Chefs stunned: Chinese reveal mystery omelette; eggs still intact!

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Lancer
What sort of people would make fake baby food? I mean come on, that's right off the chart.

Horrific.

That's why those Chinese devils are eeeevil!

[Straybow]

Originally posted by Riesstiu IV
American food is made with freedom and the lightest wisp of eagle tears.

Best post of thread.

Originally posted by Daddy-O
The only motives for creating fake food would be:
1 - poisoning the food supply
2 - it is some how less expensive

The ingredients don't look poisonous. How is this process less expensive?

Low labor cost vs high cost of chicken feed?

[Blake]

Also the Chinese agriculture is slowly dying due to pollution.

[Winston]

Here's another update on this rather amazing story;

Artificial eggs on TV

By Jes Randrup Nielsen
5 Oct 2007 03:00

The reports on the fake Chinese eggs are verifiable. But it is uncertain whether the story itself is true. Chinese state television recently covered the matter during an investigative consumer programme.

Since Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten told the story earlier this week, with Danish Customs' Trademark Falsification Task Force as its source, of the imaginative Chinese copy artists faking chicken eggs, a number of readers have called in stating they cannot believe the story to be true.

But the artificial eggs have actually been a topic of debate in China. The story was first reported by the official newspaper of Henan province, Henan Daily. The Henan Daily report formed the basis of a subsequent broadcast on CCTV 12, one of the national TV channels of China. The TV coverage - the factual contents of which were more or less identical to that of the newspaper article - included the filming by candid camera of parts of the manufacturing process of artificial eggs.

According to the Henan Daily article, some 3 - 4,000 faked eggs offered as genuine ones were sold at several evening markets in the province, and the journalist documented the manufacturing process.

One "yolk" is made and placed in one "white", to be encased in a shell. According to the report, the manufacturer claims that the artificial eggs possess a number of curative effects on diseases such as cancer and diabetes, and that they will enhance people's immune defenses. But experts say the eggs contain a series of harmful substances, such as aluminium, aluminium sulphate and arsenic, and that their consumption could lead to brain damage and dementia.

Quick profit

The article explains that quick profit is the motive for faking eggs. According to the article, the cost of producing one kilogram of faked eggs is $0.07, while a kilogram of chicken eggs brings in $0.85 at the market.

However, it is uncertain whether individual reports of actual fakings are true.

Henan Daily is not a widely respected or quoted daily, but a marginal, state-controlled publication, based in the absolute most lawless province of China. As well, CCTV - including CCTV 12 - has had a hard time maintaining its journalistic integrity. The state-controlled TV networks of China are profit based entities, and in order to keep expenses sufficiently low they've hired a large number of freelancers and production companies over the years, who will produce a significant portion of the programming, including investigative programmes on crime.

Sources within the TV scene of Beijing say that freelancers and production companies operate under a much more severe stress from TV network editors due to their not having standard, long term contracts like the regular network staff, and therefore they could feel pressured into producing news stories that have no basis in reality.

The problem became apparent earlier this year when a freelance reporter with another TV network, Beijing TV, was caught fabricating a story of steamed buns with filling of poor quality pork and ordinary cardboard being marketed. In the wake of the incident, CCTV laid off 2,000 freelancers, who were until then employed by the organisation's TV channels.

Beijing TV considered taking similar action, but settled for just firing the freelancer. He has since been sentenced to prison for "discrediting an industry or product" - a sentence which appears little more credible than the initial report for which it was handed down.

Following last year's report on the faked eggs, China has seen several other food scandals, including another scandal involving eggs.

The latest egg scandal - regarded as being verified and real - revealed that a specific type of salted eggs containing a red yolk - an expensive and highly sough-after product in China - was made by injecting a chemical and extremely harmful colouring known as Sudanese Red, used for painting of marine vessels, into the egg yolk.

Urban legend

Following Jyllands-Posten's Wednesday coverage of the matter, the Danish Tax & Customs authority received numerous calls from people expressing their personal doubts.

"A lot of people called to inquire whether the story was true. I cannot be one hundred percent certain and claim that these false eggs exist. We haven't actually seen any faked eggs ourselves. Some people claim that it's an urban legend, and at this point I can neither confirm nor deny that claim," said Lars Kryger Nielsen of Task Force Trademark Falsification, with Danish Customs.

Michael Mann, spokesman for Marianne Fischer Boel, the EU Commisioner on Agriculture, has never heard of faked, artificial eggs.

- from today's Morgenavisen Jyllans-Posten, Denmarks' leading newspaper. Link to story (in Danish)

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I must say that whatever the fundamental truth of the whole affair, I sincerely hope they'll start running somewhat shorter articles on this fake eggs business.

[Daddy-O]

Let's take it easy on the ChiComs. Cadbury has been forcing fake eggs on us for years.

http://www.cadbury.co.uk/en/ctb2003/product_info/creme_egg/default.htm

I think the Chinese have just been trying to keep up with the British.