Quicklime added to flour improver
By Wang Xiang |
April 8, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A FACTORY in east China's Jiangsu Province has spiked quicklime powders into wheat flour additives, which have been sold to flour factories in three provinces.
A whistleblower said the Yuzhong Company, a small factory of flour improver in Rugao City, Jiangsu Province, bought 160 tons of quicklime in February, which it used in the flour improvers, substances that improve the flour's baking properties, according to Legal Daily yesterday.
Quicklime, because of its vigorous reaction with water, can cause severe irritation when inhaled or contacted with moist skin. It can also cause nasal septum, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
The flour improver is supposed to be a 28 percent dilution of its main ingredient Benzoyl peroxide - BPO. Big factories usually use cornstarch, lighter and more expensive than quicklime, as the filler, the report said.
The unnamed whistleblower said the usual market price for flour improver was 11,000 yuan (US$1,610) per ton but Yuzhong offered 9,000 yuan a ton because it put 1 ton of quicklime in 4 tons of BPO.
A test on samples of the Yuzhong flour improver proved the allegation, showing 30 percent of quicklime powder in it.
The owner of Yuzhong Company surnamed Chen told the newspaper that he was able to offer a cheaper price because he saved on advertising fees that were inevitable costs for bigger factories.
According to a national food safety standard, only 0.2 grams of flour improver are allowed to be put in every kilo of wheat flours to shorten the time the flour needs to rise.
The scandal rekindled a 20-year debate on whether the flour additives should be banned in China.
BPO was unnecessary now because the technology has improved, the newspaper quoted an insider as saying.
Critics said BPO was potentially harmful to livers, but the proponents of BPO said no medical record proves the allegation.
Wang Ruiyuan, former head of the food safety authority in the 1980s, was the most prominent abolitionist. Wang promoted the flour improver in the first place. Now, he said, he must close the Pandora's Box himself.
A whistleblower said the Yuzhong Company, a small factory of flour improver in Rugao City, Jiangsu Province, bought 160 tons of quicklime in February, which it used in the flour improvers, substances that improve the flour's baking properties, according to Legal Daily yesterday.
Quicklime, because of its vigorous reaction with water, can cause severe irritation when inhaled or contacted with moist skin. It can also cause nasal septum, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
The flour improver is supposed to be a 28 percent dilution of its main ingredient Benzoyl peroxide - BPO. Big factories usually use cornstarch, lighter and more expensive than quicklime, as the filler, the report said.
The unnamed whistleblower said the usual market price for flour improver was 11,000 yuan (US$1,610) per ton but Yuzhong offered 9,000 yuan a ton because it put 1 ton of quicklime in 4 tons of BPO.
A test on samples of the Yuzhong flour improver proved the allegation, showing 30 percent of quicklime powder in it.
The owner of Yuzhong Company surnamed Chen told the newspaper that he was able to offer a cheaper price because he saved on advertising fees that were inevitable costs for bigger factories.
According to a national food safety standard, only 0.2 grams of flour improver are allowed to be put in every kilo of wheat flours to shorten the time the flour needs to rise.
The scandal rekindled a 20-year debate on whether the flour additives should be banned in China.
BPO was unnecessary now because the technology has improved, the newspaper quoted an insider as saying.
Critics said BPO was potentially harmful to livers, but the proponents of BPO said no medical record proves the allegation.
Wang Ruiyuan, former head of the food safety authority in the 1980s, was the most prominent abolitionist. Wang promoted the flour improver in the first place. Now, he said, he must close the Pandora's Box himself.
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