Borax is a chemical compound of element Bo Natrium and Oxygen. This is a kind of salt which is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily...
Sweet toxicant
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| A variety of noodles consisting of borax. |
Borax is a chemical compound of element Bo Natrium and Oxygen. This is a kind of salt which is usually a white powder consisting of soft colorless crystals that dissolve easily in hot water but it does not in cool water.
People have long used borax in industry to make kinds of alloy, detergents, removing liquid. In medicine, borax is used as kind of light anti-biotic or tranquillizer. In producing food, it is used to restrain the growth of bacteria, so we can keep food longer.
However, despite of its usefulness, Borax is seriously harmful to human’s health. Borax can accumulate in human’s body, especially in nervous tissues, harm the liver, degenerate sex-organ. In pregnant women, borax can enter and poison the foetus. When you are poisoned by borax, the symptoms are: nauseat, strained muscles, accelerating heart rate. …
Because of the harm, World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization have put a ban on using borax to preserve food. In our country, the Ministry of Health has also banned citizens to use borax as a food additive in any form or any intention. But rules are just rules, the use of borax can not be controlled.
How to get rid of borax?
Recently, Department of Preventive Medicine of Khanh Hoa and Pasteur Institution of Nha Trang has researched on the usage of borax to preserve and produce food. The rate of using borax in “Phở” (noodle soup) and “chả cá” (fried fish - cooked with noodle and scallion in a charcoal brazier) is the highest, followed by pork pies – giò chả - at 30%, then comes “nem chua“-ferment pork rolls and rice vermicelli.
From what we learned from these researches, there have been many researches on how to find a substitute for borax. The most noticeable substance is the additive-Chitozan that can be used to produce rice-noodle. Rice noodle is supposed to be used within 24 hours. But when we use Chitozan as a additive, we can use it within 48 hours.
Since 2002, the plan for producing Chitozan for trial purposes had been carried out at Nhatrang University. Chitozan has been made from shrimp-shells, crabs, and now, it is mass-produced. However, the price of Chitozan is still high (400.000 Vnd per kilogram), so it is impractical to use Chitozan widely in place of Borax.
H.Y
