Liu Xin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and professor of the School of Life Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University:
Food companies are not encouraged to use "0 sugar" and "sugar free" to attract consumers
Guangzhou Daily News (all media reporter Long Kun) "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" proposes a reasonable diet action, focusing on encouraging the whole society to reduce salt, oil, and sugar, and advocate per capita daily salt intake by 2030 The amount should not be higher than 5g, the per capita daily intake of edible oil for adults should not be higher than 25-30g, and the per capita daily intake of added sugar should not be higher than 25g.
In order to meet consumers' demand for "sugar reduction", some companies attract consumers by claiming "sugar-free" and "0 sugar", and sugar-reduced food has become a new selling point.
But at the same time, due to the excessive use of sugar substitutes, consumers often experience discomfort such as abdominal distension, abdominal pain, and diarrhea after eating.
During the National Two Sessions in 2022, Liu Xin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a professor at the School of Life Sciences of Sun Yat-sen University, said that food companies are not encouraged to attract consumers with "0 sugar" and "sugar-free" labels. They should actually reduce sugar and inform consumers truthfully. What measures did you take to reduce how much sugar or what sweeteners were used, etc.
He suggested that we should improve the management system of food claims, learn from the practice of the International Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), realize the standardization of the terminology of nutritional ingredient functional claims, smooth the channels for supplementing and updating nutritional ingredient functional claims, and ensure that ordinary foods are regulated under the support of scientific evidence. function claims.
Simply reduce salt, reduce oil and sugar
lead to new health risks
"Real and scientific food claims are an effective tool for consumers to understand and choose various foods and health foods. How to improve and standardize the management of food claims in my country has also become an urgent issue." Liu Xin told reporters.
Liu Xin is an expert in microbial drug engineering and advanced food manufacturing technology, and is currently the director of the Food and Health Engineering Research Center of the Ministry of Education.
Liu Xin believes that the "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" clearly puts forward the implementation measures and goals of reducing oil, salt and sugar, but more and more companies believe that the "three reductions" are the ultimate goal, but they ignore it. Enhancement of nutritional and healthy attributes of products.
"At present, the basic theoretical system and basic database construction of food nutrition in my country is weak, and core technologies such as high-throughput screening and activity maintenance of functional components in food have not yet been broken through. Nutritional evaluation of food mostly stays in the analysis of nutrient composition and biological efficacy. In the initial stage of exploration, there is a lack of epidemiological large-scale population studies and nutritional intervention studies, and nutritional supply data suitable for my country's national physique is also extremely scarce." Liu Xin told reporters.
Liu Xin also pointed out that at present, there are problems in the management of food claims in my country, such as unclear requirements for claims and inconsistent classification of food with claimed functions.
For example, "GB 28050-2011" only lists 23 standard terms for energy and nutrient component function claims, but there are far more than 23 other food components with nutritional and/or physiological functions in food.
"Some common foods are limited in the use of energy and nutrient function claims, and merchants often use 'edge balls' to correlate with the health function claims of health food." He said.
Food Industry Health Transformation
"Subtract" and "Add" need to run in parallel
Liu Xin believes that reducing salt, oil, and sugar requires popular science and guidance, so that consumers can scientifically view oil, salt, and sugar in food, and force food companies to effectively implement the "three reductions" policy with the hands of the market. On this basis, the tastes of the people are constantly changed, and progress is made step by step in accordance with scientific laws.
"The 'three reductions' of food companies and the 'plus' of a new generation of healthy foods such as functional foods need to form a two-wheel drive pattern as soon as possible. It not only requires the industry to increase investment in technology to achieve iterative innovation, but also relies on the combination of management and dredging. And supervision is promising and in place." Liu Xin said that the meaning of the healthy transformation of my country's food industry is not only the "three reductions" of oil reduction, salt reduction, and sugar reduction, but the need to develop traditional Chinese food culture as the foundation. Based on science and using food as the carrier, functional substances and raw materials with natural and healthy characteristics are used to meet the diversified needs of different groups of people.
He suggested that, on the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen the research on functional ingredients of food and human health mechanism and the development of functional raw materials, so as to realize "precise nutrition" for special groups as soon as possible.
On the other hand, it is necessary to analyze the special nutritional needs of different groups of people, carry out research and innovation of food in a targeted manner, and test the nutritional effect in practice to improve the health connotation of products, so as to better meet the health needs of different consumers.
He also suggested to learn from the practice of the International Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), on the basis of clarifying the classification and definition of food claims, to standardize the terminology of nutritional ingredient function claims, to unblock the channels for supplementing and updating nutritional ingredient function claims, and to ensure the scientific Evidence-supported normative functional claims.