“If you ate an apple with paraffin, you killed all the benefits”: the most harmful preservatives are named

The average per capita consumption of fruits and berries in Russia is 63 kilograms per year, 37% less than the norm recommended by the Ministry of Health. It is not surprising that Russians suffering from vitamin deficiency, seeing beautiful fruits and berries on the shelves, immediately reach for their wallets.

Experts warn: be careful, do not buy into a beautiful form. To give the product an attractive and fresh look, manufacturers and trade widely use modern chemical arsenal. Which noticeably, sometimes by as much as two years (!), extends the life of the fruit on the retail shelf. We believe that they are just fresh from the garden or from the tree, they are even really crunchy, but in fact they have been lying in a warehouse for a couple of years.

Alchemists are the envy of

“The list of uses of preservatives for long-term storage of fruits and berries is very wide,” says Yakov Novoselov, an expert in food quality control. – Growth accelerators and complex fertilizers are used – all in order to get the maximum yield in a minimum of time. And, of course, processing of fruits with various reagents that preserve the freshness and attractive appearance of the product.

For example, wax with the addition of aggressive chemicals that prevent air access and the proliferation of microflora. Manufacturers have various gas mixtures at their disposal, including for long-term transportation of products.

Let’s name the most popular means. Ethylene, used in the production of polyethylene. It is also used as an accelerator of fruit ripening in warehouses and storage facilities – citrus fruits, melons, tomatoes. Treatment with the drug gives ripeness, but not real, but decorative. Such fruits do not have such a natural bouquet of tastes and aromas as those ripened in the sun.

Diphenyl is a chemically active substance with a strong antibacterial effect. Increases the shelf life of products. A strong allergen that can cause swelling, swelling of the lips and tongue. In the European Union and in some other regions of the world, it is prohibited for use not only in the food industry, but also in the production of animal feed.

When methyl bromide accumulates in the body, the lungs and kidneys are affected, and the composition of the blood changes. This is an occupational disease of those who treat fruits in warehouses with the drug. If the fruit is sticky, it has probably gone through this drug. It must be washed off with special means or soap and hot water. But it’s better not to buy sticky fruits at all.

Sulfur dioxide prevents the development of mold. It evaporates after chemical treatment, but sulfides remain on the fruit. Dangerous for asthmatics, they destroy vitamin B1, which is beneficial for the body.

Paraffin and wax – they cover apples, pears, and citrus fruits. They prevent the evaporation of moisture from fruits and make their appearance attractive. In combination with sorbic acid, this treatment destroys vitamin B12, which the body needs.

Sulfur dioxide and pesticides are still in use…

Industry representatives and a number of medical professionals claim that all these drugs are easily washed off with cold water and are therefore completely harmless to health. However, once on a fruit or berry, they penetrate inside the plant cell, and no amount of soap and hot water can get them out…

According to the official version, the gifts of the gardens began to live much longer thanks to modern storage facilities, where there is a special environment, ventilation and automatically controlled temperature conditions. This, they say, prevents vegetables and fruits from withering ahead of time.

All this is true, but innovative equipment costs a lot of money and not every large manufacturer can afford it. And such storage facilities do not provide a 100% guarantee of long-term preservation of fruits.

As we see, chemistry comes to the rescue, stretching its arms far. For example, to preserve strawberries for as long as possible, solutions containing up to 40 different components are used—ancient alchemists would be jealous.

Food terrorism

I ask an expert: are there maximum permissible standards for the use of preservatives and what are they? Novoselov answers: not all drugs used today have been included in the standards. In general, the country basically lacks a system of state control – even over existing standards.

“According to Federal Law 94, the system of state supervision over food products has been virtually destroyed,” explains Yakov. – Why is there more than 60% counterfeit milk and dairy products on store shelves? There is no control; it was actually abolished at the state level.

Take the watermelon trade, which actively begins in early July. But even in the Astrakhan region they ripen in the last days of August, not earlier. And in order to ripen two months ahead of schedule, they are pumped with nitrates and urea. These and other tricks with preservatives do not leave their mark on our body.

The expert urges you to choose vegetables and fruits according to the season. Let’s say if you buy Uzbek tomatoes and cucumbers in January, it is clear that they were grown in greenhouses, using growth accelerators and complex fertilizers. They contain a lot of nitrates, but little benefit.

As a rule, poisoning does not occur immediately. But preservatives accumulate in the body, causing an increase in chronic diseases and additional stress on metabolic processes.

“In essence, we consume surrogate products,” continues Novoselov. “This can be considered market chaos, food terrorism.

Let’s remember Karl Marx: there is no crime that capital will not commit for the sake of 300% profit. We can add here that capital will simply change the law, and its crime will no longer be considered a crime.”

It is clear that most fruits and berries on our shelves are imported. A special program is needed, including state support measures, otherwise we will not be able to completely meet domestic needs with the help of domestic producers.

The list of imported products is wide: apples, pears, apricots, peaches, plums, cherries, oranges, grapes – a total of 23 items, including dates, kiwis and pineapples.

Of course, before being sent on a long journey, imports undergo “special treatment” with paraffin, bromide gas and other “chemicals”. As a protective measure, experts recommend not to be fooled by beautiful fruits and still choose domestic fruits and berries. They contain fewer preservatives anyway. Although no one gives any guarantees in this regard, our manufacturers are no better than foreign ones. In addition, imported ones are often sold today under the guise of domestic ones, even with the exact address of the manufacturer, which, however, never existed.

Waste-free technology

The story of extending the life of perishable fruits is quite satisfactory for both trade and the producer, says the coordinator of the civil project “For Honest Products!” Alexander Brazhko. “Today, sellers in supermarkets and bazaars don’t have to worry about preserving the presentation of their products. The life cycle of a tomato from the garden was only 3-5 days, but now it’s at least a month. What’s bad?

Manufacturers are also not at a loss. Previously, what they didn’t have time to sell “fresh” was sent for processing at cheap prices. And today there is nothing to send, waste-free technology.

“Agricultural technology is moving forward and developing not only through the use of organic farming methods, but also as a result of the application of chemical advances,” he says. – The line between benefits for human health and benefits for business today is skewed in favor of capital.

20 years ago, at the collective farm market, fruit prices were highest in the morning, because they came from the garden. By the evening they were decreasing, the fruits were no longer in the same presentation. Now there is no such thing at all.

Chemistry has solved a threefold problem: it has increased shelf life in warehouses, figured out how to prevent products from spoiling during transportation and have a marketable appearance already on the shelf.

Due to the fact that there are no mass cases of poisoning, Brazhko continues, the state does not notice this problem, it is as if it does not exist. We ourselves believe that if there is no, say, nausea or diarrhea, then everything is fine. Although some preservatives are not excreted from the body, they have a cumulative effect. And it neutralizes the benefits of such vegetables and fruits.

I ate an apple with paraffin and lost the benefits of vitamins. Well, at least write: treated with paraffin! Give the buyer this information, indicate the percentage of content! We buy fruits to “charge” the body with vitamins and microelements, and in essence, we eat dietary fiber.

Tips for gardeners

If you want to consume natural fruits without preservatives, and if you have the opportunity to grow them on your own plot, then there are many popular tips for their long-term storage.

In particular, do not store fruits and vegetables nearby. Ripening fruits can trigger accelerated ripening of vegetables.

In apples, as in pears, the main thing is to use winter, late varieties. Such as Freshness, Moscow Winter, in memory of Michurin or Ales of the Belarusian selection. Without any chemical treatment, in a cool place, they can retain their presentation and nutritional value until May. The desired storage temperature is about 2 degrees. Gardeners recommend the same for pears.

To preserve grapes for as long as possible, you need table varieties; they determine a lot. For example, Lydia or Esther (P15). Before storing, the bunches need to be kept in a soda solution for a while. Store in a cool place – basement or cellar – in a suspended state. Until the new year, the grapes will be as if they had just been picked, and for experienced gardeners they can remain in their original condition until March 8th.