echemi logo
Product
  • Product
  • Supplier
  • Inquiry
    Home > Food News > Nutrition News > Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives?

    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives?

    • Last Update: 2021-06-28
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
    Search more information of high quality chemicals, good prices and reliable suppliers, visit www.echemi.com

    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives? You should know these 3 secrets!
     
    When it comes to food additives, many people think that they are all harmful chemicals, and they are chemicals that have been used by businesses to learn from foreign countries in recent years
    .
    Many people think that the ancients did not use food additives and still made delicious food
    .
    Is it true? Did the ancients really use food additives?
     
    Additives have been used for more than 10,000 years
     
    Food additives are synthetic or natural substances added to food to improve the quality of food color, aroma, and taste, as well as for the needs of anti-corrosion and processing technology
    .
    The history of the use of food additives is actually earlier than many of us thought
    .
    Studies have shown that humans have already used food additives more than 10,000 years ago
    .
    So, what was the first additive used? From a global perspective, the earliest food additive used by humans may be salt
    .
     
    Moreover, table salt was first discovered by the Chinese
    .
    In Chinese, the original meaning of the word "salt" means "to boil bittern in a vessel"
    .
    "Shuowen" says: the natural one is called bittern, and the cooked one is called salt
    .
    According to experts, the Chinese learned to cook sea salt during the period between Shennong (Yandi) and Huangdi, that is, between 5000 BC and 3000 BC at the latest
    .
    The salt frying utensils unearthed in Fujian in the 1950s just proved this point
    .
    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives? You should know these 3 secrets!
     
    The main ingredient of table salt is actually sodium chloride
    .
    Although we are not managed as a food additive now
    .
    However, it is actually a chemical substance, and it is actively used by humans to improve the taste of food and supplement nutrition to the human body
    .
    Because table salt is an indispensable substance for the human body to carry out normal physiological activities, it needs about 5-6 grams per person per day
    .
     
    The first human beings lived by hunting, and their main food was the meat of wild beasts.
    The salt needed by the body can be obtained from meat food
    .
    However, with the settlement of humans and the emergence of agricultural production, the availability of salt has become a problem
    .
    In this sense, the discovery and purposeful use of table salt has become an inherent requirement of human life
    .
    Therefore, historians also believe that the emergence of food additives is not accidental, but a product of human society's development to a certain stage
    .
     
    What food additives did the ancients use?
     
    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives? You should know these 3 secrets!
    More than 6000 years ago, during the Dawenkou culture period, invertase (invertase) was discovered for winemaking
    .
    "
     
    According to historical records, during the Zhou Dynasty, the Chinese had already used cinnamon to enhance fragrance
    .
     
    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives? You should know these 3 secrets!
    As early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, bittern was used as a coagulant to make tofu
    .
    During the Eastern Han Dynasty, around 25-220 AD, Chinese ancestors began the tradition of using coagulant bittern to make tofu
    .

    Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the formula ratio of "one alum, two alkalis and three salts" has been used in frying dough sticks
    .
    Surprisingly, this technology lasts forever and is still in use today
    .
    Chinese people have eaten fried dough sticks and tofu for thousands of years.
    There has not been a single case of poisoning caused by long-term consumption of this food in history
    .
    According to "Shi Jing" records, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, people first applied fermentation technology to steamed buns.
    At the same time, in order to solve the problem of noodle fermentation, people used the technology of adding alkaline noodles
    .
     
    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives? You should know these 3 secrets!
     
    There is also nitrite
    .
    As a food additive, nitrite has been used in the production of bacon in the Song Dynasty in China.
    Its role is to prevent corrosion and color protection.
    Moreover, this technology was introduced to Europe in the 13th century and was widely used and welcomed by European society
    .

     
    In the 6th century AD, agricultural scientist Jia Sixie also recorded the method of using natural pigments in food in Qi Min Yao Shu
    .
     
    Can ancient people make delicious food without using food additives? You should know these 3 secrets!
     
    Supervision of China's food additives starts late
     
    Although China has a long history of using food additives, our supervision of food additives started relatively late
    .
     
    China only started formal management of food additives in 1981 and promulgated the first "Sanitary Standards for the Use of Food Additives" (GB2760), which has only been 36 years
    .
     
    The management of food additives in developed countries has a history of hundreds of years
    .
    For example, our neighboring country, Japan, has been implementing legislation and management of food additives since the Meiji Restoration
    .

     
    In recent years, a large number of media reports have claimed that food additives are harmful to health, such as Sudan red and hanging white block incidents
    .
    In fact, this is completely a misunderstanding of food additives
    .
    Sudan red and hanging white block are not food additives, but illegal additives
    .
    The legal additives that are used regularly are actually very safe
    .
     
    Reference materials:
     
    [1] Yang Huqing, Huang Sujuan.
    The past, present and future of food pigments[J].
    Chinese Food Additives, 2002, (3): 10-14, 102.
     
    [2] Wang Changzhu, Wu Jie, Gao Xiaoyu, etc.
    The history, reality and future of food additives[J].
    China Food Additives, 2014, (1): 61-67.
     
    [3]Sun Baoguo.
    The development trend of food additives in China[J].
    Science Chinese, 2012, (10): 14-19.
     
    ----------------
     
    Author: Ruan Guangfeng, Director of the Science and Technology Department of the Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, 2016 Health Toutiao, a member of the expert group of the China Food Anti-Rumor Alliance, deputy director of the Guok.
    com Food Research Institute, a signed author of Toutiao, and a columnist
    .
    WeChat public account: ruanguangfeng
    .

     
    Welcome to pay attention and gain more useful, informative and reliable food knowledge
    .
    Please contact my WeChat public account for reprinting
    .

    This article is an English version of an article which is originally in the Chinese language on echemi.com and is provided for information purposes only. This website makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness ownership or reliability of the article or any translations thereof. If you have any concerns or complaints relating to the article, please send an email, providing a detailed description of the concern or complaint, to service@echemi.com. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days. Once verified, infringing content will be removed immediately.

    Contact Us

    The source of this page with content of products and services is from Internet, which doesn't represent ECHEMI's opinion. If you have any queries, please write to service@echemi.com. It will be replied within 5 days.

    Moreover, if you find any instances of plagiarism from the page, please send email to service@echemi.com with relevant evidence.