Are puffed foods really harmful?

Puffed food appeared in the market in the 1960s. Later, it quickly became popular in various countries because of its unique taste, simple eating and various patterns. It has long occupied the most frequently purchased snack types with chocolate, wafers and other foods.

However, the long-term sales advertisements and puffed food have left us with a stereotyped image. Recently, many consumers said that when they saw the product category as "oil-containing puffed food", they were very worried about whether it was an unhealthy snack. Puffing = harmful, puffed food means high salt, high sugar, high calorie, high additives... All in all, unhealthy.

But is it really so?
Let's first understand what puffing is.

Puffing is the process of volume expansion or tissue loosening of food raw materials after being heated or pressure difference changed.
The puffing process is the process of puffing the raw materials in the food production process. For different types of puffed food, different processing methods are used.

According to GB 17401-2014 "National Food Safety Standard Puffed Food", puffed food can be divided into "oil-containing puffed food" and "non-oil-containing puffed food". "Oil-containing puffed food" is not the same as "fried food", it includes the way of frying with edible oil, and also includes the way of adding or spraying edible oil during production.

According to GB/T 22699-2008 "Puffed Food", puffed food can be divided into 5 categories according to the processing technology, namely baked type, fried type, direct extrusion type, color type and other types.

·Baking type: Grind the raw material into powder, add water and steam to mix it into a paste, and use a machine to press it into a specific shape as a blank. After the billet is dried, it is sprayed with edible oil, and then baked with hot air or hot sand, and the moisture in it is heated to expand to form puffing.

·Frying type: Grind the raw material into powder, add water and steam to mix it into a paste, and use a machine to press it into a specific shape as a billet. After the billet is dried, it is fried in edible oil to form puffing.

·Direct extrusion type: The raw material is extruded by the extruder, and under the condition of high temperature and high pressure, the moisture in the raw material is vaporized by the pressure difference inside and outside the machine to form puffing. Extrusion technology is the main technology for the production of puffed food in the world.

·Color type: made of baked, fried or directly extruded products as blanks, sandwiched, injected or coated with accessories such as oil, sauce or nuts

·Other types: The puffing is formed by microwave, air flow or vacuum.

It can be seen that, except for the fried type, which seems to be able to touch the high heat, other food "puffing" processes are some physical processing methods. Moreover, fried puffing is not the same as oil-containing puffing. Oil-containing puffing may be the addition of edible oil during baking, extrusion or other puffing.

At present, extrusion technology is the main technology for the production of puffed food in the world. The food made by extrusion and puffing also has the advantages of stable composition, less nutrient loss, and easy digestion and absorption. It is used in the production of infant formula rice noodles. occupies an important position.

To sum up, we should not demonize "puffed food". Puffed food is not directly equivalent to harmful junk food. The main reasons for the stereotype and harmful impression are the high calories of the raw materials themselves and the addition of some seasonings and additives. of. So when you choose, you should pay attention to the food label. In addition to looking at the product type, it is more important to look at the ingredient list, and choose products without umami agents such as monosodium glutamate, sodium glutamate, and other excessive seasonings and additives. When edible oil appears in the ingredient list, you can ask the merchant about the addition method and amount of edible oil. At the same time, pay attention to the fat and sodium values in the Nutrition Facts Table, and try to choose products with low sodium and relatively low fat content.

Like other foods, puffed food has advantages and disadvantages. We make reasonable choices, pay attention to dietary matching, and balance nutrition, which will be more beneficial to our health.