China has a rich history of delicious cuisine but it also has its share of the toxic cheap imitations as well. In recent history, China has flooded the global market with imitation food that is toxic to say the least. From artificial flavours to cement, there food will put even those with a strong stomach to test. These fake food items are often sold using e-commerce websites like eBay and Amazon.
Here’s a list of these illegal food products that you need to watch out for before ordering food online:
1. Imitation eggs made out of chemicals and artificial colours
These eggs are made out of Alginic Acid, Potassium Alum, Gelatin, Calcium Chloride, water and artificial colour. The eggshells are made from Calcium Carbonate. These eggs can cause dementia.
2. Walnuts filled with cement
Completely healthy looking shelled walnuts have been reported to be full of cement. The concrete is often covered with paper to suppress the rustling sound of the concrete inside the shell. This is one bite that you should definitely avoid.
3. Pork is sold as beef
Pork is a cheap protein found in Chinese markets. The industry then found a way to make the pork-meat look like Beef with the help of chemicals and pressure. The glazing chemical marinates the pork meat and gives it a beefy flavour.
4. Industrial salt sold as ‘Table Salt”
Industrial salt is considered unfit for consumption because of the presence of certain chemicals that can cause cancer and also make the human body unable to absorb calcium.
5. Mud is sold as black pepper
The Chinese laws are extremely lenient as there is no investigation unless someone dies because of the fake food product. This law is exploited by many as they sell mud and label it as black pepper. This wouldn’t kill an individual but it can cause all sorts of gastric infections.
6. Rice that’s made from paper and plastic
A mixture of potatoes and fake resin is made to look like rice grains and the entire package is often sold as rice. This plastic rice is extremely harmful to the body as it causes IBS and several other digestive problems.
7. Cabbage that’s made from plastic and paint
It wouldn’t take much to convince us to stay away from cabbage but this particular type of the leafy “vegetable” is a definite no-go. Made with what looks like different coloured paints, a cook dips it into container full of water (We’re guessing here, it could be motor oil for all we know) and hey presto! Cabbage a la formaldehyde.
The Chinese are giving us Indians a run for our money in jugaad but at least we don’t kill people by our terrible jugaad. Humse thoda achchha quality jugaad import karlo bhaiyo!