Recently, a video of an unannounced visit to baby vegetables soaked in formaldehyde went viral among friends.
The reporter’s investigation found that in order to prevent corrosion and keep fresh, the merchants actually soaked the baby vegetables with formaldehyde.
The root of the baby vegetable is white, and you will be fine if you leave it for three days. If you don’t dip it, the root will turn black in one day.
Soaking in formaldehyde for three days will not turn black.
What? Formaldehyde? Isn’t formaldehyde with a concentration of 4% formaldehyde with a concentration of 10% formalin the solution used to soak corpses in hospitals?
As a result, some people were worried:
Does formaldehyde really exist to keep baby vegetables fresh?
Can we still rest assured to eat baby food?
Today, Dr. Clove will tell you about the formaldehyde soaking in baby vegetables.
Is formaldehyde eaten through food harmful?
In fact, formaldehyde in food is not as risky as people think.
Formaldehyde does have an anti-corrosion effect, and hospitals do use formalin with a concentration of 10% (formaldehyde solution with a concentration of 4%) to soak corpses.
However, even if vendors do use formaldehyde to treat baby vegetables, they are not directly soaked in formalin solution as we imagined. In order to achieve the antiseptic effect of food, about 0.1% formaldehyde solution is enough, and the concentration is far less than formalin.
Eating large amounts of formaldehyde in a short period of time may lead to acute poisoning. However, unless it is taken orally by mistake, ordinary people usually do not reach the amount of acute poisoning by eating vegetables.
If it is small, what will happen if it is ingested for a long time?
According to the World Health Organization, the average person inhales formaldehyde mainly through the respiratory tract. However, our nose will help us to warn and distinguish it before reaching the concentration that causes harm to health. If we use more formaldehyde on baby vegetables, our nose will immediately find it.
The most worrying question is whether formaldehyde ingested through food will cause cancer.
What is reassuring is that the World Health Organization believes that formaldehyde ingested through food will not cause cancer, and the main harm of formaldehyde lies in inhalation.
What should I do if someone really uses formaldehyde to treat food?
Formaldehyde volatilizes easily at high temperatures. Generally speaking, formaldehyde will be removed during transportation, storage and cooking, so there is no need to give up baby food because of panic.
If you are still not at ease with baby food and worry about formaldehyde, you can pay attention to these points:
- Go to regular supermarkets and markets to buy vegetables, In this way, the probability of buying baby vegetables soaked in illegal formaldehyde will be smaller. Because formaldehyde is extremely soluble in water, you may as well use flowing water to wash several times after buying home. Because formaldehyde is easy to volatilize at high temperature, food should be thoroughly heated. Keep a balanced diet in daily diet to reduce the possibility of intake of too much formaldehyde from foods that may be contaminated by formaldehyde.
In fact, what we should really worry about is formaldehyde pollution in the air, such as decoration pollution. Want to know more about formaldehyde pollution? Click: Secret History: Formaldehyde, King of Indoor Pollutants
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