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    Home > Food News > Food Articles > Is the whitening lotus safe?

    Is the whitening lotus safe?

    • Last Update: 2020-09-17
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    Original title: "Whitening" Lotus Safe?
    is an important aquatic vegetable in China, with a cultivation history of more than 3000 years, and is rich in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta and Dongting Lake. The fat lotus is delicious and nutritious and is loved by many people. However, when harvesting white and tender lotus due to high water content, not resistant to storage and transportation, often blackened at the first place, not only affect the value of the face, but also affect the quality.
    In recent years, the market everywhere can be seen some "white rich beauty" lotus, looks clean and refreshing, very happy, and can withstand storage, buy home for several days will not turn black, so quickly became the darling of the lotus market.
    but some consumers can not help but have doubts, the common lotus seems to be "dirty", this kind of white lotus how to come? Will there be any special "beauty methods"? According to the investigation, this high-value lotus is soaked with citric acid solution.
    you use citric acid to bubble lotus?
    lotus changes color mainly because polyphenol oxytoxase (PPO) catalytic phenolic compounds oxidize, producing tanned quinine, which is then automatically polymerized to form dark substances. So the lotus grows dark spots. Inhibiting the activity of PPO in lotus is the key to preventing the browning process. PPO is a kind of copper-containing enzyme, citric acid can reduce pH, but also can chelate some metal ions, so it can significantly reduce the activity of PPO, inhibit enzymatic browning, play a color protection effect.
    In fact, it is not unusual to use citric acid to protect the lotus, but a fruit and vegetable chemical preservation method used long ago, especially for freshly cut lotus, the use of a certain concentration of citric acid with other ingredients, is an important means to prevent browning. Some ready-to-eat packaging tablets are added to the tablets of citric acid and other substances that inhibit PPO activity.
    citric acid harmful to human health?
    Citric Acid , also known as phosphonateacid , is an organic acid widely distributed in nature , and common fruits including lemons , citrus , pineapples , grapes , etc. contain citric acid , especially in lemons and green lemons . Citric acid is also an important compound in the body's metabolic process of sugars, proteins, and fats, a series of metabolic reactions known as the "citric acid cycle" or "tricarbonate cycle".
    citric acid is also an important food additive, is the most commonly used acid flavor agent, China's "food additives use standards" (GB2760-2014) stipulates: "citric acid can be used in various types of food according to the production needs of the appropriate amount of food additives, but also in various types of food processing processing processes, residues do not need to limit the amount of processing aids." Citric acid
    , such as beverages, jams, sweets, frozen foods, etc. are added to many foods commonly found in the world. Citric acid is also allowed as an acidity regulator in infant formula and infant ancillary foods. The kettle descaling agent used in daily life, its main ingredient is also citric acid. From this point of view, citric acid is not harmful to health. The reason why the use of citric acid bubble lotus has attracted the attention of consumers and regulators, mainly because the use of citric acid is not qualified or excessive dosing.
    Intranslative citric acid harm
    citric acid is a commonly used browning inhibitor, with the appropriate concentration of citric acid solution to treat lotus, potatoes, fruits and other easily browned food is not a big problem, but some traders in order to reduce costs, with industrial citric acid to soak lotus. Industrial citric acid and food-grade citric acid although the main ingredients, but the quality specifications of different requirements. The quality requirements for citric acid used in food products are specified in the Food Additive Citric acid (GB1987-2007) and there are strict limits on the impurities and harmful ingredients contained therein, of which arsenic must not exceed 1 mg/kg and lead shall not exceed 0.5 mg/kg.
    industrial-grade citric acid, as the name implies, is for industrial use, not for people to eat, so some indicators are not strict, such as heavy metals and other harmful substances content is significantly higher than food-grade citric acid. Soaking lotus with industrial citric acid can cause harmful ingredient residues and harm consumer health.
    In addition, because the greater the use of citric acid, the better the color protection effect of the lotus, so many vendors in order to enhance the effect, a large number of citric acid, which will inevitably cause too much citric acid residue in the lotus, affecting its taste and flavor. Although citric acid is more safe, high intake can irritate the digestive tract and cause discomfort, especially in people with stomach ulcers and excess stomach acid.
    in short, it is difficult for consumers to determine whether vendors use industrial citric acid or food-grade citric acid, in the end how much. In terms of insurance, it's better to buy a lotus that shows people by nature. Unprocessed lotus slightly with sediment, dark color, the surface is not smooth, there is a smell of soil rather than sour taste.
    can I prevent lotus from turning black at home?
    the enzymatic browning of lotus is a chemical process involving enzymes and oxygen, which can be slowed by cutting off any of these links.
    If you want to steam or cook lotus, need a soft taste, you can first use boiling water hot for more than 70 seconds, so that PPO inactive, thereby preventing browning. It is best to use a casserole when cooking lotus, not an iron pan. Because the polyphenols contained in the lotus can be combined with iron ions to form a purple or blue-black compound, so that the made lotus becomes black, vegetable soup is like ink, although there is no harm, but very affect appetite.
    If you want to fry or mix lotus, need a crisp taste, it is not suitable for early hot, you can put it in clean water soaked, isolated air, but also to slow oxidation blackening. Add vinegar to the water, reduce pH, but also inhibit the activity of PPO, further delay browning, and can make lotus more crisp. (Ma Guansheng, Head of the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Peking University)
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