Can mineral oil be safe to eat if mineral oil is detected in milk powder?

Original title: Milk powder detected mineral oil can rest assured to eat
for babies who can not breastfeed, milk powder is their most important rations. However, a recent inspection report by FoodWatch, a German group, showed that three of the four German milk powders detected aromatic hydrocarbon mineral oil, and five of the 12 milk powder products purchased from France and the Netherlands detected aromatic hydrocarbon mineral oil. The content of aromatic hydrocarbon mineral oils in these affected milk powders is between 0.5 mg and 3 mg per kg.
many moms and dads were very worried when they saw the news. Why is there mineral oil in milk powder? What harm does it do to your baby? Is there mineral oil in the milk powder you have bought home? Can you rest assured that you will give your baby milk powder in the future? In order to answer the doubts of Bao Dad Bao moms, today we have a good chat about mineral oil knowledge.
mineral oil is a large family
mineral oil (MOH) is a class of fat-soluble substances. "One class" means that mineral oil is not a substance, but a large family.
mineral oils can be divided into saturated alkane mineral oil (MOSH) and aromatic hydrocarbon mineral oil (MOAH). According to viscosity can be divided into low viscosity, medium viscosity and high viscosity three categories, the general rule is that the more carbon atoms, the greater the molecular weight, the greater the viscosity, the less toxic.
mineral oils are used for both industrial purposes, such as gasoline, diesel, etc., as well as in food, the most common of which is paraffin. In addition, many cosmetics in life have mineral oil, such as a variety of moisturizing oil, makeup remover oil, skin care products, etc. , in fact, there are mineral oil, mineral oil in the drug also has many applications.
oil in food mainly comes from food packaging
then, why is there mineral oil in milk powder? In fact, in the food industry, mineral oil can be used, on the one hand, as a food additive, on the other hand, in packaging materials are also widely used.
United Nations Joint Committee of Experts on Food Additives has made a detailed safety assessment of food-grade mineral oils and determined that certain mineral oils can be used in food products.
the European Union allows the use of cocoa, chocolate products and other confectionery products, including fresh-mouthed sweets, chewing gum.
U.S. also allows mineral oil to be used in sweets, baked goods, rice and other foods.
China allows mineral oil to be used as a processing aid, often as a desmoticant, release agent, anti-adhesive, lubricant, etc. in fermented food, candy, potato chips and soy products processing, such as candy, eggs film agent.
The European Food Safety Authority has conducted a survey of foods on the market and found that almost all foods contain more or less mineral oil, with the highest average content being sweets (excluding chocolate), vegetable oil, fish products (canned fish), oilseeds, animal fats, fish, nuts, etc.
found that mineral oils in food are mainly derived from food packaging, food additives, processing aids and lubricants. Food packaging is probably the biggest source.
in the milk powder, most likely through printing ink through packaging materials into food raw materials and food. Look at our milk powder now, will use a variety of wrapping paper, packaging cans, packaging cans will be printed with ink on the good-looking patterns and text, these inks in the mineral oil will inevitably enter the food. Therefore, the detection of mineral oil in milk powder is also a reasonable thing.
trace amounts of mineral oil in milk powder will not endanger the health of the baby
For Bao Dad Bao mom, the most concerned about is whether it is safe, after all, milk powder is the baby's rations. In fact, from the present point of view, we need not worry too much.
first of all, although mineral oil will inevitably enter our food, but the general content of mineral oil detected in food is not high, the possible risk is still very low.
, mineral oil can be used as a food additive. As with other permitted food additives, it is safe to use mineral oils as long as they meet national standards.
mineral oil is a fat-soluble substance that accumulates in adipose tissue in the body, so there are concerns about whether it is harmful to health.
In 2012, the United Nations Joint Committee of Experts on Food Additives divided mineral oils into high-viscosity mineral oils and low-viscosity mineral oils, suggesting that the safe daily intake of high-viscosity mineral oils was 0 to 20 mg/kg body weight per person.
The European Food Safety Authority has linked toxicity to the viscosity of mineral oils and has set a safe intake of 12 mg/kg body weight for high-viscosity mineral oils and medium-viscosity mineral oils.
of course, the composition of mineral oil is too complex, different types of mineral oil is very different. The real mineral oil may be a mixture of different structures, and it is unreasonable to simply use this indicator.
the European Food Safety Authority's expert assessment report, the actual intake of mineral oil is in the range of 0.03 to 0.3 mg/kg body weight, and children's intake is higher. Infants who are exclusively breastfed have a range of approximately 0.3 to 0.5 mg/kg body weight. In general, about 15 to 35 per cent of these mineral oils are "aromatic hydrocarbon mineral oils". From this data, infants in Europe consume about 0.05 to 0.18 mg/kg of mineral oil per day.
the highest content of aromatic hydrocarbon mineral oil in the test is 3 mg/ kg, according to this amount of calculation, it can be concluded that the intake of mineral oil through milk powder, no more than pure breast milk infant intake of mineral oil, so it can be said that this mineral oil will not be harmful to the health of the baby.
oil in milk powder is not "illegally added
it is worth mentioning that the mineral oil in milk powder is not "illegally added", adding it is not beneficial to manufacturers.
oil in milk powder is brought in the process of milk powder processing, it may come from "processing aids", or it may come from packaging materials. We can not avoid, can only minimize, the relevant standards for food packaging materials in the amount of mineral oil migration is limited.
conclusion, from the current scientific data, the possible mineral oil in food for health risks are very small, we do not have to worry too much, milk powder should eat or have to eat. In addition, milk powder should pay attention to the purchase in the formal channels.
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