Popcorn contains lead, can you eat it?
(2015-01-13 10:42:33)
Popcorn, as a kind of puffed food, is deeply loved by many people. It is believed that few people have ever eaten popcorn in their life. I don't know when, watching movies in cinemas and eating popcorn has become a fashion for young people, which has become a ubiquitous scene in modern urban life.
It is believed that eating popcorn while watching movies in cinemas originated from the input of American culture. In the mid-19th century, popcorn has become a household snack in the United States. But at that time, the cinema played silent movies, and the plot was all expressed by subtitles. The audience of the cinema was still in the "upper class society". The audience eating popcorn would make unpleasant noise, and was therefore prohibited by the cinema. In the 1920s, movies entered the era of sound, and sound effects became an important part of movie playing. By the 1930s, the number of Americans who watched movies in cinemas every week had reached 90 million. At that time, the perfect combination of cinemas and popcorn industry had brought significant positive effects to the United States in the Great Depression. People pour into cinemas in search of cheap consumption and entertainment; The popcorn made and sold in the hall there is another kind of complementarity of good quality and low price.
Recently, the media reported that the popcorn sold in supermarkets and cinemas contained lead. In this regard, media reporters bought six kinds of popcorn in cinemas and supermarkets for lead content detection. The inspectors found that four of the six popcorn samples contained lead. Among them, the highest lead content of popcorn is 0.042 mg/kg, while the lowest is 0.018 mg/kg. According to China's national food hygiene standards, the lead content of puffed food shall not exceed 0.5 mg/kg. From the above test results, the lead content of four pieces of lead containing popcorn did not exceed the standard. Can I still eat lead containing popcorn?
Lead is one of the important environmental pollutants. With the development of industry, heavy metal pollutants enter the environment in some areas, causing water pollution, air pollution, soil pollution and biological pollution, Thus, the ecological environment will be damaged, which may cause potential risks and hazards to human health. Gibsorl, Australia, 100 years ago The doctor published a paper entitled "Paint on the wall is the main cause of lead poisoning in children in Queensland", revealing the puzzle of the cause of lead poisoning in children that has been puzzling for a long time. thereafter, In the world, long-term efforts have been made to study and intervene environmental lead pollution and children's lead poisoning.
Lead enters the human body mainly through the respiratory tract and digestive tract. In adults, 40-50% of lead inhaled through the respiratory tract and about 10% of lead ingested through the digestive tract can be absorbed; In children, the absorption of lead in the digestive tract can reach 50%. In addition, in terms of body volume, the intake of air is larger, The total absorption rate of lead from the environment is about three times more than that of adults. Fasting, iron deficiency and low dietary calcium can promote lead absorption. Some studies have shown that lead is easily transferred from the mother to the fetus through the placenta, so the level of lead in the blood of pregnant women has an impact on the fetus.
Lead is an inherent metal element in nature. Due to natural factors such as rock weathering, hurricanes and volcanic eruptions, lead can be redistributed in the environment. The development and utilization of lead for five thousand years has increased the distribution range and concentration of lead in the environment. Due to the cumulative impact of environmental and human factors, modern people, whether men, women, old or young, even newborn babies, have lead in their bodies; But most people are healthy individuals, not lead poisoning patients. Due to the cumulative impact of environmental and human factors, the lead content in air, water sources, soil and various animals and plants cannot be zero. On the premise that they meet the corresponding health standards, they are not environmental media that lead to human lead poisoning. Therefore, people need to change their "zero tolerance" attitude towards lead content from the basic living needs of modern people, such as clothing, food, housing, transportation, eating and drinking.
Popcorn contains lead, can you eat it? To answer this question well, the premise is to follow the law of dose effect relationship of poisons on human health. Chinese health workers once analyzed and studied the lead content in the popcorn sold in the market, and found that the average lead content in corn, the raw material for producing popcorn, was 0.115mg/kg, which was in line with the national health standards. However, after processing popcorn, the average lead content reached 4.96mg/kg, more than 40 times that before processing, which greatly exceeded the corresponding food health standards. The reason is that the sealing layer of the popcorn machine used is made of cast iron containing lead. Since the melting point of lead is only 327.4 ℃, a large amount of lead vapor escapes when heated at 400-500 ℃. During the production of popcorn, the instantaneous temperature can reach about 400 ℃. Therefore, the lead content of the popcorn produced in this way has greatly increased compared with the raw corn, The risk of lead hazard to human body after consumption.
In the GB2762-2012 National Food Safety Standard - Limits of Pollutants in Food, which was implemented on June 1, 2013 in China, the content of lead in a variety of foods has been limited, for example, the content of lead in grains and their products, meat products, fish, sugar and baked foods is 0.5 mg/kg. Food hygiene refers to all conditions and measures that must be taken at all stages of the food chain to ensure food safety and applicability. That is, food must be safe, hygienic and healthy at all stages of raw material production, processing or manufacturing until final consumption. The production of popcorn has already got rid of the dependence on the early lead containing "converter", and the processing methods of pan and microwave oven have also been added in the production process; In addition, the introduction of butter, chocolate, strawberry and other improved flavors is very tempting. Popcorn that meets the national food hygiene standards can be safely eaten. The trace lead contained in its food raw materials will not pose a hazard to human health.
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