With the improvement of people's health awareness, sugar-free and low-sugar products are now more popular. The "Healthy China Action (2019-2030)" recommends that the intake of sucrose should not exceed 25 grams per person per day, and advocates the use of natural sweeteners and sweeteners to replace sucrose. Sweeteners can not only satisfy the public's desire for sweetness, but also be low-sugar and sugar-free, and have been quite popular among the public in recent years. The reporter's investigation found that sweeteners are not only commonly found in beverages, but also in various foods, and even pickled pickles use sweeteners.

　　However, the World Health Organization issued a new guideline on non-sugar sweeteners this month, advising against the use of non-sugar sweeteners such as acesulfame-K, aspartame and sodium saccharin to control weight or reduce the risk of non-communicable diseases . Regarding the impact of sugar and sweeteners on the human body, the academic community also has different voices. Recently, the reporter conducted an interview.

　　Investigating the Prevalent Use of Sweeteners in Supermarket Food and Beverages

　　In recent years, the state has issued a series of policies related to sugar reduction and sugar control, and sugar substitutes have thus entered the public eye. Sugar substitutes refer to artificial sweeteners, such as sucralose, aspartame, cyclamate, etc., as well as natural extracts such as steviol glycoside, mogroside, etc., and some sugar alcohol functional sugars such as erythritol, Maltitol, etc.

　　Driven by policy guidance and the improvement of national health awareness, the food and beverage industry has set off a low-sugar and sugar-free consumption boom. The reporter visited a number of supermarkets and found that sweeteners are ubiquitous in food and beverages. The reporter checked the packaging information on a variety of sugar-free and low-sugar beverages, and found that artificial sweeteners frequently appeared in the ingredient list. A supermarket salesperson told reporters that young consumers are now more inclined to drink sugar-free and low-sugar beverages. Ms. Wang, a citizen, said: "Sugar-free drinks do not contain sugar but have a sweet taste, which satisfies my desire to lose weight and eat sweets."

　　Online sales of sugar-free products are also booming. The reporter searched for "sugar-free drinks" on the e-commerce platform and found that many brands of beverage products have launched sugar-free series. According to iiMedia Consulting’s 2022 survey, Chinese consumers’ views on sugar in carbonated drinks are mainly low-sugar (55.7%) and sugar-free (23.0%); The active search volume of keywords such as “calorie, low-fat” has increased by 34% in two years.

　　Not only beverages, but also sweeteners are widely used in food. The reporter saw in the food section of a supermarket that a salty peanut was added with various sweeteners such as cyclamate and sodium saccharin; while a biscuit was added with sweeteners such as sorbitol and erythritol . The reporter then checked various food packaging and found that bread, jelly, canned fruit, seasoning, shelled cooked nuts and other products all have sweeteners. Unexpectedly, even pickles and preserved foods use sweeteners as seasonings.

　　Detection of sweeteners exceeding the range and excessive use still exists

　　The reporter learned that although sweeteners are allowed to be used, there are also cases of over-range and over-dose use. For example, in the announcement of the State Administration for Market Regulation on the unqualified situation of 15 batches of food sampling inspections this year, the detection value of saccharin sodium in a wheat crispy twist did not meet the national food safety standards; the reporter consulted the State Administration for Market Regulation and local markets. According to the random inspection report of the Supervision and Administration Bureau, cyclamate exceeds the standard in vegetable pickles, fruit preserves, nuts and roasted seeds and nuts, frozen drinks and jellies, not only in farmers' markets, non-branded and bulk foods, but also in regular supermarket products. There are also cases of adding sweeteners in violation of regulations. In August last year, the Shanghai Market Supervision Administration imposed penalties on a certain company because acesulfame K was found to be unqualified in the imported orange juice it distributed. According to regulations, fruit and vegetable juices are exceptions for food additives, and acesulfame-K is one of the sweeteners that cannot be added to fruit juices.

　　On May 19 this year, the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau issued a notice on 10 batches of unqualified food, stating that the Xiaoyao Baxian fruit produced by a food company in Guangdong did not meet the national food safety standards and was an excessive amount. Use; on March 17 this year, the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau issued a notice on 26 batches of unqualified food, and also pointed to the problem of excessive use of sweeteners: the crispy sweet buckwheat produced by a food factory, the sodium saccharin does not meet the requirements. National food safety standards.

　　The food laboratory of Shenzhen CTI Testing and Certification Group Co., Ltd. measured the content of cyclamate in 16 categories and a total of 1018 food samples sold in Guangzhou, Foshan, and Qingyuan, Guangdong Province in 2020. The cyclamate content of some samples in the 4 types of food, pickled vegetables, cakes and beverages all exceeded the national standard limit, and the risk was high.

　　In addition, milk tea and smoky-flavored soy milk that young people like also have illegal use of sweeteners. The most important manifestation is the use of sodium saccharin, which is not allowed to be added to beverages, and the second is the excessive use of cyclamate. The steamed buns sold in small street shops also have similar problems: In February this year, the Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision and Administration Bureau issued a notice on 57 batches of unqualified food, saying that several dim sum shops processed homemade steamed buns, and their cyclamate used It does not meet the national food safety standards.

　　Supervision allows the use of sweeteners and will be severely punished once abused

　　For the application of sweeteners, my country's "National Food Safety Standard Food Additive Use Standards" has specific regulations on the types of sweeteners that are allowed to be used, the scope of use and the maximum amount of use.

　　In 2019, the General Office of the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guiding Opinions on Regulating the Use of Food Additives", requiring food producers and operators (including catering service providers) to use food additives in strict accordance with the standards, further strengthening the supervision of the use of food additives, and preventing Use of food additives beyond the scope and limit.

　　The State Administration for Market Regulation specifically mentioned that it is actively promoting actions to reduce salt, oil, and sugar, scientifically reduce the sucrose content in processed foods, and advocate the use of natural sweeteners and sweeteners allowed by food safety standards to replace sucrose. At the same time, it is also required that food producers and operators should strengthen the control and inspection of food raw and auxiliary materials, and consolidate the food additives contained in food raw and auxiliary materials to prevent the use of food additives beyond the scope and limit.

　　While sweetener mixtures are widely used, we should also be vigilant about the safety issues of the combined use of multiple sweeteners. The National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center reminds that the combined use of sweeteners in food in my country is common, with 45.61% of foods using two or more sweeteners, and the top five most common sweeteners are acesulfame potassium, Aspartame, Cyclamate, Sucralose and Sodium Saccharin.

　　Once the sweetener is found to be abused, the relevant departments will also severely investigate and deal with it. The Guangdong Provincial Market Supervision Administration has requested the market supervision department in the jurisdiction to investigate and deal with unqualified food and its producers and operators in a timely manner, ordering enterprises to find out the flow of products, take measures such as taking off shelves and recalling unqualified products to control risks, and carry out rectification; At the same time, the market supervision department in the jurisdiction is required to record the relevant information in the food safety credit file of the producer and operator, and disclose relevant information on the website of the supervision department as required.

　　Sweeteners are not an option

　　Natural sweeteners are relatively less risky

　　"At present, sweeteners have become a trend as a substitute for sucrose." Hua Xiao, a professor at the School of Food Science and Technology of Jiangnan University, believes that sweeteners are not an inevitable choice. "The fundamental problem is that consumers currently consume too much energy from food, which exceeds the normal needs of the human body." In his view, it is not the sweetener or sugar itself that is bad, but the excess is bad. "Some citizens choose zero-calorie sweeteners instead of high-energy white sugar in order to restrain excessive energy intake, but if they can follow the dietary guidelines and achieve energy balance, then there is no need to deliberately avoid white sugar, and there is no need to choose sweeteners instead."

　　Hua Xiao believes that both natural sweeteners and artificial sweeteners are food additives, and if they are used in accordance with the national standards for food additives, it can be considered that there is no safety problem. "However, in the case of long-term intake, it can be considered that natural sweeteners are healthier, because natural sweeteners have existed in nature for a long time, and their structure is easier to be metabolized in various metabolic pathways, and will not accumulate in humans. in vivo."

　　According to Hua Xiao, natural sweeteners generally refer to those extracted from plants. Currently, there are three main types of commercial production. Among them, steviol glycoside is the most widely used natural sweetener in the world. A natural substance extracted from the leaves of a Compositae plant in America, and my country is the world's largest planting country of stevia and steviol glycosides; in addition, mogroside in Luo Han Guo and glycyrrhizic acid in licorice are also natural sweeteners. However, the prices of these two sweeteners are currently relatively high due to planting volume and production costs, and there is no large-scale promotion.

　　But even natural sweeteners are controversial in academic circles. Hua Xiao said that there have been many scientific studies that believe that steviol glycosides have positive physiological effects, such as regulating metabolism and fighting cardiovascular diseases, but there are also opinions that sweeteners including steviol glycosides deceive the sweet nerves of the brain, May cause insulin secretion disturbances, but this has not been proven. "In short, all kinds of sweeteners are safe within the scope of regulations, but in the case of long-term intake, the safety risk of natural sweeteners is theoretically smaller."

　　For citizens to choose foods or beverages with sweeteners, Hua Xiao suggests giving priority to those with natural sweeteners. "The raw materials of natural sweeteners are plants and have a long history of consumption. Steviol glycosides can be fermented and metabolized by microorganisms in the human large intestine; while artificial sweeteners are synthesized through chemical reactions and generally cannot be metabolized by the human body. There are some questions about safety."