The Incredible Inedible Egg: Chinese Face New Food Threat of Fake Eggs

China is facing a new food scandal over fake eggs. Sellers are offering eggs on the street for about 6 cents cheaper than stores. When Chinese buyers take them home they find that they taste funny and the yolk quickly mixes into the rest of the egg. The reason is that they are not eggs but a concoction of resin, algae, wax, and other ingredients.

Here is how to make a fake egg. Take a mold and mix in resin, starch, coagulant and pigments to make egg white. Then add sodium alginate from brown algae for viscosity and add a fake yolk from resin and pigments. Once the egg is solidified, use an amalgamate of paraffin wax, gypsum powder and calcium carbonate to make the shell.

Fake eggs have been appearing since the 90s but appear to have increased recently with people producing 1,500 fake eggs per day.

Source: News Feed