For the past few days, a number of people in Kerala panicked over “Chinese eggs” that smelt bad and tasted different. Days after the rumours of “Chinese eggs” first began to spread, lab tests suggest that some of the eggs may just have been rotten.
For several days there have been media reports about people across the state complaining that the eggs they bought tasted different, and were also of unusual texture. It was believed that these eggs had been “artificially made in China”.
Other consumers alleged that the shells of the eggs they buy from supermarkets were hard to crack and that an inner membrane was made of plastic. To prove this, one of the customers set fire to the membrane and demonstrated it with eggs from a supermarket in Kochi.
as it caught fire after coming in contact with flames.
Media reports suggest that the sale of eggs took a nose dive after in wake of whispers of “Chinese eggs”.
A baffled Kerala Health Minister KK Shylaja confirmed that no official complaints were recorded in this regard, but an investigation was ordered based on media reports.
After days of panic and rumour, laboratory tests on Saturday confirmed that the eggs were real ones, and probably just rotten.
The Meat Technology Unit and the Department of Livestock Product Technology under the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University in Mannuthy has validated its earlier finding that rumours about Chinese eggs were merely Chinese whispers and that the eggs were indeed real.
What the testing did find however, was that the samples collected were of eggs that were old and rotten.
Former head of the meat technology unit and the department of livestock product technology at veterinary university in Mannuthy, George T Oommen told TOI that eggs that are stored at 10-12 degree Celsius for a period of two-three weeks start rotting when they are moved to room temperature.
Dismissing theories of “Chinese eggs,” another report quoted George as saying that there aren’t any techniques to create artificial eggs.
Tests conducted at the Centre for Advance Studies in Poultry Science (CASPS) of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (COVAS) on the eggs also found the same.