Chaoyang District, Beijing's eastern suburbs market is Beijing's third-largest food wholesale market, with about 40 companies or booths specializing in the sale of spices and food additives, of which five shops specialize in the sale of food additives. But when the reporter arrived at 8 am, only one of them opened the door, and the other closed the door. The reporter walked into the store and asked what ingredients he would like to use to open a barbecue restaurant. The owner recommended a grilled scallop seasoning and a grilled meat sauce. The ingredient list was only marked with “I+G” and “Pak Hwang King” ingredients. . When the reporter asked what the specific ingredients were, the merchants stated that they were regular products and would not be harmful. The skewer made will be “greater than the meat, and it will eat when it is eaten.”

The reporter also found that some other businesses in the eastern suburbs market that sell spices are secretly selling the same kinds of additives. In a non-staple food condiment store that specializes in Sichuan and Shandong province, the reporter wanted to open a restaurant and let the owner list a relatively good and well-sold list. He found hot pot powder, flavoring agents, and fragrances. Hot pot red, chili pepper, big bone broth, various meat products and other products are impressively listed. At the reporter's request, the boss took out several bags of bone soup powder labeled with various flavors and several bottles of “exaggerated” food coloring materials to reporters. He said, “These kinds of products can be sold in half a box on an average basis. It is patrons. There are many restaurants and hot pot restaurants. Some of the goods are very tight recently. The price may go up."

The reporter proposed that he would like to have more "comfortable" spices. The boss whispered: “Some of the products sold well and they worked well.” Then from bottles, drawers, shelf corners, and other shelters, they took out bottles containing “magic powder”, “chili pepper”, and “beef "Magic paste" and other words of bottled products, "these are the best sellers, the general hot pot restaurants have come to buy this, several exchanges are better." The reporter found that the labeling of these several products are very vague: Water, bone extracts, natural spices, monosodium glutamate.

A reporter from the Wanquanhe wholesale market in Haidian District, Beijing, saw that in a row of low-profile sheds in the condiment area, several of them were selling food additives. One of them heard that the reporter wanted to open a restaurant and immediately enthusiastically “guided” which types of food additives are “must buy”, such as tender meat powder, loose meat powder, chicken sauce compound seasoning, a drop of fragrant and hot pot flavoring agent. "We have tender meat powder here is very cheap," the owner told reporters holding a plastic jar with a simple packaging, 250 grams of such a large can, only to sell 4 dollars, if you buy more than you can negotiate. However, he said, if you want to make the meat taste better, you can try this kind of "meat king", 70 dollars a can, although expensive, but the meat made fresh and fragrant, than tender meat powder much better.

In the process of unannounced visits, many shopkeepers told reporters, “These days have been very strict, and many stores that specialize in additives have been temporarily closed. However, people often come to the door to ask where to buy products like mutton essence and a drop of incense. The reporter discovered that there was a small shop where business had been relatively prosperous. In less than half an hour, more than 10 bottles of various kinds of meat were sold, and "a drop of incense" also sold four or five bottles.

At 1 o'clock in the afternoon, the reporter collected close-up observations of nearly 30 kinds of additives that were purchased by each of us, and inquired about their QS (quality and safety) numbers one by one. The office and the entire corridor are filled with unusually rich “meat”, and even if the windows are opened, they cannot be dispelled. After these products are touched, residual odors on the hands are difficult to wash off. Only a short while, some people experienced dizziness, nausea and other reactions. Although the shopkeepers all claim that they are selling regular products and have the QS logo on them, the QS numbers of certain additives purchased by the reporter cannot be found on the National Food Quality and Safety Network or the China QS Inquiries Network. According to China's food additive use standard, no regular QS logo must not record use of food additives.

"Additives become falsification tools"

At 3 pm, the reporter came to Professor Ho’s office with the “additives” he had bought. After looking at the packaging and ingredients of these products, he believes that many products have unreasonable places on the ingredient labels, such as the "Ali Xiang" brand New Orleans barbecue marinade and "Kizi Xiang" that are jointly produced by China and Singapore. "Brands fresh bone seasoning, which has a composition called "I + G." He Jiguo said that perhaps he is ignorant and does not really know what this is. He specifically asked them to ask another expert from the Food Institute. The expert said that he had not heard of it. The state stipulates that the generic name of the additive should be indicated in the food composition. This “I+G” is obviously not a common name. As to whether it is allowed by the state, He Jiguo said that it is not clear. There is also a brand of “Little Magic Fairy” brand called Bianjingjing which is known as “Innovation of modern bio-extraction technology”. On the packaging, it declares “Selection of fresh beef bone and chicken bone marrow extract”, but Ho Jiguo found it in its ingredients. In the table, the first and most abundant ingredient is sodium glutamate, which is also known as monosodium glutamate. The real beef and chicken extracts account for only the fourth and fifth highest levels.

Among the series of condiments of the “Kizixiang” brand, “a drop of incense,” “permeate the king,” “bone marrow cream,” “aroma oil,” “great magic,” all call themselves “ Used in all kinds of hot pot, soup, barbecue, fried, fried, fried, stewed, stuffy, boiled and stuffed dishes, etc.", can play a "prominent aroma" role, "a strong sense of aftertaste." Some products, such as "great magic fine" is the recommended amount of 0.5% -1%. According to the use amount, He Jiguo inferred that its composition should be a synthetic additive, with a majority of flavors. Because only the synthetic essence will have a strong aromatizing effect with a little bit, natural spices are not so fragrant.

He Jiguo believes that the biggest problem with these unclear additives is that they can easily be used, abused, or even used for food fraud. Their main role should be to add a little scent to the original food. If it is used in accordance with national regulations, there is nothing wrong with it. For example, beef flavoring is added to the beef soup to play a flavoring role. “But some restaurants simply use them as tools for counterfeiting. There is no genuine source of raw materials. Only relying on flavors to bring out beefy tastes and chicken flavors is totally deceiving consumers.”

Experts decrypt "the most hot additive"