The weather is gradually getting hot, and many office workers who are accustomed to taking lunch have to start ordering due to concerns about food spoilage. But many people have found that the quality of food delivery boxes is confusing; At the same time, people have developed the habit of "eating too much to go around" after dining out, but not all the disposable lunch boxes provided in restaurants are safe and reliable. What kind of disposable lunch box is safe? The reporter conducted an investigation this week.

   

classic case

The 'environmentally friendly lunch box' leaked oil in 5 minutes

Miss Liu, who works in the bank, told the reporter that when she came home from work a few days ago, she saw a small shop next to the community set up a Spicy Hot Pot stall. The business of the shop was very good, and the only four tables were full of guests. So he asked the stall owner to make a Spicy Hot Pot for himself and take it away. But after not staying long at home, I saw a layer of red oil at the bottom of the plastic bag containing the lunch box. "Doubtfully, I carefully checked the lunch box, and the lid also read" Eco friendly Dining Box ". With a gentle tear, the lunch box broke, and upon closer inspection, I could still smell a smell of chemicals.

The reporter discovered that

Differences in quality of various fast food boxes

The reporter immediately visited multiple restaurants in residential or office areas such as Caihuying, Zizhuqiao, and Lugu, and found that there are a wide variety of disposable fast food boxes, including not only banned "foam lunch boxes", but also repeatedly exposed waste plastic lunch boxes. And the quality of these fast food boxes is even more uneven.

Discovery 1

Paper lunch boxes can be 'degraded'

The reporter first arrived at a popular and large-scale restaurant located near Baizhifang Bridge. After the meal, the reporter was ready to pack and take away the remaining food. The waiter brought two lunch boxes to the reporter, which felt to be made of paper material and had a rough surface like linen. The inside of the lunch box was a smooth paper surface, with the words "degradable lunch box" on the lid. The reporter put the lunch box close to his nose and smelled it, There is no pungent odor. After half an hour, the reporter found that the bottom of the lunch box had oil seeping through the paper, but the lunch box was still very stiff.

Discovery 2

Use prohibited foam lunch boxes

The reporter came to a snack bar not far from the restaurant. As soon as he entered the bar, he saw a large bag of foam lunch boxes that had been banned. The reporter noticed that the waiters also use this type of foam lunch box when packaging for customers, but no customers have expressed doubts about this. The reporter chatted with the landlady during the checkout, and the other party said, "This type of lunch box is large and contains a lot of things. The plastic lunch box is too small and not easy to use

Discovery 3

Poor quality lunch boxes are labeled as' environmentally friendly '

In many restaurants in areas such as Caihuying, Zizhuqiao, and Lugu, most of the plastic "environmentally friendly lunch boxes" used are thin and soft to the touch. Two food boxes are stacked together, and the top one easily compresses the bottom one, The service staff explained, "This convenient lunch box is like this. If you don't need to cover it with another box, there should be no problem with the two layers." The reporter also clearly smelled the smell of chemical materials in this lunch box.

Market research

Question 1

Cheap lunch boxes are all "environmentally friendly"

The reporter came to a wholesale market located in the South Fourth Ring Road, where there are more than ten stalls selling disposable food boxes. The reporter inquired about three stalls selling disposable plastic food boxes based on purchasing reasons. One of the bosses stated that 12 yuan per box, 150 plastic food boxes per box, or 8 cents per box. Upon seeing the reporter's inquiry, several people around also came to promote their own lunch boxes. A young vendor asked the reporter how many boxes they wanted, and if they wanted more, the price could be further discussed. The reporter asked, "Are these lunch boxes environmentally friendly.

Question 2

Poor quality food boxes flow to restaurants

Subsequently, the reporter learned that the wholesale prices of plastic lunch boxes here are mostly between 0.06 and 0.1 yuan per unit, and there are also environmentally friendly lunch boxes with wholesale prices around 0.2 yuan per unit, A stall owner's wife hesitated when she saw the reporter and revealed the truth: "You don't care if it's environmentally friendly or not when you're doing business. It's all printed with the label 'environmentally friendly and degradable'. Isn't it cheap? All the restaurants in the city are wholesale here. Over 20% environmentally friendly, how can anyone buy them?" The reporter asked if these lunch boxes can withstand high temperatures, but the other party said that as long as you don't use them to hold things like freshly cooked or grilled skewers, they can hardly be transformed.

Question 3

Environmentally friendly lunch boxes have high prices and sales have suffered setbacks

The reporter learned that the current price disadvantage is an important reason why environmentally friendly packaging lunch boxes are difficult to establish a foothold. Taking the new type of green tableware as an example, the cost of pulp molded tableware products is at least 0.3 yuan each, plant fiber (rice husk) tableware is above 0.2 yuan each, cardboard tableware has a higher cost of over 0.4 yuan each, while the cost of disposable expanded polystyrene tableware is only 0.07 yuan. So, when green packaging products compete with inferior packaging lunch boxes, it is difficult to win the market.

Question 4

Most citizens do not understand how to distinguish

The reporter randomly interviewed more than 20 citizens and found that most of them were not clear about how to distinguish between environmentally friendly disposable lunch boxes. They thought that if the words "environmentally friendly degradation" were printed on the lunch boxes, they should be environmentally friendly lunch boxes, without considering any harm to their health.

Expert reminder

Waste plastic lunch box contains carcinogen

Professor He Jiguo, from the School of food science and Nutrition Engineering of China Agricultural University, said in an interview that when the foam lunch box, which is officially prohibited by the state, is heated to 65 degrees Celsius, it will release "dioxins" that cause cancer.

Previously, according to the Weekly Quality Report of CCTV, a large amount of industrial calcium carbonate harmful to human health, as well as waste plastics and industrial paraffin containing carcinogen were added to the disposable lunch boxes produced in violation of regulations. And relevant departments' testing also found that in this type of meal box, acetic acid exceeds 160 times the standard, and n-ethane exceeds 18 times the standard, which is prone to the formation of gallstones and kidney stones; The large amount of heavy metals contained in the lunch box also poses great harm to the digestive tract and nervous system of the human body, affecting the nervous system of developing children and even leading to ADHD.

Authoritative Interpretation

Unclear standards and lack of basis for law enforcement

According to industry insiders, several departments are currently supervising plastic packaging and containers for food, which leads to unclear standard interpretation and functional division; At the same time, for tableware, China has the General technology Conditions for Disposable Degradable Catering Utensils, and the Ministry of Health also has the Hygienic Standard for Polypropylene Molding Products for Food Packaging, which often leads to inconsistent standards referred by various enterprises. At present, the Ministry of Health does not have any hygiene standards for the safety of tableware products, including the requirements for oil leakage and pressure resistance of tableware, and whether waste plastic can be used.

Dong Jinshi, an environmental protection expert who has long been concerned about the safety of food packaging, said that at the beginning of this year, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China announced the crackdown on 39 types of products that have been included in the food packaging market without production licenses, requiring relevant enterprises not to produce, sell, or use plastic bags, fast food boxes, cling films, and other food packaging, containers, and tools that have not been QS marked.

Expert recruitment

8 moves to identify toxic food boxes

As far as consumers are concerned, how can they distinguish inferior disposable plastic tableware? Dong Jinshi introduced several identification methods:

Smell: It smells pungent and even stings the eyes.

Tear: Poor quality lunch boxes feel soft and can easily break with a gentle tear.

Fold: A fold will result in white wax marks.

Leakage: It will deform when exposed to heat, and there is also oil and water seepage.

Sinking: After tearing, it is easy to sink when placed in water (qualified products with a specific gravity less than 1 will not sink).

Price: The price of a qualified lunch box is above 0.13 yuan, while the price of a low-quality lunch box is mostly below 0.1 yuan.

Touch: The inner wall of the box is rough and feels rough, indicating that there are solid residues on the inner wall; Under light irradiation, there are obvious irregular small black spots inside the box surface material.

Certificate: Qualified disposable lunch boxes have certificates issued by quality inspection and other departments, and consumers have the right to request these certificates from merchants when purchasing disposable lunch boxes.