Investigation of sulfur star anise: sulfur dioxide exceeds the original standard 16 times
The star anise market in the Gaofeng Natural Spices Logistics Center in Nanning, Guangxi is being swallowed by "sulphur star anise"; the star anise is smoked with sulfur for two nights, and the cost is nearly half lower
The star anise stacked in front of the shop in the Gaofeng Natural Spices Logistics Center in Nanning City, Guangxi. These star anises have been smoked by sulfur and have a strong pungent taste.
After star anise enters the fruit-bearing period, Guangxi, the main producing area of star anise, also ushered in the peak season for shipments.
Every August, wholesalers from all over the country rush to Santang Town, Nanning City, Guangxi to purchase star anise.
The Gaofeng Natural Spices Logistics Center (hereinafter referred to as Gaofeng Market) is the largest octagonal trading market in the region, with a daily shipment volume of up to 300 tons.
However, a reporter from the Beijing News recently discovered that behind this huge transaction volume, there is an open secret: the octagonal market is being swallowed by illegal "sulphur octagonal".
In the peak market, in order to shorten working hours and reduce costs, most businesses use sulfur to smoke anise, while wholesalers also purchase sulfur anise and sell it to restaurants, canteens, etc. in order to pursue profits.
Some merchants revealed that his drying yard can supply 100 tons of sulfur star anise at a time.
According to my country's "National Food Safety Standard Food Additive Use Standard", sulfur can be used as a food additive, but star anise is not in its scope of application.
At the end of August, a reporter from the Beijing News collected sulfur octagonal samples in the market for inspection. The results showed that the residual sulfur dioxide reached 500mg/kg, which was 16 times more than the original octagonal national standard.
Cao Yanping, a professor at the School of Food and Health of Beijing Technology and Business University, stated that in accordance with the “National Food Safety Standards for the Use of Food Additives”, the use of sulfur to smoke star anise is illegal, and it touches the “Food Safety Law” that “prohibits the production of food additives beyond the scope and limit Food" law.
An octagonal trader in Gaofeng Market revealed that even if sulfur octagonal is flooded, it is rarely investigated.
"The market will notify you during the inspection, so just don't show it."
Sulfur Anise Market
"After staying in the market for a long time, my throat will be dull"
On the official website of the State Forestry and Grassland Administration, the Gaofeng Market, established by Gaofeng Forest Farm in Nanning City, was introduced as the largest spice logistics center in Guangxi.
According to the statistics of the Guangxi Octagon Federation, Guangxi, as the main production area of my country's octagonal, had an annual output of 100,000 tons as early as 2005, accounting for more than 90% of the world's total output, with an annual output value of nearly 1 billion yuan.
Gaofeng Market is located in Santang Town, Xingning District. At the beginning of its establishment in 2007, the "China Green Times" reported that Gaofeng Market is only 8 kilometers away from the city center and occupies the core radiation area of Nanning Express Ring Road Commercial District, with 15 paved buildings. 410 rooms.
In mid-August, the average daily shipment of octagonal here can reach about 300 tons.
According to a taxi driver, orders from the peak market to the airport increase at this time of year.
Most of the passengers are businessmen who come to purchase the octagonal anise, and most of them are from Tengzhou, Shandong.
Tengzhou has the largest dry goods wholesale market in the country. A Tengzhou businessman Li Wei (a pseudonym) in the market told the Beijing News reporter that during the procurement period, 70 or 80 wholesalers in the dry goods market would send people over to station in the market.
Most of their targets are the cheap "sulphur anise" in the peak market.
On the afternoon of August 25, a reporter from the Beijing News came to the peak market and found that it was more like a lively farmers' market.
Near the gate of the peak market, a strong smell came over.
Buyer Li Sheng (a pseudonym) covered his face and coughed, "pungent and a little sour."
This pungent smell permeating the market has exposed an "open secret."
Li Sheng told reporters that this is the smell of sulfur mixed with star anise. For a long time, in order to reduce costs and increase star anise, most merchants in the market have illegally used sulfur to smoke star anise.
The sulphur-smoked star anise is directly brought to the market for sale by merchants, so it gives off a pungent smell.
Li Sheng said that every time he went home after purchasing, there was a heavy sulphur smell on his clothes, and the smell would not disappear without soaking for several hours.
When not busy, the buyer Li Wei always closes the door and hides in the shop owner’s office.
He pointed to the plastic colored shed in front of the shop and told the Beijing News reporter that the shed was to cover up the smell of sulfur. “After staying in the market for a long time, your throat will be dumb.”
The business experience of "sulfur fruit"
Two nights of sulfur fumigation costs half
A concrete road runs through the peak market, with octagonal pavements on both sides. Several large trucks parked on the side of the road. Workers unloaded the octagonal piles on the ground. The smell was pungent.
A reporter from the Beijing News visited the peak market and discovered that, except for one or two cinnamon shops, the others were all octagonal shops.
In the market, sulfur star anise has become an absolute mainstream commodity.
If you don't specifically state that you want "Sulfur-Free Star Anise", the ones you can choose from outside the shop are "Sulfur Star Anise".
A reporter from the Beijing News found that compared with the sulfur-free star anise of Zuqian (10% dried), the sulphur fruit was yellowish in color and more flavorful, and the "corner" had a yellowish-red mark, which was soft when pinched.
Wang Tian (pseudonym), who does anise business in the peak market, told reporters that according to the traditional method, after picking the octagonal fruit, it needs to be blanched or dried for at least 5 days to dry enough.
In order to shorten the time, some merchants use wood or coal to bake, but this method of curing can easily make the color of the star anise black, which requires sulfur to protect the color.
The so-called sulphur fumigation means that after the star anise is aired for a day or two, a plastic shed is propped up with an iron frame, the sulphur powder is put in an iron basin and ignited and then put into the plastic shed to fumigate the star anise.
Industry insiders told reporters from the Beijing News that a pot of sulfur generally weighs 2 to 4 kilograms. In order to smoke evenly, a pot of sulphur will be placed every 4 meters in the star anise drying strip. When the weather is bad or the humidity is high, it will be smoked. Twice.
According to a business, a 20-meter drying yard can dry 4 tons of star anise. According to the calculation, the reporter calculated that 4 tons of star anise requires 5 pots of about 10 catties of sulfur. Two times of smoking is 20 catties. Finally, after drying, 2 tons can be smoked. The left and right finished star anise.
Wang Tian said that the usual method used by merchants is: three days of drying and two nights of smoking.
"After the sulphur is burned in the evening, the star anise is almost dry, and after drying it during the day, it can be sold in the market."
According to my country's "National Food Safety Standard Food Additive Use Standard", sulfur can be used as a food additive, but star anise is not in the scope of application.
The national standard for the octagonal, which was promulgated in 2006 and is now abolished, requires that the residual sulfur dioxide in the octagonal should be less than 30mg/kg.
Buyer Li Sheng said that the eight roles of sulphur smoked are bright, not easy to mold, and more importantly, the cost is lower.
"Normal foot dried star anise can only be dried for one catty of dried fruit at 5 or 6 catties, but a catty of sulphur fruit can be dried for more than 2 catties, which is nearly half the cost."
In the peak market, the price advantage of sulphur fruit is very obvious.
On August 26, a reporter from the Beijing News visited the market and found that the price of sulfur star anise was mostly around 20 yuan per catty, while the price of sulfur-free star anise was nearly 30 yuan.
Sulfur bags appeared in a drying yard in Liutang Town. The owners of the drying yard burned this kind of sulfur and then smoked the star anise to achieve the effect of drying and preventing mildew.
"Excessive" star anise
Sulfur dioxide is 16 times the original standard and sold to restaurants, canteens, etc.
With good looks, short working hours and low prices, sulfur anise gradually "occupies" the peak market.
A boss surnamed Xie said frankly that 90% of the peak market today is sulfur fruit.
Because the sulfur dioxide exceeds the standard, these star anise can only be sold to merchants in various places through wholesale, and sold to restaurants, canteens, private kitchens, etc., these merchants are in high demand and prefer to buy cheap sulfur fruit.
On September 7, a reporter from the Beijing News obtained a total of 100 grams of star anise from 6 stalls in the peak market, and sent it as a test sample to a testing agency in Guangxi for sulfur dioxide testing.
The inspection report affixed with the CMA logo (China Metrology Certification) shows that after inspection, the sulfur dioxide content of the sample is 500mg/kg, and the technical requirements shall not be detected, and the individual items are judged to be unqualified.
The staff of the testing agency told the Beijing News reporter that since the current national standard of octagonal does not indicate the determination limit of octagonal sulfur dioxide, it needs to be determined in accordance with the National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives. In this standard, there is no The limit of octagon, so it cannot be detected.
However, if you refer to the sanitary indicators in the original star anise national standard "GB/T 7652-2006 star anise"-"The residual sulfur dioxide in the star anise should be less than 30mg/kg", the sulfur dioxide residue of this batch of samples exceeds the standard by 16 times.
Cao Yanping, a professor at the School of Food and Health, Beijing Technology and Business University, told the Beijing News that in accordance with the "National Food Safety Standards and Food Additives Use Standards", the use of sulfur to smoke anise is an violation of regulations, and it touches the "prohibition of over-range and over-production in the Food Safety Law". "Food with limited use of food additives".
Li Kaixiang, director of the Star Anise Cinnamon Engineering Technology Research Center of the National Forestry and Grass Administration, said that sulphur smoked star anise is a local soil method for preservation.
The degree of damage of smoked star anise to the human body requires consideration of the amount of sulfur. There are currently no strict data and indicators to support its degree of harm.
A food safety announcement published by the Chinese government website mentioned that the use of sulfur or sulfites as food additives in foods will leave sulfur dioxide in the food, and a small amount of sulfur dioxide entering the human body can be considered harmless.
However, excessive intake will damage the digestive tract and respiratory tract, damage the organ mucosa, and produce gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.
Long-term excessive intake of sulfur dioxide can cause chronic poisoning, destroy the enzyme activity in the human body, and affect the absorption of calcium.
The test report shows: After inspection, the sulfur dioxide content of the sample is 0.5g/kg, the technical requirements shall not be detected, and the single item is judged to be unqualified.
Secret drying field
300 tons of sulphur smoked on site
A reporter from the Beijing News found that the sulphur star anise in the peak market was smoked by merchants themselves. Many merchants have their own drying yards, and some drying yards can supply hundreds of tons at a time.
Mr. Xie’s sulfur star anise comes from a drying yard a few kilometers away from the market.
In addition to wholesale, she also helps customers dry the fruits and charges a processing fee of 0.25 yuan per catty.
Her husband stays at the drying shop all year round, and she is responsible for contacting customers.
One day at the end of August, a reporter from the Beijing News followed the positioning sent by Boss Xie. After a 7-minute drive from the peak market, the reporter found Boss Xie’s shop after turning into an unnamed road.
This is a cement flat land covering an area of about 60 mu, surrounded by brick walls over 2 meters high. There are 8 or 9 workers in the courtyard busy spreading out the star anise.
In the yard, there was a wolfdog who watched the door. After entering the drying yard, Boss Xie's husband immediately closed the door.
He did not allow reporters to walk around in the studio, and he quickly became vigilant when he saw someone taking out his mobile phone.
A person familiar with the matter said that there was no wall here before, but the owner later added a wall for concealment.
The octagonal anise on the ground is exactly the goods ordered by Henan businessman Zhang Yong (a pseudonym).
He told reporters that he had bought 16 trucks, and based on a truck of 17 tons, Zhang Yong's purchase amount reached 272 tons.
Large wholesalers like Zhang Yong, in order to reduce costs, will choose shops with drying yards to cooperate.
Zhang Yong pointed to the rows of octagonal anise in front of him, "These are 60% dry, two catties and four taels per catty, a dozen of sulfur tonight, very beautiful and shiny. Smoked for about 1 hour at night, the next day Pull it to the market early in the morning to sell."
Many shopkeepers at the peak market said that they have their own drying yards, distributed around the peak market, 4 market towns within a 30-minute drive.
These drying yards are almost all smoked with sulfur, providing hundreds of tons of star anise to the peak market every day.
On the afternoon of August 27, a reporter from the Beijing News came to a drying shop in Liutang Town.
The sun was scorching, and the drying yard was covered with octagons.
A reporter from the Beijing News noticed that in addition to the sun-dried octagonal, there were many grain piles covered with plastic sheets in the courtyard, and smoke emitted from time to time, exuding the smell of coke and sulfur.
Some sulfur bags and yellow powder were scattered on the ground, and the blackened iron basin contained unused sulfur.
The owner of the drying yard does not shy away from sulphur smoking. “The amount of sulphur to be hit depends on the needs of the customer. The sulphur must be enough, otherwise others will not worry.” He claimed that his own drying yard can produce up to 300 tons of star anise at one time. It can be shipped in a few days, and according to market estimates, the profit of a batch of goods is millions of yuan.
Out-of-position supervision
"The market will notify in advance when checking."
On the afternoon of August 25, news of fruit price increase came from the peak market.
Boss Zhang, a Henan wholesaler, snapped up 500 catties of sulphur star anise and took a packing truck on the spot. He told the Beijing News reporter that the batch of star anise would be delivered to Zhengzhou in a week.
The proliferation of sulfur star anise makes Li Sheng, who is engaged in the export trade of star anise feel helpless, "now I want to buy sulfur-free star anise and I can't find the source of it. There are few companies in the peak market. Now more than 90% of the domestic market is sulfur anise."
Li Sheng said that after media exposure in 2012, the sulfur star anise had faded out for a while, but this did not make the sulfur star anise disappear from the market.
According to the Guangxi News Network, in September 2012, the Guangxi Food Safety Office held a special meeting to address the use of sulfur to smoke star anise in some places, launch a special rectification action for sulfur star anise in the region, and cooperate with forestry, health, quality supervision, public security, etc. The department conducts comprehensive rectification.
Li Sheng told the Beijing News reporter that in the peak market, sulfur star anise has been flooding for some time, and merchants have long been used to the smell of sulfur in the air.
Not long ago, I reported to the market supervision and management department about the flood of sulfur anise in the local area, but the reply I got was "difficult to obtain evidence and difficult to manage."
The lack of supervision has been highlighted in the peak market.
In late August, reporters from the Beijing News visited the market several times and found that, except for the two security guards at the entrance, the reporter had never seen the management personnel, and many businesses did not even know the office locations of the market managers.
In the bulletin column of the peak market, there is also a notice issued on October 1, 2015: In order to maintain business order, according to the requirements of the higher authorities, it is strictly forbidden to sell or store unqualified food such as sulfur-excess star anise in the spice center. Once discovered , Immediately report and expel from the field.
This notice from 5 years ago did not serve as a warning to octagonal merchants. Every day, trucks loaded with sulfur octagonal travel to and from the market as usual.
On September 18, in response to a large number of sulfur star anise transactions in the Gaofeng Natural Spices Logistics Center, a reporter from the Beijing News, as a whistleblower, filed a complaint with the Xingning District Market Supervision Administration of Nanning City, Guangxi. Its staff stated that the Market Supervision Administration The market will be randomly inspected on a regular basis, and the relevant situation reported by the reporter has been recorded, and feedback will be given within 7 working days.
A shop owner said that his sulphur anise is not afraid to check, and they have a way to deal with it.
"The market will notify them in advance during the inspection. These sulphur star anises will be packed in the warehouse and will not be displayed. They will directly take the dried star anise for random inspection."
On August 25, in front of the shop in the Gaofeng Natural Spices Logistics Center in Nanning City, Guangxi, a buyer told reporters that the plastic color shed was used to cover up the smell of sulfur. “After staying in the market for a long time, your voice will be dumb.”
Sulfur-free star anise
A catty expensive 8 or 9 yuan, no market competitiveness
The reporter combed and found that the abolished octagonal national standard "GB/T 7652-2006 octagonal" stipulates that "the amount of sulfur dioxide in the octagonal should be less than 30mg/kg".
However, the current national standard "GB/T 7652-2016 Star Anise" does not indicate the restricted content of sulfide in the star anise.
However, in the currently used "National Food Safety Standard Food Additives Use Standard", star anise is not within the scope of using sulfur as an additive.
A professional said that this is also an adjustment made by the National Food Safety Standards Review Committee after considering the proliferation of sulphur smoked star anise.
Regarding the current situation of sulfur star anise, Professor Cao Yanping of the School of Food and Health at Beijing Technology and Business University believes that more control is needed. "The star anise is picked and dried by individuals and is produced in mountainous areas. It is difficult to supervise the root cause. Corresponding standards should be established. , The supervision department needs to implement random inspections on the market."
Wang Tian, who manages sulfur-free star anise, also hopes to see stronger control.
"No one knows that the star anise they eat is sulphur-smoked. In the absence of supervision, a procurement-led situation will form."
According to Wang Tian, at present, compared with sulfur star anise, the market price of sulfur-free star anise costs 8 to 9 yuan per catty. There is no market competitiveness in terms of price, storage, and profit. The market acceptance is very low. Most of the sulfur star anise is exported abroad.
"The exported star anise must have a quality inspection report, but most of the suppliers in the market cannot provide it. Some reports are still several years ago."
Recently, a reporter from the Beijing News asked multiple octagonal merchants in the peak market whether they could issue a quality inspection report on the grounds of supermarket purchases, and they all got a negative answer, saying, "The inspection will exceed the standard."
Wang Tian hopes that this situation can be broken, "allowing more people to buy sulfur-free star anise on the market."
A10-A11 edition written by the Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen and intern Huang Ke and Zheng Xuejing
A10-A11 edition photography/Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen