe the apples one by one. The originally "dusty" Huaniu apples instantly became bright and beautiful after such a wipe.

Manufacturer

This product is a pesticide suitable for citrus but not apples

Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences Fruit Trees Li Zhixia, from the Fruit Quality and Safety Research Center of the institute, said that during the planting process, apples do not need to be waxed. At present, the wax on apple peels mainly comes from three sources: first, a layer of fruit wax secreted by the epidermis itself during the growth process of apples. This fruit wax is an ester component that can prevent external microorganisms, pesticides, etc. from invading the fruit pulp and is harmless to the human body. The second is artificially added edible wax. Commonly used edible waxes include morpholine fatty acid salts (also known as fruit wax), carnauba wax, etc., which play a role in preserving quality, preserving freshness, glazing, and preventing water evaporation. According to the "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives" (GB2760-2014), edible wax is a food additive that can be used for surface treatment of apples and is not harmful to the human body. The third is artificially added non-edible wax, mainly industrial wax. The composition of industrial wax is relatively complex and may contain heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Excessive intake will cause harm to human health. If apples are coated with industrial wax, the content of heavy metals such as lead and mercury in the fruit will be revealed.

Li Zhixia pointed out that pesticide-containing preparations such as "imazal" do not fall into the category of edible wax.

A few days ago, a reporter from the Beiqing Daily called the Beijing representative office of American Shannon Co., Ltd., the manufacturer of "Imidazole" smear. The relevant person in charge said that in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Agriculture of China, the company's "inhibition" "Triconazole" smear is an imported pesticide registered with the Ministry of Agriculture and is used to prevent green mold and penicillium on citrus. Approved for use in citrus products only.

Regarding the issue of merchants using imazalil to beautify apples, the staff member said that the company has never recommended its use on apples, and the use of the product cannot be monitored after it is sold. Yichang Citrus Industry In an interview with this reporter, Wen Zhonghua, the president of the association, said: "'Istamazole' is a fungicide. Citrus products that are not directly imported will use this pesticide on the market, but I have never heard of any merchants using it." Waxing apples ¡±

Exploring the reason

¡°Imidazole¡± smear has a longer shelf life than edible fruit wax >

The reporter¡¯s investigation found that the American Shannon¡¯s ¡°Imidazole¡± lubricant is 18.9 liters, priced at 1,000 yuan, and can be used to sterilize and preserve 6 tons of fruits; while the food-grade product produced by a biotechnology company in Hebei Morpholine fatty acid salt fruit wax is 25 kilograms per barrel, priced at 900 yuan, and can wax 5 tons of fruit. Calculated, the price difference between the two is not big.

Since the price difference is not big, is the effect of "imazal" lubricant compared with fruit wax related to its use?

According to industry insiders, this sterilizing and fresh-keeping smear contains 0.1% of the pesticide "imazal", which is more effective than ordinary food-grade fruit wax, and is also easier to extend the shelf life and longevity of fruits. Glossy appearance. Experts said that for snake fruit, a relatively high-end fruit, because the price is generally high, it is not ruled out that merchants will try their best to enhance the beauty effect and extend the shelf life as much as possible. Since fruits are easy to rot or be contaminated by fungi after being exposed to water, in order to prevent mildew during transportation, some merchants prepare a mixture of fruit wax and "imazal" to prevent excessive pesticide residues.

Official

The use of "imazal" to sterilize citrus and apples is illegal

For pesticides Management, the relevant person in charge of the Pesticide Appraisal Office of the Municipal Plant Protection Station pointed out yesterday that pesticides are classified into fungicides, preservatives, herbicides, etc. Pesticides with pesticide registration certificates are registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, and the specific crops they can be applied to are related Registration, if "imazal" is only approved for use on citrus, then its use on other fruits is illegal. If fruit wax is applied to fruits on the market, the fruit wax registered with the food and drug department must be food grade, and pesticide ingredients are not allowed.

Memory

The difference between "Huaniu" and "Snake Fruit"

Some experts pointed out , although "Huaniu" and "Snake Fruit" are both Marshal fruits among apples, they have different brand names. The relevant person in charge of the Nanshan Apple Association, Huaniu Town, Huaniu Town, Maiji District, Tianshui City, Gansu Province, where the Huaniu apples are produced, said that the Huaniu apples are called domestic red snake fruits because of the behavior of the dealers. Although Huaniu apples and American Red Snake apples look similar, there are differences upon closer inspection. For example, the American red snake fruit is redder in color, while the apple fruit has a bluish top and more prominent five-ridges. The stripes on the skin of Huaniu apples are darker, while the stripes on the fruit of American red snake apples are lighter.

Market

Products will be temporarily detained if found

Xinfadi Wholesale Market is responsible for food safety The person in charge of management said that the market has personnel from the Food and Drug Administration stationed there, who will frequently inspect the market to prevent merchants from using industrial wax to wax apples. The person in charge said that waxing apples is a common practice in China and abroad, and the purpose is to preserve their freshness. Some imported fruits look much brighter in appearance than domestic fruits. The reason is that the skin is waxed, which may not necessarily taste good in essence.

¡°Xinfadi will supervise the issue of waxing by merchants. Once industrial wax is found to be used, such merchants will be investigated and banned.¡± The person in charge said that there were merchants in the Xinfadi market last year. Use food wax to wax apples. This kind of food wax has Chinese and English labels. Some liquid colors are brown and some are light blue. Regarding the phenomenon of "imazal" waxing apples on the market, the person in charge said: "This is definitely not possible. Once the market finds out, the goods will be temporarily detained and the next step will be taken after verification." This article is also photographed/this article Reporter Li Jia

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