Dahe Daily Yu ** reporter Wei Chaolin Wang Weiyi
Red light with pure white, pork is more tender; Red light with warm white, cooked food is brighter...Once upon a time, cooked food, fruits, vegetables, etc., under the "beauty filter" of the "fresh lamp", by adjusting the color, brightness, color temperature, etc., the fresh food (especially meat) looked brighter, more watery, and more attractive. "Fresh lights" have become a must-have "artifact" for businesses. However, the food of the "beauty filter" is suspected of being misleading, and the food will "return to its original shape" after leaving the "fresh lamp".
The newly revised Measures for the Supervision and Administration of the Quality and Safety of Edible Agricultural Products in the Market (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") of the State Administration for Market Regulation clearly stipulate that the sale of fresh edible agricultural products shall not use lighting and other facilities that cause obvious changes in the true color and luster of edible agricultural products and other sensory characteristics to mislead consumers about the sensory perception of the goods. where corrections are violated and refused, a fine of between 5,000 and 30,000 RMB is to be given. The Measures came into effect on December 1.
After the implementation of the measures, will the "fresh lights" continue to be used in the Henan market? Is the merchant aware of this regulation? What do consumers think? In this regard, the reporter visited a number of vegetable farms, supermarkets and stores in Henan, and found that most businesses have replaced new lights in advance, but some businesses continue to use them.
Large supermarkets "fresh lights" are hard to find.
On December 2, a reporter from Dahe Daily visited several large supermarket chains such as Dennis All-Day Fresh and Xianfeng Life in Jinshui District, Zhengdong New District and Guancheng District of Zhengzhou City, and found no colorful "fresh lights". The meat area, fruit and vegetable area, and seafood area are all plain white lights, showing the "true color and flavor" of the ingredients.
The company held a meeting in November to notify that all food stalls with fresh lamps were replaced, and from December 1, the use of 'fresh lamps' was prohibited, and the Market Supervision Bureau also came to inspect. The head of the cooked food department of a supermarket told reporters.
It is difficult to find the traces of "fresh lights" in large supermarkets in Zhengzhou, what is the situation in various cities in the province? On the second floor of the Zhonghua Road store of Xiyingmen Supermarket in Zhumadian City, the reporter noticed that all the lights in the fish and aquatic products, staple food kitchen, beef and mutton area, etc., were all white spotlights, and no "fresh lights" were found. The staff told reporters that when the store opened in 2019, it used ordinary fluorescent lamps, and did not use "fresh lamps".
The use of 'fresh lamps' changes the original color of food, which is easy to mislead consumers, which is irresponsible to consumers, and the prohibition of the use of 'fresh lamps' is to let consumers understand the true face of food when shopping. A person in charge of the Xiyingmen Zhonghua Road store said.
Street shops still use "fresh lights".
However, there are still "fresh lights" in some small farmers' markets, street fresh shops, lo-mei shops, etc.
The reporter saw in a small farmers' market in Jinshui District, Zhengzhou City, that a stall selling fresh meat used red lights, and the pork and chicken displayed in the glass container seemed to be added with a layer of red "filter", which looked fresher and ruddy, which has affected consumers' judgment of meat quality.
The reporter talked to the stall owner about whether he knew about the new rules banning colored "fresh lights", and the shopkeeper said that he had not heard of it. After the reporter introduced the relevant content of the new regulations to the stall owner, the store owner said that he would purchase and replace the lamps that meet the regulations as soon as possible.
In the urban area of Zhumadian, the reporter found that the "fresh lamp" was used during the investigation and visit of Xiyuan Street, Zhonghua Road and Jiankang Road.
In a shop selling cakes on Sai Yuen Street, freshly cooked pancakes are illuminated by "fresh lamps" and other illuminations, which makes people more appetizing. Regarding the ban on "fresh lights", the owner said, "I don't know, I only found out through the news, I just ordered a lamp on the Internet, and I will replace it when it arrives in the next two days."
In a chain "pepper chicken" store on Jiankang Road, under the illumination of three "fresh lights", the neatly placed pepper chicken is bright in color and very attractive, and the clerk is packing food for customers.
At a deli called "Taqiao Pig's Trotters" on Zhonghua Road, the store's "fresh lights" are reflected through the glass door, and the shopkeeper is packing pig's trotters for customers. Regarding the prohibition of the use of "fresh lamps", the shopkeeper was puzzled: this kind of lamp is not allowed to be used? When did it happen? When the reporter explained the provisions of the "Measures" to him, the shopkeeper said: No one has notified him not to use it, and the market supervision department has not notified him.
Turn off the "beautifying" to restore the "true color" of the food
After disabling the "fresh light", what is the feedback from merchants and consumers?
During the reporter's visit, merchants had different views on the ban on "fresh lights". A shopkeeper, who did not want to be named, said: "The appearance of the product is very important, and the fresh meat looks very fresh under the light, which can attract more attention and the business is naturally better.
Some shopkeepers also said that the true color of the goods also belongs to the consumer's right to know, and as a business operator, it is obliged to present it truthfully. Let the food return to its original color, everyone does not need "fresh lights", consumers should buy or buy, and it will not affect the business in the end.
Ms. Zhang, a citizen of Zhengzhou, told reporters that she used to visit the vegetable market in front of her house, and every time she bought meat, her eyes were uncomfortable with the red light, and she was dizzy and couldn't pick out which piece of meat was better, so she could only buy a piece casually, but when she went home, she often found that the meat was not as fresh as it looked in the store. "Later, I preferred to go to a large supermarket farther away to buy meat than to go to the wet market. Now that the new regulations have come into effect, I have gone to the vegetable market at the door to take a look, and the red light has been replaced by white light, so that I can finally buy meat at the vegetable market in front of my house with peace of mind, and I don't have to 'go far and far'. ”
Some interviewed citizens said that with the ban on "fresh lights", it is more necessary for business self-discipline, industry norms and market supervision to work together to protect the people's "safety on the tip of the tongue".
Banning "fresh lights" is taking action across the province.
Banning the "fresh lamp", the Henan market supervision department is in action, and since November before the implementation of the "Measures", special inspections have been carried out in many places across the province.
Hu Yingzhe, deputy director of the Food Circulation Department of the Zhengzhou Municipal Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, said during the special inspection that at present, there are still different degrees of use of this kind of lighting facilities specially used to brighten fresh agricultural products in farmers' markets and supermarkets. The city's market supervision department is supervising and inspecting the work, and the lamps and lanterns found to be non-compliant require food sellers to replace them in a timely manner. Before the implementation of the "Measures", the Zhengzhou Municipal Administration for Market Supervision reminded the city's edible agricultural product sellers and market operators to carry out self-inspection of the lighting fixtures used, and to stop using lighting facilities such as 'fresh lamps' that do not meet the requirements of the "Measures" and may affect consumers' judgment of the sensory characteristics of edible agricultural products such as livestock and poultry meat, fruits and vegetables, and seafood. ”
The Luoyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau will carry out special inspections in the city from December 1 to strictly investigate the use of "fresh lights" by illegal sellers. The relevant person in charge of the Luoyang Municipal Market Supervision Bureau said that according to the requirements, if the use of "fresh lights" is found, the market supervision and management department will order corrections and give warnings in accordance with the regulations; and where corrections are refused, a fine of between 5,000 and 30,000 RMB is to be given. From now on, the majority of operators should carry out self-inspection of lighting facilities for the sale of fresh meat, vegetables, fruits, seafood and other edible agricultural products, and choose lamps and lanterns with color temperatures closer to natural light before December 1 to implement the requirements of the new regulations.
On December 1, law enforcement officers from the Zhumadian Municipal Administration for Market Regulation walked into some markets and supermarkets to conduct random inspections. When law enforcement officers came to the fresh food area of the open source market, they saw that most of the merchants had replaced the "fresh lights" with beautifying effects with bright incandescent lamps. In the Haiyue Tiantian Fresh Supermarket next door to the open source market, pink fresh lights can still be seen in the fresh cabinet. The law enforcement officers pointed out the problem to the person in charge of the supermarket on the spot and issued a rectification notice. The person in charge of the supermarket was asked to replace the fresh lamp with a beautifying function within a limited period.
News link: "Fresh Lights".
What exactly is a "fresh light"? Why is the "Fresh Light" disabled?
In fact, fresh food lamps are a kind of lighting equipment commonly used in markets and supermarkets, which is a lamp that makes food look more "fresh" by adjusting the color of the light.
Why should fresh lights not be used? It causes obvious changes to the sensory characteristics such as the true color of edible agricultural products, conceals the real situation of food, and misleads consumers about the sensory perception of goods. Taking meat as an example, through the reflection of this "fresh light", even the meat that has gone bad can cover up the truth, making consumers mistakenly think that it is fresh food, thus seriously damaging the interests of consumers.
The reporter searched for "fresh lights" on ** and other platforms and found that the vast majority of goods were marked with words such as "in line with the new national standard" and "in line with the new regulations of market supervision" in the obvious position of the first picture.
A ** lamp shop owner said that there were many kinds of fresh lights in the past, such as red light with yellow light cooked food, red light with white light pork, green light with white light vegetables, etc. At present, the store has been replaced with white light lamps that meet the regulations, according to the color temperature is divided into cool white, warm white and natural white light, by increasing the color rendering index (RA value) to improve the lighting effect, the RA value is generally above 90, some can reach 98, can restore the true color of the product.
*: Dahe Daily Yu** Editor: Zhang Chao.