The explosion of the “50 cents treat”

Class dismissed and the recess bell resonated around every corner of the Castle Elementary School. Little Bear and his friends were on cleaning duty that day, and they just tidied up the last bit of the classroom.

“We finally finished! ” said Little Bear, he put down the broomstick and stretched his body until his little belly turned up. “A job well done, time to treat you to some delicious rice-sticks! ” Little Bear patted and said to his belly, he was ready to head out for a delicious treat.

As soon as he stepped foot out of the school gate, he ran straight to the convenience store across the street. In no time, Little Bear walked out of the shop with many colorful bags full of all sorts of snacks. Little Bear had a big smile on his face, he couldn't wait to open the bags of deliciousness. As he began to eat, Dr. Micro happened to drive by, and she saw Little Bear beside the street with his snacks.

“Little Bear! I can give you a ride home, just let your teacher know first! ”Dr. Micro parked his car on the side of the street, rolled down his window and waved at Little Bear.

“That would be wonderful! ” said Little Bear with excitement. He opened the car door, threw his backpack and all the snacks onto the passenger seat, and quickly ran to tell his teacher.

Immediately, the car was filled with a rich and pungent smell. Dr. Micro turned to look at the back seat of the car, and she saw several bags of spicy rice-sticks, chips, and other snacks made with plenty of flavoring. There were dried fruits, puffed snacks, and bagged beverages. The snacks had such colorful packaging and names of all sorts, and they were either spicy or sweet in taste. Dr. Micro picked up a couple of them, the oily packaging was enough for her to worry about whether the snacks were safe to eat. Dr. Micro realized that, although the packaging all had a printed“QS” certification on it, the snacks actually contained a lot of additives and flavoring, some snacks even contained more than a few dozen varieties of additives.

After Dr. Micro carefully studied the ingredients printed on the back of the packages, she realized that there were three major food additives in the spicy rice-sticks.

The most common types of sweet additive include APM (aspartame), sodium cyclamate, TGS(trichlorosucrose), acesulfame potassium and neotame. APM was a sweet substance occasionally found in the synthesis of gastrin-secreting hormones, after realizing that it has a sweet taste, it is then used as a sweet additive. APM is about 200 times sweeter than sucrose, and phenylalanine is produced alongside the body's metabolism. Patients with phenylketonuria cannot eat this. Therefore, products containing APM must clearly print that it contains phenylalanine on the label. An excessive intake of cyclamate can also cause harm to the human liver and nervous system; TGS is extracted from sucrose, and there is no evidence to prove that it is harmful. TGS is an ideal sweet additive, but it is difficult to extract and rather expensive to produce.

The most common type of favoring and flavor enhancer include monosodium L-glutamate and disodium 5'-ribonucleotide. monosodium L-glutamate is MSG, and disodium 5'-ribonucleotide have similar functions as MSG. These two types of flavorings can be added to all types of food without having a limit to how much it can be added; it is quite accurate when some people say that spicy rice-sticks contain too much MSG.

Food preservatives usually include water-soluble cake preservatives (sodium dehydroacetate, sodium citrate,sorbic acid), (fat-soluble (glyceryl monostearate, sucrose fatty acid ester), and TBHQ(tertiary butylhydro quinone). Sodium citrate is the most common type of additive, usually made up of citric acid and baking soda. Since it is naturally found in animals and plants, sodium citrate is not poisonous and can be consumed in moderation. Sorbic acid is an unsaturated fatty acid, and long-term intake of large quantities will endanger the health of the kidneys and the liver.

Although speaking of the toxicity of additives is rather subjective without taking the dosage into consideration, after reading through the table of ingredient and nutrition, Dr. Micro's face darkened. People often complain about how spicy rice-sticks are too sweet, too oily and too much added MSG, they actually don't realize that an entire pack exceeds the recommended sodium intake by 1.4 times! Sodium mainly exists in food in the form of sodium chloride, also commonly known as table salt. An excessive intake of salt can lead to high blood pressure, and it can affect the body's ability to absorb calcium, eventually causing osteoporosis. This is extremely bad for primary and middle school students in their stage of puberty.

These cheap snacks that costs less than a dollar are usually made with a lot of additives, which flavors the snacks with different tastes. These snacks are normally priced around 50 cents a bag, so kids are able to buy plenty with their allowance. The price is a good deal to so many students loving these snacks. However, having a healthy diet while consuming safe and nutritious foods are vital for kids as the same age as Little Bear. Snacks such as these 50 cents rice-sticks can be unsafe, the expiration date alongside the production site's sanitation cannot be guaranteed. Consuming an excessive amount of sugar, salt, and fatty foods can also cause constipation and other chronic illnesses. As Dr. Micro saw Little Bear walking towards her with such excitement, she decided that she must call up a boycott on these unsafe and unhealthy 50 cents snacks. The school, parents and authorities should cooperate together to ensure food safety for children.

[Dr. Micro's notes and tips]

Many people ask that since all sweeteners have the same function, what is the purpose of adding so many different kinds at once? First of all, the result of adding different sweeteners is not as simple as 1+1=2. Therefore, adding different types of additives can reduce costs. On the other hand, some sweeteners, such as Acesulfame-K and cyclamate, actually taste bitter in high concentrations. Therefore, to improve the sweet taste and its consistency, different sweeteners are added at various levels. Since it is likely to accede the national standard for sweeteners added, using a variety of different sweeteners can also avoid a single kind exceeding the national regulation.

Different types of preservatives also have different functions. Water soluble preservatives are gluten resistant, while fat soluble preservatives are directed at cooking oils. Similarly, preservatives are also used to enhance the effectiveness of different compounds to avoid a single type of preservative exceeding the national standard's allowance.

Although these 50 cents snacks are usually a good deal and delicious at the same time, they have been repeatedly exposed for containing an excessive amount of food additives, the renowned spicy rice-sticks cannot escape from being exposed either. Dr. Micro recommends consuming natural foods, especially for students in primary or secondary schools who are going through puberty. Compared to those cheap snacks, fruits and vegetables are the best at protecting and enhancing our health.