Health buffs used to draw one list of food to stick to and another list of food to avoid. Under the first list are fresh food including vegetables, fruits, eggs and dairy products. Under the second list are processed food including canned meat, frozen processed meat (chicken nuggets and the like) and cured meat (ham, bacon, salami, pepperoni) which are not only high in fat but high in sodium as well.
On Sunday evening, when I first read the China View report that melamine was found in raw eggs, my first thought was that it is no longer enough to stay away from processed foods to be safe. With fresh produce now found to be contaminated with melamine, I wonder what health advocates will say.
While the Filipinos are focused on the inclusion of Sunflower Crackers in the list of food found to contain melamine, many miss the more serious danger. Along with Sunflower Crackers, Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety also found melamine in fresh brown eggs in amounts even higher than that found in Sunflower Crackers.
Melamine in processed food in one thing. It is easy enough to ditch Sunflower Crackers from one’s diet but how does one avoid eggs?
Oh, but that’s China, you’re probably thinking. China is so far, far away. The contaminated eggs are produced by only one farm. True. But if you do a little more research, it’s actually scary. Melamine was discovered as an ingredient in chicken feeds in the powdered eggs controversy in Japan and the powdered eggs were imported from China.
That’s China — again — so we’re safe, you’re thinking. Well, consider this. Sanlu did not even export milk to the Philippines yet the Department of Health could not discount the possibility that they might have found their way in the local markets. Smuggling is rampant. So how do we know that melamine spiked chicken feeds have not entered the country and fed to the dressed chickens on the supermarket freezers? How do we know that contaminated powdered eggs have not been exported (or smuggled) into the Philippines and used in making plain or cream-filled crackers sold in sari-sari stores?
The glaring truth is that we do not know. What we do know is that the wise businessman will always try to minimize production cost in order to maximize profits. If chicken feeds from China are cheaper than local brands, they will be preferred. If using powdered eggs will lower the cost of production of bread and crackers, they will be embraced. If smuggling rather than importing will make them even cheaper, that can be arranged too.
It would seem like the perfect break for organic food producers. But there is a report that in Britain, sales of organic food have dropped by as much as 18 per cent. With food prices soaring, pricey organic vegetables, meat and fruits are just beyond the reach of the average wage earner.
And that’s Britain — a First World country. How worse can the situation be for the average wage earner in a Third World country like the Philippines? Have you checked the prices of organic vegetables in the supermarkets? You think the messenger in my husband’s office can afford them? Personally, I stay away from them. See, I’m not so sure if their prices simply reflect the cost of production or if organic farm producers are arbitrarily raising the prices because they are riding high on the health bandwagon that has popularized organic farming.
Unless the government has the resources and the will to test each and every product, and to close down every business entity that violates food safety standards, we’re on our own.
So what are our options? Do we have any options? If not eating is a realistic option, then we can consider ourselves safe from food poisoning. But that’s a faster way to die, obviously, so it can’t be a good option. So, what do we do? Are you willing to scrutinize the origin of every egg and chicken that you buy? Are you willing to demand that the supermarket furnishes you with a written certification that the eggs and chickens sold are safe? Can you do that in a public market where 90 per cent of the population buy their food?
In an ideal world, we shouldn’t have to. The government should require every food manufacturer and seller to provide such an assurance. But the harsh reality is that even if the government does require food producers to certify the safety of their products, we know that certifications are only pieces of paper and they carry no real guarantee. Unless the government has the resources and the will to test each and every product, and to close down every business entity that violates food safety standards, we’re on our own.
Me, I’ve started planting. Seriously. I have two malunggay trees that will provide a steady supply of free and pesticide free vegetables. I’m growing a lemon tree and a kaffir lime tree. I have peppers, basil, cilantro, mint, pandan… We’ll be planting kankong and pechay soon. I don’t have a farm, much less a hacienda. I have a garden but instead of planting them purely with ornamentals, I’ve made enough space for herbs and vegetables. That might not keep my family totally safe from the hazards of modern food production but that’s less consumption of potentially toxic food.
When we started our first baby on solid foods a few months ago, we wanted to give her only home prepared food made from fresh vegetables and fruits. But then i realized that we don’t have guarantees that the fresh vegetables and fruits we buy are free from chemicals which may be harmful to our baby. Some even suggest that commercially prepared baby food might be safer because at least the big companies may have stricter quality control over their ingredients.
We still give our baby home prepared food but when i heard about the melamine tainted eggs, like you, it made me re-think that fresh food may not necessarily be the safer choice.
When I was in the supermarket yesterday, for the first time in my life, I had a hard time deciding what to buy. Everything was there — fresh veggies, fruits, meat, fish… but what’s safe? I don’t know which is the safer path — get overly careful or just buy what I want and treat all these scary info as normal business competition where every sector wants to kill off the competition.
Hi Connie,
I am an online reader of the MST specially Opinion Section and sure I do read yours regularly same as your neighbours; Mr. Abaya’s, Jurado, Robles, Austero, etc.
I am work based here in Kazakhstan and reading interesting columns like yours is my pastime here.
I attached herein-below a forwarded email (I don’t know if you are aware of or received this email already) regarding faked eggs from China in relation to your article today, too bad the photos accompanying it are not able to be embedded.
All the best!
Javier Ailes
PATI ITLOG PINE-PEKE NA!!!!
KAHANGA HANGA, KAGILA GILALAS
Fake�Eggs from China ! (Shocking – must read)
Beware u guys and gals!
During a recent raid on a wholesale centre in Guangzhou city, the capital of China ‘sGuangdong province, a large quantity of fake eggs was seized.
Their wholesale price is 0.15 yuan (S$0.03) each – half the price of a real egg.
Consumers have a hard time telling a genuine egg from a fake one. This is good news for unscrupulous entrepreneurs, who are even conducting three-day courses in the production of artificial eggs for less than S$150.
A reporter with Hong Kong-based Chinese magazine East Week enrolled in one such course.
To create egg white, the instructor – a woman in her 20s – used assorted ingredients such as gelatin, an unknown powder, benzoic acid, coagulating material and even alum, which is normally used for industrial processes.
For egg yolk, some lemon-yellow colouring powder is mixed to a liquid and the concoction stirred. The liquid is then poured into a round-shaped plastic mould and mixed with so-called ‘magic water’, which contains calcium chloride.
This gives the ‘yolk’ a thin outer membrane, firming it up. The egg is then shaped with a mould. The shell is not forgotten. Paraffin wax and an unidentified white liquid are poured onto the fake egg, which is then left to dry.
The artificial egg can be fried sunny-side up or steamed. Although bubbles appear on the white of the egg, those who have tasted it say the fake stuff tastes very much like the real thing.
But experts warn of the danger of eating fake eggs. Not only do they not contain any nutrients, a Hong Kong Chinese University professor warned that long-term consumption of alum could cause dementia
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To make the egg white, various ingredients, including a powder and alum, are mixed together.
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The ‘yolk’ is shaped in the round mould. ‘Magic water’ containing calcium chloride is used.
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Hardy shells are formed by pouring paraffin wax and a liquid onto the egg, which are then left to dry.
Parang wala ka na talagang makakain, noh? Naalala ko tuloy before, when we were studying invertebrates (helminths and all that), parang wala ng safe na kainin. Pano pa kaya ngayon. Sabi pa ng nanay ko, prices of goods seem to be going up every week, so pa’no pa kaya kakain ang masa.
Javier, I searched for more info on that email. There’s a good discussion in Hoax Slayer (link) which labels it as “unsubstantiated.”
Ria, every trip to the supermarket gets more and more painful. Grabe.
When I was growing-up, my late father raised chicken and eggs and planted fuits and vegetables in our backyard. We also have fresh fish twice a day, everyday. We only have meat every Saturday when the market was open for business. So, everything we ate was fresh, organic and healthy.
When I retire, maybe I will go back to the province, build a house by the sea and do what my father did before me. Maybe, I will get to live up to 100 years.
i would love to go organic, or free range.. pero the price is sometimes more than double.. kainis…
I can’t imagine parents ever telling their kids to “Don’t eat your vegetables” but that is what it has come down to unfortunately.
I was watching a documentary on China a couple of nights ago… RURAL China where they grow their own vegetables and do their own fishing… there were two men, one was 80 and the other was 70, and man oh man, they can both pass for 50.
You already smoke. So what’s another “cancer”?
Happy Halloween, Ms Sassy!
maybe when we do own a house someday, i’ll plant herbs and veggies on our future garden too just like you Connie. nowadays, nakaka-paranoid naman ang mga pagkain na binibili natin.
Although this scare is real, part of me wants to sing “que sera, sera”! Ang daming bawal, ang daming kakatakutan, pati dating ok di na ok, like buying fresh fruits and vegetables.
Baka sa stress in worrying naman tayo bumigay.
Vanni, we can always choose our own poison. What’s objectionable is being made to ingest poison unknowingly, especially when there is a pretense that the tainted food is healthy.
Hope you had fun, BlogusVox!
ibyang, masarap magtanim but city dwellers will always be heavily dependent on what they can buy.
Nikita, ha how true. Kaya nga ba, nag fried chicken kami last Friday. Sarap! hehehe
OMG!
What’s happening to our market na? We are not feeling safe already with the food that we eat. It’s hard to much pressure on giving extra careful on food that we choose. this is no good!
I’m not sure if your talking about the food in the Philippine market na. I grew up in Rizal and we have a land to grow our fruits and vegetables. And we are farming also but only chickens so most of the food is home raise or farm raise. we go to the market for other toiletries and rice, but we know who mills them and we have fishery in the neighboring area. I think it was still okay to eat food except when you hear the red tide issue then you get worry of seafood. whats up with all this stuff now. no safe food except what you grow yourself hence we are though gardening since elementary school. i hope they still do. so many kids now a days have allergies to food. How can our future kids survived if they die first. What does the world comes to now?