Biomimetic food: using fake food as real food?
2023-09-21
After the white dew, the autumn atmosphere became stronger, and people ate hotpot more often around the stove. In addition to fresh vegetables and beef and mutton, many people also like to rinse some shrimp balls and crab sticks at the same time. However, many "foodies" also know that crab sticks do not have crabs, shrimp balls do not have shrimp, they are just "high imitation" foods with similar flavors to real shrimp and crabs. So, is this' imitation 'of food considered fake? Will consuming this food cause harm to the body? Let's hear from experts in the field of food science. What is biomimetic food? "The common frozen shrimp balls and crab sticks on the market are actually biomimetic foods made from fish mince seasoning." Professor Liu Shaowei, a member of the expert group of the Shanghai Food Safety Research Association, said in an interview with the China Consumer Daily that biomimetic food usually refers to artificial food that uses food processing technology to simulate the nutrition, flavor, or shape of natural food using ordinary food. This type of food generally selects ordinary food with similar or similar nutritional components as raw materials, which has the advantages of low price and similar appearance and taste to natural food. For example, the common biomimetic foods in some restaurants or supermarket containers are biomimetic marine foods and biomimetic meat products. The former, such as fish balls, crab meat sticks, shrimp balls, are mostly made of fish paste, starch, water, salt, and some food additives, while the latter, including some vegetarian tripe, vegetarian crab, vegetarian chicken, and vegetarian duck, are mostly made of konjac flour or soy protein, pea protein, gluten protein, etc. So, why do people produce biomimetic food? Liu Shaowei explained using biomimetic marine food as an example that a large number of small marine organisms and small fish have many small spines that are caught, and their edible value is also low. Therefore, making fish paste from the processing leftovers of these small or large fish as raw materials for making biomimetic marine food can solve some fish utilization problems. At the same time, by combining with other raw materials, it can compensate for the nutritional deficiencies of natural foods: fish with high fat content, supplemented by plant protein, can reduce the body's intake of fat; Marine products are rich in lysine, supplemented by ingredients rich in tryptophan, and can be prepared into new types of food with more reasonable nutritional ratios and better flavors. Can Biomimetic Food Harm Human Health? Is Biomimetic Food Safe? Will it harm your health? Liu Shaowei stated that although biomimetic food does not contain real shrimp or crabs, it is not a "dangerous food polymerized from chemical raw materials" that is rumored online. It is only an innovation in modern food technology. As long as production is standardized, biomimetic food has no safety or nutritional issues. Except for minced fish, most of our common biomimetic foods nowadays use soy protein and starch, mixed in a certain proportion, and then extruded with food additives; Others are made from sodium alginate and konjac flour, followed by the addition of protein, starch, and flavoring substances. Many of these ingredients themselves are excellent nutrients, such as konjac flour, which is a type of glucomannan that helps to lose weight, relieve constipation, and lower blood sugar. As for food additives, as long as they are within the scope of national standards, consumers can confidently consume them. For example, compound phosphates, also known as meatballs, are a common food
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Source：gmw
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