List of extremely toxic food preservatives

The toxic food preservatives are being used spontaneously, uncontrollably while consumers cannot recognize these toxic substances with the naked eye.

>>>Tips to choose fruits safely, without chemicals

Recently, consumers were very confused when there was information about a woman's apple bought outside the store for 9 months without failure. After that, other information confirmed that fruits sold in markets were mostly 'dipped' through preservatives.

In fact, the use of chemicals to preserve food will have certain advantages such as storing food for a long time, making the business easy and earning a lot of profits. However, because these chemicals also have certain harmful effects, they are only allowed to be added at a restricted concentration. But for profit, business people do not care about this and deliberately ignore it.

The fact that the use of food preservatives is widespread because of the profit targets of traders is leaving very dangerous risks to public health. More remarkably, ordinary users often cannot recognize these toxic substances with the naked eye. Therefore, it is very important to be equipped with knowledge about the toxicity of food preservatives.

Preservatives are used to keep fruits longer.(Illustration)

Here are some common substances used in food preservation and risks to human health:

BHT and BHA (Antioxidants)

To combat the natural oxidation of food, some friendly and non-human health antioxidants like alpha-carotene are recommended by experts.

However, there are toxic substances such as BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) that are still widely used. Some countries have banned the use of these two substances in food preservation due to their effects on human health. However, many people have ignored the danger and still use them in storing products.

According to scientists, BHT and BHA can cause hyperactivity in children, the risk of allergy, and may develop tumor or cancer. BHT and BHA are also considered toxic to the liver and nervous system.

Sodium Nitrate and Sodium Nitrit

These are the two substances commonly used in food preservation. Nitrate and Nitrite can affect health because of vasoconstriction, hypertension, forming Nitrosamin, a chemical that can cause cancer.

Sodium Benzoate

Although Sodium Benzoate is considered safe for humans, however, when combined with ascorbic acid found in acidic foods, it will form benzene, a toxic chemical. Benzene is toxic to blood and hematopoietic organs, neurological organization. Many scientific studies have shown that benzene increases the risk of acute leukemia in people exposed to this chemical at concentrations exceeding the permitted standard.

Sodium Benzoate is also used to preserve bottled fruit juice and carbonated beverages. This chemical can cause side effects such as allergies, asthma, hyperactivity in children, rash, low blood pressure, diarrhea, abdominal pain . These unwanted reactions meet with one billion small ratio in the population.

Sulfur dioxide (SO ₂ )

SO ₂ is used to preserve dried fruits, limiting the appearance of brown marks on the bark of fresh vegetables, such as apples and potatoes. It also makes food look more eye-catching when it has anti-mold effects. However, SO ₂ can cause adverse reactions to human health such as allergies, which increase the frequency of asthma attacks in people with asthma. SO ₂ also reduces the content of Vitamin B in foods.

Carbon monoxide (CO)

CO is widely used in preserving fresh food and vegetables. Normally, fruits and vegetables will be refrigerated immediately after harvest to delay catabolism. They are then packaged under conditions of lower oxygen and CO higher than air so that the food looks fresh, new and more attractive.

CO itself also has the effect of inhibiting the growth of microorganisms, thereby increasing the shelf life of the product. Normally meat under natural oxidation dynamics will discolour, turning from magenta to reddish brown, even gray within a few days.

CO is a colorless, odorless gas, when CO reacts with Myoglobin available in food (usually in the blood and in muscle tissue), forming Cacboxymyoglobine, keeping the flesh fresh and red. Under the preservative effect of CO, fresh food looks more bright and eye-catching colors.

However, high concentrations of CO will cause side effects such as nervous system effects, headache, dizziness . This is because CO inhibits competition with oxygen when associated with hemoglobine of red blood cells, making Red blood cells reduce the ability to transport oxygen. This substance has been banned in countries such as Canada, Japan and European Community countries.

Substance 2,4 D and Dioxin

Recently, there is a lot of information that, in some areas of the northern border provinces of Vietnam, people use 2,4 D to keep fruits longer. 2,4 D is a component of herbicides but when diluted, it helps to keep fruits fresh longer. However, 2,4 D is a poison and is recommended by experts not to use.

In terms of origin, 2,4 D is an ingredient that creates Agent Orange through mixing with 2,4,5 T in the ratio of 50:50. However, only the substance 2,4,5 T contains a very toxic impurity of 2,3,7,8 TCDD (Tetra Chloro Dibenzo-P-Dioxin), also known as dioxin. In other words, although 2.4 D is very toxic, it is neither Agent Orange nor dioxin as many people believe.