China has fake wine, tofu... and now eggs

BEIJING - CHINA looks set to start the new year struggling with a food safety problem that it just cannot seem to overcome.

From fake wine and bleached mushrooms to chemicals in hot pots and counterfeit tofu, the country has been dogged by multiple food scandals in recent weeks, all coming after melamine-tainted milk killed six babies and made 300,000 ill in 2008.

In one of the latest stings, state broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) uncovered the process behind the making of fake eggs - a persistent practice that is dangerous because of the chemicals used.

Local media followed up with reports of rampant Do-It-Yourself DVDs being sold online that provide 'lessons' on how to make fake eggs. The disks are sold for 500 yuan (S$100) each.

The fake eggs, which are sold as the real thing for anything from 0.5 yuan each, cost only 0.05 yuan to produce, several times cheaper than real ones.

The series of scandals has angered experts and consumers.

***

Making a fake egg as easy as 1-2-3

ACCORDING to reports in the Chinese media, this is how to make a fake egg:

1. Start with the yolk

Put sodium alga acid in a beaker full of water and stir. Add some calcium chloride powder. The mixture will become as yellow as an egg yolk. Pour the mixture into a half-sized table tennis ball and shake. It soon takes on a spherical shape resembling a yolk.

2. Add the white

Drop the fake yolk into a basin of colourless sodium alga acid and shake. Within minutes, a fake egg appears. It looks like a peeled preserved egg.

3. Finish off with the shell

A shell is made from calcium oxide, stearic acid and edible paraffins. After it is constructed, the fake egg is left alone and untouched to prevent cracking.