White wine prohibits the addition of sodium cyclamate

A few days ago, the National Food and Drug Administration announced the unqualified list of spot checks, which in turn made "sodium cyclamate" the key word for this industry crisis. The list shows that there are various quality problems in nearly 300 liquor products. Among them, unqualified items exposed by many wine enterprises such as Huangtai Wine Group are uniformly planted on additive cyclamate. What is the cyclamate in the end? Is it harmful to health to drink white liquor containing cyclamate?

White wine prohibits the addition of sodium cyclamate

It is understood that this sample of special sampling involves 1,147 production enterprises across the country, and there are 177 batches of 108 batches of liquor sweeteners that are unqualified. For unqualified liquor, the State Food and Drug Administration requires all localities to immediately stop selling and seal up related products.

Experts from the Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, Ji Guangfeng, introduced that cyclamate, also known as sodium cyclohexyl sulfamate, is an artificially produced sweetener in food additives. According to China's National Food Safety Standard "Standard for the Use of Food Additives" (GB2760-2011), sodium cyclamate is a legal food additive, but it is forbidden to be used in liquor and can only be used to make wine. "Using cyclamate in white wine is an over-range addition."

So why are some liquor companies keen to add cyclamate in white wine? Song Shuyu, deputy secretary-general of the China Wine Association, said that for production and processing companies, it has a synergistic effect with saccharin, and the price is low. It itself has no nutritional value for the human body. Some companies add cyclamate to reduce production costs. The second is to improve the taste of wine, but it is not ruled out that other raw materials are improperly used.

Xiao Zhuqing, a well-known wine expert, said that from the unqualified list of sampling inspections announced by the State Food and Drug Administration, substandard companies are basically small businesses or brand names. “Large liquor companies all have a complete quality control system, and cyclamate belongs to the state that it is forbidden to add, and large wine companies will not harm their own brands for the purpose of 'little profits'.”

Sodium cyclamate does not harm plasticizers

It is understood that cyclamate, although soluble in water and propylene glycol, is almost insoluble in ethanol (ie, alcohol), ether, benzene, and chloroform. Excessive cyclamate may harm the body's liver and nervous system, and it is more harmful to elderly, pregnant women and children with weaker metabolic detoxification capabilities. China also strictly limits the amount of sodium cyclamate added to foods. For example, the maximum amount of sodium cyclamate used in beverages is 0.25 g/kg.

The sweetness disturbance of the wine industry caused many people to think of the previous liquor plasticizer incident. However, Yan Guangfeng introduced that cyclamate is different from plasticizers. Plasticizers are illegal additives that are not allowed to be added in any food. Sodium cyclamate is a legitimate food additive and is widely used in processed foods such as beverages and snack foods. “The safety of cyclamate is also high. The daily allowable intake of cyclamate (ADI) is 11 mg/kg. That is, for a consumer who weighs 60 kg, even if cyclamate is eaten every day, The daily intake of no more than 660mg will not harm consumers' health.”

In addition, cyclamate is not allowed to be used in wine. According to national regulations, cyclamate can be used in the formulation of wine. The maximum amount of cyclamate used is 0.65g/kg (calculated as cyclamic acid). Song Shuyu said that according to the current liquor standards, it is not allowed to add cyclamate, and some companies added it, mainly to increase the taste of the product, as long as the added amount is within the specified range, it is not harmful to the human body. However, it should be marked as a wine on the packaging.

Relevant experts also stated that if liquor companies need to adjust the taste of the wine through cyclamate, they should apply for cyclamate in accordance with the relevant regulations of the country to expand the scope of application and apply it after being approved.