What is plastic wrap?

According to experts from national authorities, harmful substances in PVC plastic wrap are harmful to human body. At present, LG, Mitsubishi and Sanrong occupy nearly 80% of the domestic market.

Our reporter Li Xiuzhong is from Shanghai.

Due to China's ban, a large number of Japanese and Korean PVC food preservative films entered China.

According to experts, PVC food cling film is harmful to human body. The harmful substances in this kind of plastic wrap are easy to separate out. After food enters the human body, it has carcinogenic effect on the human body, especially interfering with human endocrine, causing female breast cancer, newborn birth defects, male reproductive disorders and even mental illness.

At present, most household food preservative films sold in China domestic market are made of safe polyethylene (PE) and polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC). However, some supermarket fresh products, such as vegetables, fruits, cooked food, etc., are packaged in large quantities with PVC plastic wrap, and more than 80% of these products come from Japan and South Korea.

It is extremely harmful to human body.

Dong Jinshi, deputy director of China Packaging Resources Comprehensive Utilization Committee, told China Business News yesterday that compared with PE and PVDC products, PVC cling film has good transparency, is not easy to break and has good adhesiveness. He said that using PVC food cling film can package more than 20 products in one minute, and it can also be packaged by machine, which is why supermarkets are willing to use PVC cling film in large quantities.

But the advantage of PVC food preservative film is based on its harm to people.

"PVC contains chlorine and is toxic. There are two main hazards of PVC food preservative film to people: high content of vinyl chloride monomer will volatilize; The main component of plasticizer for PVC cling film is ethyl hexylamine (DEHA). This substance precipitates easily. Because food is brought into the human body, it causes carcinogenesis to the human body, especially endocrine and hormonal disorders, which causes great harm to the human body. " Weng Yunxuan, director of the National Plastic Products Supervision and Inspection Center, told the reporter.

Weng National Center for Quality Supervision and Inspection of Plastic Products has been certified, audited, approved and authorized by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, with legal authority and third-party impartiality. It is the highest technical organization for the performance inspection of plastic products.

In fact, PVC is a hard plastic. To make a transparent and soft plastic wrap, a large amount of plasticizer must be added. DEHA is a substance that can increase the flexibility and elasticity of products when added to synthetic resin materials, and its content in PVC plastic wrap is about 40%~50%.

These plasticizers will slowly ooze out. Weng Yunxuan said that when PVC cling film meets the grease of cooked food, the plasticizer inside is more easily released and penetrates into food.

Yu Hongliang, an engineer at Shanghai Plastic Products Quality Supervision and Inspection Station, also said that DEHA will interfere with human endocrine after eating, resulting in female breast cancer, birth defects in newborns, decreased sperm count in men and even mental illness.

It is precisely because of the serious harm that Europe banned the use of PVC as a food packaging material several years ago. Japan also eliminated PVC food packaging in 2000. According to the Council of the World Packaging Organization, the United States, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and European countries have completely banned the use of PVC packaging materials.

However, this "toxic" food preservative film has become popular in China in recent years.

Widely used in supermarkets.

"The existence of PVC food cling film in China began with 1995, which was mainly used in supermarkets and hotels." Manager Liu Jingsheng of Beijing National Day Chengxin Technology Co., Ltd. told the reporter.

Starting from 1995, Liu Jingsheng began to sell high-grade PVC food preservative films such as Mitsui and Mitsubishi in Japan, claiming to be the first person to make PVC food preservative films in China. He told reporters that in 1995, the national consumption of PVC food preservative film was only a few tons, and now the annual consumption has exceeded 15000 tons.

The reporter visited some large supermarkets in Shanghai, and most of the small packages of vegetables, fruits, meat and cooked food in the fresh area used PVC plastic wrap. In Century Lianhua changshou road Store, the reporter saw a large roll of PVC plastic wrap in the meat area, and all the meat sold were packed with PVC plastic wrap without exception.

Dong Jinshi introduced that at present, the domestic brands of PVC cling film are mainly LG, Mitsubishi and Sanrong, accounting for 70%~80% of the whole market, and Japanese and Korean products account for more than 80% of the whole market.

"At present, almost all domestic PVC food cling films are Japanese and Korean products, as well as products of enterprises in Taiwan Province Province, China." Dong Jinshi told reporters.

In the domestic market, the main brands of PVC cling film are Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Junshi, South Asia and Sanrong.

Liu Jingsheng believes that from the sales data in recent years, the domestic demand for PVC food cling film has increased by more than 30% every year.

This has also found a way out for Japanese and Korean related companies.

Shanghai Shi Jun Polymer Materials Co., Ltd. is a Sino-Japanese joint venture jointly invested by Shi Jun Polymer Industry Company and Shanghai Zhang Qiao Economic Development Company.

Liu Jingsheng told reporters: "This is the first wave of replacing PVC with PE in Japan, and the county is an enterprise that has moved to China. It is the first food preservative film manufacturer invested by a foreign-funded enterprise in China, and also the first PVC preservative film manufacturer in China. The current annual output is around 2,000 tons. "

It is understood that Jun is the only enterprise that produces PVC cling film in Shanghai, occupying most of the market in Shanghai. When the reporter contacted Jun, the salesman of the company, to understand the company's views on the harm of PVC food cling film, the other party said, "You can have it if you want, or you can't have it without it."

"Now there are fewer imported PVC cling films, most of which are made in China." Liu Jingsheng told reporters that at present, the annual sales volume of "Mitsui" plastic wrap he represents is 100 tons.

From June 5438 to October 2004 10, South Korea Sanrong Group invested 60 million US dollars in Dalian, China to establish Dalian Sanrong Chemical Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned Bomo packaging product company. Mainly produces PVC cling film, BOPP packaging film, capacitor capacitor film, etc. Among them, there are 6 PVC cling film production lines, claiming that the annual output reaches 654.38+00000 tons.

"At present, most of them are wholly-owned enterprises, and there are few joint ventures, because there are no corresponding enterprises in China. At the same time, due to the high profit margin of PVC cling film, foreign companies are not willing to make joint ventures. " Liu Jingsheng told reporters, "At present, the price of PVC food preservative film is 20,000 yuan/ton, while the raw material of PVC is 1000 yuan/ton, and at least 50% of the profits are available."

Liu Jingsheng introduced that at present, Japanese-funded PVC plastic wrap companies include Hangzhou and Wuxi Liyan, and a Korean company is also preparing to produce PVC food plastic wrap in Beijing.

Regarding the massive diversion of Japanese and Korean enterprises to China, Dong Jinshi explained: "Japanese and Korean domestic products are prohibited, but the huge production scale formed by this industry is unwilling to be eliminated. They have large-scale PVC raw material production enterprises and machinery and equipment enterprises, so they moved to China. "

Liu Jingsheng said: "At present, almost all the machinery and equipment for producing PVC cling film are Japanese, and Japan does the best in this industry. At present, most domestic PVC plastic wrap enterprises use Fuji Heavy Industry's machinery and equipment. "

Domestic enterprise-free production

"The development of foreign food preservative film materials has gone through three stages, from vinylidene chloride to polyvinyl chloride, and then to polyethylene." Yu Hongliang told reporters that when he visited abroad in 1980s, he found that there were problems with PVC, so he didn't introduce it. PE cling film has low production cost and simple process, unlike PVC, which needs to add many additives, so his institute decided to introduce PE production technology.

He said that domestic food cling film enterprises basically use PE as raw materials.

The reporter learned from the Shanghai Plastics Industry Association that there are no PVC enterprises for food packaging among the members of the association. Weng Yunxuan also told reporters. "All the people who come to our center to do quality inspection of PVC cling film are foreign companies, including some domestic agents, and there is no domestic one."

At present, there is no enterprise producing PVC plastic wrap in China, because of its high technical requirements and large investment.

"Domestic PE plastic wrap companies are small companies and small groups, and no one has the strength to do it." Dong Jinshi introduced.

Liu Jingsheng told reporters that a production line plus auxiliary equipment needs more than 20 million yuan. Therefore, at present, most of the enterprises producing PVC food preservative film belong to large chemical enterprise groups, and most of them are Japanese and Korean enterprises.

Yu Hongliang revealed that foreign companies' PVC cling film can successfully enter China because they can pass the relevant hygiene standards in China.

It is understood that at present, the national standard of food-grade PVC products in China is promulgated by the Ministry of Health with 1988.

Weng Yunxuan told reporters: "Although PVC cling film is harmful, our domestic laws and regulations do not prohibit it, nor do they explicitly restrict PVC food packaging. At present, our center mainly tests products according to the standards specified by the state. Those who pass the standard are considered qualified. "

He said that the current standards have fallen behind.

Yu Hongliang also said that the old standards formulated in the past have obviously failed to keep pace with the times. When foreign countries have proposed to ban or restrict PVC food packaging, China should also take action.