The Consumers’ Association of Penang has received a complained from a housewife that she has been sold fake eggs.

The Consumers’ Association of Penang has received a complained from a housewife that she has been sold fake eggs. Fake eggs apparently nothing new around us and in China eggs can be modulated by chemical materials. The fake eggs are created from a range of ingredients, including gelatin, benzoic acid, coagulating material, alum and ‘magic water’. It also warns that eating the fake eggs could eventually cause dementia because of the alum used in their manufacture. According to a Xinhua News Agency article published on December 28, 2004, a mobile street vendor sold a Handan resident an egg that turned out to be ‘man-made’. Examination revealed that the fake egg was made from calcium carbonate, starch, resin, gelatin and other chemical products. Although the faked eggs looked practically the same as real ones, the fake eggs had shells that were larger than usual and when it was broken, bits of the yolk broke off and mixed with the egg-white. The consumer can smell chemicals when cooking the eggs. But we should bear in mind the facts that an odd shape or some malformation of the egg surface is not necessarily indicative of a fake egg and a larger-than-usual size of egg does not indicate that the egg is fake or not.

Are fake eggs dangerous? The fake eggs ingredients such as potash alum is said to cause dementia and Benzoic acid is a food preservative which is permitted, but only at very low concentrations. Experts warn of the danger of eating fake eggs. Not only they do not contain any nutrients, but according to a Hong Kong Chinese University professor a long-term consumption of alum could cause dementia.