China considers allowing gold flakes in baijiu

Despite China’s on-going austerity measures, health authorities are considering a proposal to allow distillers to add tiny flakes of gold to the country’s native spirit, baijiu.

Despite on-going austerity measures, China is proposing passing legislation to add gold flakes to baijiu

The country’s National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) published a document on 28 January detailing plans to allow the use of gold foil as a new food additive to the spirit.

If approved, a limit of 0.02g of gold per kilogram of liquid would be imposed, but no reason for the proposal or benefits of adding gold to Baijiu were given.

Partnered with the Chinese government’s on-going crackdown on extravagant gift giving corruption that has seen sales of spirits such as Cognac and Scotch whisky significantly decline, raising questions as to why such a suggestion has been made.

According to the document, in order to manufacture gold foil as a food additive, gold of 99.99% purity would first have to be vaporised to create either a powder or leaves.

Opinions are currently being sought on the measure from the China Food and Drug Administration, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the Ministry of Agriculture and the general public, who all have until 20 February to respond.

Ma Yong, the secretary-general of the baijiu subcommittee of the China National Food Industry Association, told the Beijing Times that he does not think it is necessary to add gold foil to baijiu.

“We also have to see the applicant’s rationale to request for the approval,” he added.

In the EU, gold is approved as a food additive and is also known as E175.

Regulations permit edible gold to be used as decorations and external coatings for chocolate, confectionary and liqueurs.

Speaking to the Global Times, Yang Qingshan, the executive president of the China Brand Strategy Association, said that providing there was substantial research on the use of gold’s safety and side effects, in addition to creating a “certified technique”, then he saw no problem with the new measures.