As the saying goes, "food is the heaven for the people". With the continuous improvement of people's quality of life, the requirements for food have become more diversified. When it comes to food additives, many people think that they are harmful to health, and that only natural foods are the healthiest foods. So, are food additives really the "health killer" among the population?

In fact, this is not the case. First of all, according to the "Hunan Daily" report, food additives themselves are not a scourge, it is a symbol of the development of the food industry. As long as it is within the prescribed usage range, the use of food additives is safe. According to the National Standards for the Use of Food Additives, the food additives allowed in my country include preservatives, antioxidants, bleaching agents, sour agents, thickeners, and umami flavors, among 23 categories, nearly 2,400 kinds.

Secondly, according to "Hainan Daily" reports, "food additives" are an important part of modern food that cannot be separated, and the history of human use of food additives is as long as the history of human civilization. As early as the time of the Yellow Emperor in ancient times, the ancestors knew "boil the sea as salt" and "spicy osmanthus seasoning". During the Eastern Han Dynasty, people began to use bittern as a coagulant to make tofu. The main ingredient of brine in brine tofu is magnesium chloride, which is a food coagulant and a kind of food additive.

It should be noted that although food additives are harmless, they are only used within the scope permitted by the state. Excessive use will also cause certain damage to human health. No one should take food additives lightly. For example, according to Jinyang.com, sodium nitrite can not only make products ruddy in color, but also antibacterial and fresh-keeping and antiseptic. At present, there is no other more ideal additive to replace it. The standard for safe human intake of sodium nitrite issued by the World Food Hygiene Scientific Committee in 1992 is 0mg~0.1mg/kg (human body weight). Use and consumption according to this standard will not cause harm to human body. However, excessive ingestion can paralyze the vascular movement center, respiratory center and surrounding blood vessels, and may even cause cancer.

Therefore, food additives must not be used indiscriminately or consumed in excess. For example, roadside snacks may seem delicious, but they are likely to contain excessive additives. Therefore, for the sake of safety, it is recommended that you go to regular supermarkets and restaurants to buy food. At the same time, if it is found that the business does not use food additives in accordance with the national standards, it must respond to the relevant departments in a timely manner to correctly safeguard our legal rights