How to choose soy sauce for Mid-Autumn Festival barbecue? The shake-and-check-the-foam method is no longer reliable

This week marks the start of the peak Mid-Autumn Festival barbecue season in Taiwan, China. In May this year, Taiwan, China was hit by a tainted soy sauce scandal: the "Qiaoxiang Soy Sauce Special Fish Sauce" made by soy sauce manufacturer Yixin Soy Sauce contained 0.95 ppm (parts per million) of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol, far exceeding the national standard of 0.4 ppm. Whether soy sauce is purely brewed or not, under the influence of various additives, the method once passed down by word of mouth among chefs - "shake the soy sauce; if the foam is fine and fades slowly, it is purely brewed soy sauce" - is no longer accurate, and consumers would do best to buy soy sauce from trustworthy brands or mix their own barbecue sauce.

To prevent a repeat of the tainted soy sauce incident, the Ministry of Health and Welfare just last month published the "Testing Method for 3-Monochloropropane-1,2-Diol in Soy Sauces." The new test method uses gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis, and the limit of quantification for testing 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol is 0.05 ppm. In May this year, soy sauce manufacturer Yixin Soy Sauce used "rapidly brewed soy sauce" to make multiple brands including Shuanghe and Fuweixiang, which were found to contain excessive 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol.

Ministry of Health and Welfare to Step Up Food Safety Sampling Inspections Before Mid-Autumn Festival

The Mid-Autumn Festival is already peak season, and many people like to use soy sauce barbecue sauce for grilling. In response to public concern, Pan Zhikuan, director of the Northern Regional Management Center of the Food and Drug Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, responded: "The previous batch of tainted soy sauce has been dealt with, and it has been confirmed that it has been completely removed from shelves." On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, local health bureaus will strengthen inspections of the food safety of barbecue items and mooncakes, and will publish non-compliant manufacturers on the Ministry of Health and Welfare website (http://www.mohw.gov.tw/CHT/Ministry/Index.aspx). If people are worried, they can check online.

Zeng Liangquan advised the public that for Mid-Autumn barbecues, they can mix their own sauce instead of settling for commercially sold barbecue sauce. The barbecue sauce recipe he provided is as follows (the proportions can be slightly increased or decreased according to personal preference):

*Rice wine 100cc

*Soy sauce 200cc

*Minced garlic 120g

*Shacha sauce 60g

*Rock sugar 75g

*Maltose 180g

*Soy sauce paste 60g

*Worcestershire sauce 30cc