Can food decoration gold leaf be eaten?

Posted by aihw on February 3rd, 2021

"The wind of eating gold" is blowing again. At present, edible gold leaf is prevalent in Japan and Southeast Asia. Gold leaf feasts, gold leaf wine, gold leaf water, gold leaf candy, and gold leaf pastries have become high-end products in the market. In some large cities in China, "food money" is not only for health care, but also a status symbol.

So can gold leaf be eaten?

We must first understand the origin of food decoration gold leaf.

The history of food decoration gold foil is the first in China. As far back as the Qin and Han dynasties, the wealthy Chinese have records of food decoration gold foil and gold powder. In modern times, gold leaf is also popular in Japan and Southeast Asia. As early as the Tang Dynasty, some people believed that gold had health care and medical effects. In the Compendium of Materia Medica by Li Shizhen in the Ming Dynasty, it was recorded: "Eating gold can calm the spirit, strengthen the bone marrow, help the five internal organs, and take the gods.

Especially take the gold leaf into the pills and take it in bulk to break the air-conditioning and eliminate the wind." The precious Chinese patent medicines such as Niuhuang Angong Pills, Niuhuang Qingxin Pills, Wuji Baifeng Pills, and Dahuoluodan are all used gold leaf as medicine.

In 1983, the World Health Organization Codex Committee on Food Additives officially listed 9999 natural pure gold in the category of food additives as No. 310 in Table A.

The food decoration gold foil we introduced has a thickness of only 0.11 micron, which is unconcerned by ordinary people. As the metal itself is opaque, but the edible gold leaf is already thin enough to be transparent to the light, so even if it is described as "thin as a cicada wing", it is actually much thinner than a cicada wing. It broke, and it was almost impossible to pick it up by hand.

Therefore, the gold leaf that meets the standard can be used as food decoration. So what is the standard?

The gold used for "import" as food decoration is not ordinary gold bricks, gold bars, and gold rings. The gold used for food raw materials must be processed gold leaf. According to legend, the alchemist Ge Hong in the Jin Dynasty created the gold foil craft. This fine processing of pure gold through more than ten processes turns gold of various sizes into uniform and thin gold foil, which has become a kind of Chinese nation. A special traditional craft, known as "One of the Best in China" in the world, this craft can turn a gold ring into a gold leaf equivalent to the size of a basketball court. Later, the gold leaf craftsmanship was gradually spread to Japan and overseas, becoming the world's gold jewelry processing craftsmanship and it has been flourishing for a long time.

Gold foil is widely used in antique buildings, modern buildings, golden plaques, etc., such as gilding Buddha statues, gilding beams and paintings, and gilding decoration.

Because it is as thin as a cicada wing, it is the best choice for food decoration. But how much gold leaf can be added to a ton of wine?

How much gold leaf can an adult consume in a day? These standards cannot be talked about. There is an urgent need for relevant departments to formulate regulations through scientific research, because on the one hand it is related to the health of the people, and on the other hand, it is also closely related to preventing huge profits and maintaining normal market economic order (now the Health and Family Planning Commission) It has been stipulated that the maximum consumption of liquor per kilogram is 0.02 grams).

For more knowledge about gold leaf, please contact JINZI gold leaf manufacturers.

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aihw

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aihw
Joined: June 6th, 2019
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