On food packaging and food safety

On food packaging and food safety

Abstract: food packaging is closely related to food safety. Food packaging must ensure the hygiene and safety of the packaged food in order to become a reassuring food. What specific provisions does the state have on food packaging? What major issues should food packaging, food production enterprises and consumers pay attention to? Recently, what are the regulations of the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and Quarantine on raw materials, food additives, packaging materials and containers in the work of the food safety market access system (QS mark), because only qualified raw materials, food additives, packaging materials and containers can produce food that meets the quality and safety requirements. From the perspective of food packaging inspection workers, this paper talks about food packaging and food safety, so as to help people pay attention to food safety, increase the quality awareness of food enterprises, and improve the identification ability of consumers

key words: national health standards; Food packaging; Food Safety; Product quality inspection

with the rapid development of the food industry and the rapid improvement of the scientific and technological content of food packaging products, people are trying to find the connection between food packaging and food, which is practical, beautiful and safe. At the same time, they are also constantly looking for unsafe factors, and constantly strengthening inspection and supervision. As an external component of food, food packaging is characterized by inedibility and protection of food; Third, it has a certain impact on food. Among them, it has an impact on the sensory characteristics of food (for example, Baijiu is brewed in a ceramic jar, wine is brewed in an oak can, and the flavor is the best, canned food beyond the shelf life has a bad odor and metal flavor, etc.); Physical and chemical properties are affected (maintain the best physical and chemical properties of food, such as waterproof, moisture-proof, shockproof, oxidation-proof, air permeability, oxygen permeability, heat insulation, heat preservation, radiation resistance, etc.), and health status (avoid all possible adverse reactions to the internal quality of food caused by the leaching amount of harmful substances to the food)

because the production and use of food packaging involves food quality, food hygiene and safety. Therefore, on the one hand, the relevant departments of the state regulate it through laws and regulations, such as the "hygienic management method of rubber products for food", "hygienic management method of ceramic tableware containers", "hygienic management method of enamel tableware containers", etc. the "hygienic law" stipulates that: the production enterprises use new raw materials to produce food containers and packaging materials, and the production and management enterprises should not put them into production. The data required for the hygienic evaluation of the product must be provided. The new variety needs to provide samples before it is put into production, and apply for approval in accordance with the prescribed food hygiene standard approval procedures, because the old raw materials used for packaging have been tested in accordance with gb15193-94 procedures and methods for toxicological evaluation of food safety, and approved by the relevant institutions of the Ministry of health for implementation: on the other hand, for food containers About 50 (until 2002) national mandatory hygienic standards for food packaging materials and products have been formulated for various raw materials involved in packaging materials. The content requirements generally include the hygienic sensory indicators, hygienic physical and chemical indicators (including qualitative and quantitative inspection of toxic and harmful element indicators) of the food packaging products, which are used to strictly regulate the safety and quality problems of food packaging production, There are also requirements for indicators such as microorganisms in the product health standards for food packaging paper products; Finally, the appearance quality and internal quality of food packaging products must be produced according to the product quality standard (it is proposed that the U.S. Air Force will focus on strengthening the investment in five key technical fields in the next 15 years, including health indicators, which do not necessarily include product quality indicators). We cannot imagine a food container and packaging raw materials that meet the health and safety requirements, with unstable quality and low use value. Usually, the relevant departments of the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine are responsible for supervising and inspecting products in the production and circulation fields

the General Administration of quality supervision, inspection and quarantine pointed out in the work of the admission system in the food safety market that raw materials, food additives, packaging materials and containers are the source of food production, and their inspection and control is the first step to ensure food quality and safety. Only qualified raw materials, food additives, packaging materials and containers can produce food that meets the quality and safety requirements. The health law stipulates that food containers and packaging materials are defined as: paper, bamboo, wood, metal, enamel, plastic, rubber, natural fiber, chemical fiber, glass and other products used for packaging and containing food, as well as coatings in contact with food. Many quality and safety problems are caused by the use of unqualified raw materials, and some raw materials with less consumption will also bring quality and safety problems to food. Packaging materials and containers that directly contact food are also the source of some unsafe factors, such as low molecular weight polyethylene plastic, which is easily soluble in oil, so tableware made of polyethylene should not be filled with edible oil for a long time to avoid the taste of oil; For example, edible alcohol or medical alcohol should not be contained in plastic products, which will cause the organic matter in the plastic to dissolve in the alcohol, so that the sulfate index will show a positive reaction after the national standard inspection, resulting in unqualified products, that is to say, it does not meet the food hygiene and safety; For example, in 1997, several hundred people died from edible lard poisoning in Jiangxi Province. The accident was caused by using highly toxic chemical containers to contain lard. Similar situations continue to occur, such as the production of polycarbonate (PC) drinking water cans from organic substances such as rice and flour in toxic chemical bags and waste garbage plastic

at present, China allows the use of food containers, packaging materials and tools and equipment for the manufacture of food: (1) plastic products - thermoplastic, thermosetting plastic and other series products, plastic additives; (2) Rubber products - natural rubber, synthetic rubber, rubber additives and other series products; The additives used in the first three organics must meet the requirements of gb9685-1994 hygienic standard for the use of additives for food containers and packaging materials. (3) Food container inner wall coating - normal temperature film-forming coating, high temperature curing film-forming coating and other series of coatings and additives; (4) Ceramic ware, enamel tableware; (5) Aluminum products, stainless steel tableware containers, iron tableware containers, glass tableware containers: (6) food packaging paper and other series products; (7) Composite packaging bag - a series of products such as composite film and composite film bag. In the above hygienic standards for food containers and packaging materials, plastics are soaked in various liquids, and then the migration of relevant components of these liquids is measured. The choice of solvent depends on the kind of food containers and packaging materials contact with. According to different physical states, chemical substances are generally used, such as distilled water (representing neutral food), 4% ethyl (acetic) acid (representing acidic food), 8% - 60% ethanol (representing food containing alcohol), n-hexane (representing fat food); Potassium permanganate consumption or oxygen consumption in distilled water solvent after soaking (representing the amount of total organic substances and insoluble substances transferred to food), evaporation residue (representing the amount of total soluble and insoluble substances transferred to food); Decolorization test; Other requirements are based on the determination of harmful elements such as arsenic, fluorine, heavy metals (lead, cadmium, antimony, germanium, cobalt, chromium, zinc), organic monomer residues, pyrolysis products (vinyl chloride, styrene, phenols, acrylonitrile butadiene rubber, formaldehyde), additives, aging products, etc., which are easy to cause food pollution. The unit is mg/kg (mg/l), and the control amount is generally less than 0.01... Less than 50 mg/kg (mg/l)

China stipulates that phenolic resin shall not be used to make food utensils, containers, production pipelines, conveyor belts and other packaging materials that directly contact food; China stipulates that neoprene is generally not allowed to be used in the production of rubber products for food, such as lead oxide, hexamethylenetetramine, aromatic amines α- Mercaptoimidazoline α- Mercaptol benzothiazole (accelerator M), dimethylthiazole disulfide (accelerator DM), ethylbenzene- β- Naphthylamine (antioxidant J), p-phenylenediamine, styrene substituted phenol, antioxidant 124, etc. shall not be used in rubber products for food; China stipulates that the colorants of rubber products used in the food industry should be iron oxide and titanium dioxide. Therefore, in terms of appearance, it is stipulated that red and white rubber products are used for the food industry, and it is emphasized that black rubber products are used for non food industry; Extremely toxic or highly toxic additives shall not be used in the coating of the inner wall of the container. Ceramic ware, enamel tableware, metal and glass tableware containers shall not use harmful metals. Metal tableware materials are mixed with harmful metals such as lead, cadmium or other chemical poisons. In China, galvanized iron containers have been used to make beverages, and food poisoning has occurred after drinking. The state stipulates that white iron is not allowed to be used in food machinery, and most of the materials used in the food industry are black iron; Lead compounds are often added to high-end glassware, such as goblets, and the amount is generally as high as 30% of the glass. This is a prominent sanitary problem in glassware; Waste recycled paper shall not be used as paper making raw materials, because although the waste recycled paper is decolorized, it only removes the ink and pigment, while lead, cadmium, polychlorinated biphenyls, etc. can still remain in the pulp; It is strictly forbidden to use fluorescent brighteners and food packaging grade paraffin in food packaging paper. Pay attention to the problem of glass paper softeners, which should meet the requirements of gb11680-89 hygienic standard for base paper for food packaging; The composite film food packaging bag adopts polyurethane adhesive to bring toluene diisocyanate (TDI), which will migrate to food and hydrolyze during food cooking and produce vibration and noise: 2,4-Diaminotoluene (TDA) with carcinogenicity, which should comply with gb9683-1988 hygienic standard for composite food packaging bags; Microorganisms in food are also caused by unqualified packaging materials and containers, especially paper packaging products, leather, natural rubber, wood and other materials with unsanitary quality and safety, which are easy to cause mold (fungi) pollution in food, especially liquid food

controlling the quality and safety of food packaging in production and use is a key control point in food production enterprises. The current situation in China is. The enterprise producing food packaging products did not master the production technology and relevant hygienic standard requirements of its products, did not put forward the data required for the hygienic evaluation of the product, did not provide samples for the new variety before it was put into production, and did not apply for approval in accordance with the prescribed food hygiene standard approval procedures, The factory inspection system has not been established in the enterprise, and the inspection is carried out according to the product standard or relevant health standards, 31 of the 203 inspection methods in GB/t5009-2003 "physical and chemical part of food hygiene inspection methods", or according to the analysis method of food containers, packaging materials and supplies in GB/T4789-2003 "microbiological inspection of food hygiene"

for example, polycarbonate (PC) drinking water cans with qualified quality should be produced in accordance with the requirements of the Ministry of light industry standard qb2460-1999 polycarbonate (PC) drinking water cans, and meet the relevant requirements of gbl4942-1994 hygienic standard for polycarbonate molded products for food containers and packaging materials. In the early 1990s, melamine tableware produced in the same batch by more than a dozen manufacturing enterprises in the same region at the same time was regularly inspected by local quality inspection institutions in accordance with gb9690-88 hygienic standard for melamine resin molded products for food packaging. It is found that the product has seriously exceeded the technical requirements in the standard in the indicators of evaporation residue (water), potassium permanganate consumption (water), formaldehyde (4% acetic acid), which indicates the internal quality of more than a dozen enterprises in the region