The national standard of bean sprouts will be issued soon.

Recently, the "Food Safety National Standard Bean Sprout (draft)" (hereinafter referred to as "draft") solicited opinions from the public. In this draft, residue standards for 6-benzyladenine, gibberellin, sodium 4-chlorophenoxy acetate and ethylene are clearly defined. This also means that these "biological growth regulators" can be legally used in bean sprout production.

On November 15, a technical forum on bean sprout production and a seminar on food safety and standards of bean sprouts, sponsored by the bean products professional committee of the China Food Industry Association, was held in Shanghai. The dispute over the "poisonous bean sprouts" case became the focus of discussion among representatives of enterprises and scholars in the industry.

With regard to the National Standard for Food Safety Bean Sprout (draft), which was consulted a week ago, participants considered that limiting the physical and chemical index of "6-benzyladenine" to less than or equal to 0.2mg/kg, although "more stringent than foreign standards", was also in line with the actual situation, and based on the fact that the residue of the substance was very small, "even lower".

Compliance with growth regulators is harmless for use

Bean sprouts formed by bean sprouting are composed of roots (lateral roots, main roots), stems and leaves (cotyledons). What people can eat are relatively fresh cotyledons and bean sprouts. Bean sprouts have poor eatability because of more bud fibers.

Using 6-benzyladenine to produce bean sprouts can increase the germination rate, make the bean sprouts "rootless, taste and sell well". However, due to the frequent occurrence of "poisonous bean sprouts" in recent years, rootless is considered to be a "toxic and harmful substance". Is "6-benzyladenine" toxic or non-toxic?

"growth regulators are used at very low concentrations and have no effect on the human body." Ye Zixin, a professor at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of Zhejiang University, said, "I began to study plant growth regulators in 1956 and taught plant hormones in the university. After consulting a lot of data, I found that no plant growth regulators in the world are carcinogenic and teratogenic."

The technology without adding bean sprouts is the development direction.

In recent years, the use of "rootless" is considered illegal, and some people in the industry begin to look for alternatives. For example, the Japanese imported equipment represented by Shen Fuxin uses ethylene as a plant hormone to replace the traditional plant growth regulator.

Jin Peng, a sprout farmer in Zhejiang, believes that the price of imported equipment is high, and the quality of bean sprouts produced without adding is uncontrollable, which will take root a little bit and raise costs, which will eventually be passed on to consumers.

Bai Xuechun, deputy general manager in charge of technology of Henan Green Zhongyuan Modern Agriculture Group Co., Ltd., also said that his company is currently using ethylene to produce mung bean sprouts, although there is no difference in quality between mung bean sprouts and bean sprouts produced using regulators, but the output is only 70%. And, after using ethylene, the price of bean sprouts soars. "now in the Zhengzhou market, bean sprouts are already high-end vegetables, and high-end vegetables like cauliflower are cheaper than ours."

Shen Fuxin said frankly that the yield of bean sprouts produced by ethylene is lower than that of growth regulators, but it requires higher environmental control of bean sprouts growth and higher production equipment costs.

In Wu Yuefang's view, it is safe to use plant growth regulators in the growth of bean sprouts and there is no safety risk. The production technology of bean sprouts should continue to move forward in a more advanced and non-added direction. "in the end, there is no addition to achieve the ideal state, but the technology is not yet mature."