Soy sauce is full of “technology and hard work”? Is “0 added” really better?

Soy sauce is full of “technology and hard work”? Is “0 added” really better?
Recently, there has been a “resurrection” in the field of food safety, and a series of “food counterfeiting” content under the name of “Hex Technology” (super technology in the game “League of Legends”) has gone viral on the Internet. Among them, the problem of food additives in soy sauce products, especially the problem of preservatives, has become the focus of everyone’s attention.

Some online posts claim that the products sold by a giant soy sauce company in China contain a large amount of food additives, while the products sold abroad by the company are “zero additives”, only natural ingredients such as water, soybeans, wheat, and salt. Implement the “double standard”.
A comparison of the ingredient list of a soy sauce source: Internet
On September 30, the company issued a statement through its official Weibo, saying: “Some short video accounts use the topics of ‘Hex Technology’ and ‘Technology and Hard Work’ to create anxiety and panic by taking advantage of the public’s concern about food safety.” Said that he also has “delicious and inexpensive 0 additive series” soy sauce.
However, the incident did not subside.
On October 4, the company responded a second time on the official microblog: “Regular food companies in all countries in the world will use food additives legally and compliantly in accordance with laws and regulations and product characteristics, and clearly label them according to regulations. Simply think that foreign products contain less food additives. , or think that products with additives are not good, are all misunderstandings.”

In response to the “soy sauce controversy” that people are concerned about, on October 5, the China Condiment Association also issued a statement on its official website.
The statement pointed out: “The standard itself does not have a distinction between high and low… As long as food manufacturers use food additives in strict accordance with relevant regulations, the products they produce are safe.”
What exactly are food additives? Is it safe? Is “0 added” really better? How should we look at food additives?
01
What are food additives?
Food additives are synthetic or natural substances added to food to improve food quality, color, aroma, and taste, as well as to meet the needs of antisepsis, freshness preservation, and processing technology. Food flavors, base substances in gum-based candies, and processing aids for the food industry are also included.
At present, there are about 2,000 kinds of food additives approved for use in my country, and all substances that are not listed in the “Usage Standards for Food Additives” (GB2760) are not food additives.
Food additives are divided into 23 categories according to their functions. The familiar ones include preservatives, leavening agents, spices (flavors), colorants (pigments), etc. The “food processing aids” mentioned above may not be familiar to everyone, but they are actually very commonly used. For example, enzyme preparations are processing aids.
02
Are food additives safe?
“Hex Technology” and “Technology and Hard Work” made everyone worry about food additives, thinking that food additives are unsafe.
In fact, all food additives are safe when used properly. There has never been a case of health damage caused by the rational use of food additives.
What needs to be emphasized here is “fair use”!
The so-called “reasonable use” refers to the scope and amount of use stipulated in national standards and the use of food additives in accordance with the principles of use.
The endless incidents of violations of laws and regulations that you often see in the news media and on the Internet are actually illegal abuses, especially illegal additives that have made food additives a lot of scapegoat. Many of the problems exposed by “Hex Technology” and “Technology and Hard Work” this time are also violations and abuses.
As long as it exceeds the scope of use stipulated by the national standard, or exceeds the usage amount stipulated by the national standard (also known as exceeding the standard), or violates the principle of using food additives (such as using Sanhua evaporated milk to counterfeit mutton soup), it is a violation of food additives.
In addition, some substances are not food additives at all, but illegal additives, such as Sudan red, plasticizers, and melamine, as long as they are used, they are illegal; the same is true for the use of industrial-grade products, such as industrial gelatin in leather yogurt.
Many people are also worried that there are too many kinds of additives in food, and there is a long row behind the ingredient list. Will there be any harm after accumulating so many kinds? You also often see the situation that “a certain food is detected/contains more than a dozen additives”, and many media also say that “long-term…The osmotic “sauce flax fly” can still grow, so many people’s soy sauce at home will also be infested with worms after opening. But with preservatives, we seldom worry about this situation, and it also provides the possibility for the development of salt-reduced soy sauce. After all, eating too much salt is not good for the cardiovascular system, and soy sauce is an important source of salt.
In addition, the traditional brewing of soy sauce mainly uses Aspergillus to ferment, but the fermentation efficiency is low and the flavor is not stable. Later, it was found that the simultaneous use of enzyme preparations can greatly improve the fermentation efficiency of soy sauce, and the flavor is also improved.
There are many other such examples. For example, in the past, foods such as cooking oil, twists, and nuts often had a hala taste, but now this situation is much less, because we have antioxidants; for example, emulsifiers and thickeners make ice cream taste smoother and more delicate , adding to the enjoyment of the taste…
Therefore, everyone should look at food additives more rationally.