Copper chlorophyll, also known as chlorophyll copper, is a kind of derivative of chlorophyll. Sodium copper chlorophyllin and potassium copper chlorophyllin are commonly used. They are often used as colorants in the food industry, which is also known as pigment.
Chlorophyll is the most widely distributed natural pigment on the earth, which mainly exists in green plants. However, chlorophyll is extremely unstable. There is a magnesium ion in the structure of chlorophyll, which is very unstable and easy to fall out and change color, so it is difficult to be applied in food industry. In order to solve this problem, people replace the easily dropped magnesium ion with other metal ions, such as copper ion, sodium ion and potassium ion, to obtain chlorophyll derivatives, namely sodium copper chlorophyllin and potassium copper chlorophyllin. In practical application, people usually extract chlorophyll from silkworm excrement and other plants, and then saponify and copper to produce chlorophyll derivatives. People often regard it as a natural edible pigment, and now it can also be synthesized artificially.
Sodium copper chlorophyllin is widely used as a colorant in food industry. In China's food additive standard gb2760-2011, sodium copper chlorophyllin can be used in frozen drinks, canned vegetables, cooked beans, processed nuts, candy, baked goods, fruit and vegetable juice, prepared wine and other foods, and the maximum consumption shall not exceed 0.5g/kg.
In addition, sodium copper chlorophyllin is also used in the field of medicine. Medical research shows that sodium copper chlorophyllin or its derivatives are easily absorbed by the human body. It can promote the metabolism of cells, promote the healing of gastrointestinal ulcer, and promote the recovery of liver function. It is often used to treat infectious hepatitis, gastric and duodenal ulcer and other diseases.
However, the application of sodium copper chlorophyllin in food does not include edible oil. Therefore, if some businesses use sodium copper chlorophyllin in edible oil, whether it is harmful or not, it is in violation of China's laws and regulations and should be severely punished.
Since it is not allowed to use, why should businesses add sodium copper chlorophyllin to edible oil? It's for profit. According to the report released by the US Department of agriculture in September this year, the average price of sunflower seed oil in the US market from October 2012 to September 2013 was US $1456 per ton, about RMB 9000 per ton; The average price of soybean oil per ton is 1049 dollars, about 6500 yuan. The import price of genuine extra virgin olive oil is 32000-36000 yuan per ton. Even if the cost of sunflower seed oil is higher, the cost per ton of edible oil is only about one third of that of genuine extra virgin olive oil. Under the temptation of huge profits, it is no wonder that businesses will add sodium copper chlorophyllin to sunflower seed oil and soybean oil to sell as olive oil.
A lot of virgin olive oil on the market, because it is not fully refined, also contains some chlorophyll, so it looks yellow green. Therefore, many people think that as long as olive oil is yellow green, it has become an important basis for people to choose olive oil. In this incident, people's misconception was also used by businesses.
In fact, olive oil is not all yellow green. The color of olive oil mainly comes from chlorophyll and carotenoids. Fully refined olive oil is yellow due to the removal of chlorophyll and other pigments. Due to different pressing pressure and refining degree, olive oil will show different colors. The deeper the refining degree is, the lighter the green color of olive oil is, which is almost pure yellow. In addition, because chlorophyll is easily oxidized, even the yellow green virgin olive oil will gradually lose its green color and become almost yellow after being stored for a long time. This also reminds consumers that when choosing olive oil, they should not only look at the color.
However, consumers should not worry too much about the harmful effects of this kind of oil on their health. The Joint Expert Committee on food additives (JECFA) of FAO and who assessed the safety of sodium copper chlorophyllin. The results showed that the LD50 of sodium copper chlorophyllin was more than 10 000 mg / kg and the ADI was 0-15 mg / kg. It is recommended that the daily amount of edible oil should not exceed 25g. If it is reasonably consumed, it will not exceed the ADI value and will not cause harm to human health. It should be noted that olive oil is also fat after all. Even though it is a relatively healthy fat, eating more will increase energy and weight, which is not good for health.
