Overall 233 boxes or 1,153 liters of liqueur exported from Poland were detained at Wenzhou port recently because they contained gold foil, which is currently not permitted for use in food production in China.
The CIQ inspectors gave the verdict after referencing the gold foil food additive usage national standard drafted by the General Office of NHFPC in early 2015 and rejected shortly after.
The proposed amendment recommended approving the use of gold foil made of gold with a purity of 99.99 percent as a new kind of food additive in liquor, with a maximum volume of 0.02 grams per kilogram.
Gold foil is popular in Japan and Southeast Asia as a luxury additive used in a wide range of food products, such as gold foil wine, gold foil candies and gold foil cake. It also has a long history of application in the European food industry.
According to CIQ inspectors, gold foil itself does not carry any nutritional value but may significantly increase the product’s aesthetic appeal. Certainly, there’s no obvious health risk with low levels of intake. As an inert metal, gold is non-toxic and cannot break down in human body.
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