The Role of Food Additives
The rational use of food additives can prevent food spoilage, maintain or enhance the nutritional value of food, and improve or enrich its color, aroma, and flavor.
The Necessity of Using Food Additives
In fact, not using preservatives poses a greater risk because spoiled food often leads to food poisoning. Furthermore, in addition to preventing spoilage, preservatives can kill toxin-producing microorganisms such as Aspergillus, which is undoubtedly beneficial to human health.
Safe Dosage of Food Additives
The dosage of food additives that have no toxic effects or adverse effects on health is expressed in mg per kilogram per day.
Avoid Using Toxic Additives
"Sodium formaldehyde sulfite," also known as sulfonate, has the chemical formula NaHSO2·CH2O·2H2O. It is produced by reacting zinc powder with sulfur dioxide to generate sulfurous acid, which is then reacted with formaldehyde, concentrated in a vacuum evaporator, and condensed into blocks. "Sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate" is a white, lumpy or crystalline powder that dissolves in water. It is relatively stable at room temperature but decomposes into sulfurous acid at high temperatures, exhibiting strong reducing properties and thus bleaching effects. Above 80℃, it begins to decompose into harmful substances; the chemical equations for the reactions are: 6NaHSO2·CH2O·2H2O + 3H2O = 4NaHSO3 + 2HCOONa + HCOOH + 2H2O + 3CH3OH. At 110℃, it decomposes into formaldehyde; the chemical equations for the reactions are: NaHSO2˙CH2O = NaHSO2 + CH2O; NaHSO2 + H2O = NaHSO3 + 2H+. It can cause fever, headache, fatigue, and loss of appetite. A single ingestion of 10g can be life-threatening. "Sodium formaldehyde sulfoxylate" is mainly used in the dyeing and printing industry as a dyeing agent and reducing agent; its bleaching and preservative effects are more pronounced.
