Vinegar blending door vinegar industry vulnerabilities detection difficult to distinguish whether brewing

Recently, Wang Jianzhong, vice president of the Vinegar Industry Association of Shanxi Province, said in an interview with the media that 95% of the Shanxi vinegar on the market is blended with vinegar, and most of them contain preservatives, which has aroused widespread concern.

In response to the dispute over the safety of vinegar in the domestic market, many food experts stated that the blended vinegar is based on brewing vinegar. As long as it is added according to the standard, there is no safety problem.

Some experts said that the current detection methods are difficult to distinguish between brewing vinegar and blending vinegar, the current national standards are still not perfect, it is necessary to establish a reasonable new vinegar industry standard.

What is the difference between blended vinegar and brewed vinegar?

1 Interpretation of doubts Dr. Lu Wei is a researcher at a food institute in Beijing and has been researching traditional Chinese fermented vinegar for many years.

Lu Hao introduced that according to national standards, there are two types of vinegar, one is brewing vinegar, and the other is vinegar blending. Blending vinegar is a seasoning vinegar made by mixing vinegar with food additives. Among them, the proportion of brewing vinegar should not be less than 50%. The former has been brewing for a long time, the process is complicated, and it cannot meet the market demand. However, the country also has requirements for blending vinegar, in which the content of brewing vinegar must not be less than 50%.

In addition to acetic acid, brewing vinegar also contains a variety of organic acids such as lactic acid, as well as some nutrients introduced into the raw materials and nutrients that are degraded. The blended vinegar in the lactic acid and other organic acid nutrient content is less, more acid.

Professor Bao Ping of the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural University stated that some mature vinegars must be fermented for half a year. Blending vinegar is a simple blending process. The process is much different and the cost is much lower.

According to the standard production, you can rest assured that eating 2 can not eat the suspected blended vinegar?

Lu Hao said that many consumers feel that “blending” is not good. In fact, this is a misunderstanding. Some traditional fermented foods such as soy sauce, vinegar, and white wine are blended in the production process to ensure the uniformity of product quality. Just a normal process.

Lu Wei said that because blending vinegar is not entirely brewing vinegar, so the issue of shelf life issues, it is necessary to add preservatives, but as long as the strict accordance with national standards to add, not exceeding the scope of use, there is no safety problem.

Lu Wei revealed that at the moment, whether it is blending vinegar or brewing vinegar, vinegar without preservatives is difficult to find. Therefore, “there is no benzoic acid sodium to determine whether it is a standard for brewing vinegar.”

Ji Baoping said that blending is a normal method, blending vinegar is completely edible, and the country also has relevant standards for blending vinegar.

Lu Wei said that there are indeed some manufacturers using glacial acetic acid to directly blend edible vinegar. This does not comply with China's regulations on the production of blended vinegar. Industrial acetic acid is not a raw material for food and is an illegal additive, and it certainly has a safety hazard to the human body.

Lu Hao said that consumers are best to buy regular manufacturers of well-known products in large supermarkets, and now more stringent food safety monitoring, the greater the company, relatively speaking, the more assured product quality.

Are there no clear criteria for distinguishing between anabolic vinegar and brewing vinegar?

According to Lu Wei’s introduction, national standards do not have a good way of distinguishing between brewing vinegar and blending vinegar. Therefore, "Shanxi vinegar blending door" actually exposed the loopholes in the vinegar industry's national standards.

Together with the Beijing Food Safety Monitoring Center, they had purchased a variety of edible vinegar from supermarkets and farmers' markets, conducted research and research on detection methods, and hoped to find a method for judging brewing vinegar and blending vinegar, but it was difficult to put the two together. Differentiate.

However, according to their tests, some manufacturers are concerned that consumers are resistant to blending vinegar, so they are also referred to as brewing vinegar in the blended vinegar products.

At the end of May this year, the China Condiment Association organized a workshop on the revision of blended vinegar product standards. The relevant departments, testing organizations, etc. had held a standard seminar on edible vinegar. Some people proposed a method of differentiation, but the method was still immature. The data is not perfect, and the cost of testing is high. It remains to be determined how to detect and how to add the difference to the standard. However, due to the high cost of testing, it fails to do so.

Lu Wei said that this requires the government to increase investment, production, learning, research and testing units to work together to establish new and appropriate standards.

Ji Baoping said that in fact, blending vinegar or brewing vinegar itself is not a serious problem, but businesses must make it clear to the people to consume, the relevant state departments can design related product description labels, vinegar packaging, easy to consumers Differentiate brewing vinegar and blending vinegar.

■ Response · Wang Jianzhong “95% vinegar blending” is misreading “This is an misinterpretation of an interview with my reporter who is not familiar with the industry and speaks to me”. Yesterday, Wang Jianzhong said in a telephone interview with the reporter. : At that time, I was not interviewed as the “Vice President of Shanxi Vinegar Industry Association”. I was interviewed as “Shanxi Golden Vinegar Biotechnology Co., Ltd. Chairman”; what’s more important is what the media reported. It is not what I mean at all. What I mean is that more than 95% of vinegar in Shanxi is added with sodium benzoate, a food additive allowed by the country.

According to reports, Wang Jianzhong explained that the blending vinegar is also divided into two types, one is glacial acetic acid blending, the other is adding sodium benzoate as a preservative, adding additives to account for 95%, not adding any preservatives, and 6 degrees of pure brewing. There is little old vinegar, which accounts for less than 5% of the market.

"The use of glacial acetic acid blended vinegar is not allowed. No such blending is currently found in Shanxi," said Wang Jianzhong. "Shanxi vinaigrette" does not require any preservatives due to its special process. It is the root of Shanxi's old vinegar. However, “Shanxi Vinegar” or “Shanxi Vinegar” is not the case. Because they do not meet the relevant production standards of “Shanxi Vinegar”, they do not reach a certain degree of acidity, they are prone to deterioration, so it is necessary to add sodium benzoate for preservation. According to regulations, this is required on the packaging of the product to label the added preservative ingredients.

"And the addition of this preservative is universal in all major vinegar factories in the country," Wang Jianzhong emphasized: Shanxi's old vinegar without added preservatives has a market share of about 5%. In addition, some of the products on the market that use the Shanxi Vinegar flag are not made in Shanxi.

■ Market survey 80% of supermarkets with preserved vinegar and 80% vinegar containing preservatives Fermented vinegar with higher prices “Habit to eat Shanxi vinegar”

The reporter visited several supermarkets in Beijing and investigated the vinegar sold on the market.

Take Carrefour supermarket Chuangyijia as an example. The vinegar brands include: the Millennium Well Shanxi vinegar, Qixiuquan vinegar, Donghu vinegar, water tower vinegar, Hengshun, Longmen, Lao Caichen, Xiao Erhei and other 12 brands. In addition to East Lake vinegar five-year aging 500ml (glass bottles), Hengshun high-quality balsamic vinegar 550ml (glass bottles) indicate no food additives, other brands contain food additives sodium benzoate (a preservative). In addition to Lao Cai Chen produced in Beijing and Zilin Chen vinegar produced in Zhejiang and Hangzhou, all other brands of vinegar are produced in Shanxi.

According to reporters at Hualian Supermarket Xizhimen, among the 12 types of vinegar brands on the shelves, there are 8 brands clearly marked with sodium benzoate and 2 brands marked with additive potassium sorbate (a preservative). Among them, Beijing Lao Caichen, Beijing Kuanpai, Jiangsu Hengshun, and Jiangsu Zhenjiang vinegar do not contain sodium benzoate.

Among the 15 types of vinegar brands placed on the shelves in the Lotte Mart supermarket Chongwenmen, 12 brands of vinegar products clearly identified sodium benzoate in food additives, accounting for 80% of the total, of which 7 were produced. The brands from Shanxi include sodium benzoate.

The survey shows that about 80% of the vinegar sold in Beijing contains preservatives, most of which are sodium benzoate.

Higher prices of fermented vinegar Some reporters found that the addition of sodium benzoate in vinegar has a certain effect on the price of vinegar.

Take Shanxi Taiyuan Donghu brand mature vinegar as an example. 500ml Donghu five-year aging has no food additive, priced at 14.5 yuan, and Donghu vinegar 800ml containing food additives is priced at only 7.5 yuan, and 360ml is only sold for 1.4 yuan. Similarly, 550ml Hengshun premium vinegar, without food additives, priced at 6.7 yuan, while the addition of sodium benzoate Hengshun vinegar, 800ml for only 5.9 yuan.

"Habit to eat Shanxi vinegar"

The reporter observed that Shanxi vinegar is popular among consumers. Many consumers have repeatedly compared the millennium well vinegar and Donghu vinegar, and chose one of them to be put in a shopping cart.

Most consumers expressed that when choosing edible vinegar, the most important thing is the age of vinegar brewing. Simply choosing from a few years of aging, it tends to choose the oldest vinegar. When asked if they would go to observe the composition of vinegar, young consumers said that there was no such habit, and a very small part of the elderly said that they would observe whether they contained additives. At the same time, few consumers know that "most vinegar is blending."

â– The position ordered Wang Jianzhong to resign and the vice president of Shanxi Vinegar to brew and produce Shanxi Vinegar Industry Association:

“Associate has already ordered Wang Jianzhong to resign from the position of vice president,” Cao Wenjie, chairman of the Shanxi Vinegar Industry Association, said in an interview yesterday. On August 6, the association organized the provincial brewing company to hold a meeting. The person in charge of the meeting agreed that Wang Jianzhong was not Responsible remarks express strong condemnation.

According to reports, the Association issued a strict statement stating that Shanxi's aged vinegar and Shanxi's aged vinegar produced in Shanxi Province are all pure grain brewed, and there is no blending of vinegar essence; Shanxi vinegar companies can all produce according to the standard and do not exist. The situation of more preservatives; due to Wang Jianzhong's irresponsible remarks and acts have seriously damaged the reputation of the association, and seriously infringed the reputation of the province's vinegar production enterprises, the Association retained the right to pursue legal proceedings against their rights.

Shanxi Quality Supervision Center:

On August 6, the Shanxi Provincial Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Center released information that the old vinegar products produced in Shanxi are safe and reliable, and there is no phenomenon of abuse of antiseptics beyond the scope or limit, and it can be safely eaten.

Shanxi local media quoted the person in charge of the Shanxi Bureau of Quality Supervision as saying: Shanxi Province has been certified as "Shanxi vulgar vinegar," the logo are brewing production, the current domestic market marked "Shanxi vinegar" or "old Shanxi vinegar," the words Vinegar products are not all produced by Shanxi enterprises.