Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-01-11
Shark fin on sale in a Beijing seafood market. (Internet photo) |
In yet
another food safety scare, China's state television broadcaster CCTV has
uncovered the use of fake shark fin made from gelatin in restaurants across
Beijing. At the same time a popular restaurant chain has been found using shark
fin dishes laced with a toxic additive, the capital's Legal Evening News
reports.
On Jan. 8,
CCTV News aired a report in which undercover reporters discovered fake shark
fin made from gelatin sourced from a Beijing's seafood market is being used to
prepare pricey dishes in the city's restaurants. In addition, papaya shark fin
soup served at a famous restaurant chain in Tongzhou district were found to be
seasoned with shark fin glutamate, a substance harmful to the kidney, liver and
reproductive system.
The Beijing
Fengtai Industry and Commerce, a business association representing many local
fishmongers, is reportedly aware of the revelations but has not commented on
the stalls identified in the CCTV report.
Law
enforcement officers with the association, however, have reportedly begun
noting the shops and stalls selling shark fin in Beijing seafood markets and
carrying out random checks. The results of the checks have yet to be released
as of press time.
A chef at
an upscale cafeteria in the Henan capital of Zhengzhou told a reporter
disguised as a apprentice that the shark fin sold in the cafeteria was actually
fake fin worth only a few dozen yuan. He said customers would be unable to tell
whether the fin was real unless they are particularly knowledgeable. "If
they find it is fake, we can compensate them with other dishes," the chef
said.
After
analyzing samples brought back by reporters, professor Zhu Yi from the
Institute of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering of China Agricultural
University found that the main ingredients in the imitation fin are gelatin,
sodium alginate, and calcium chloride. A pigment is added to the edible gelatin
which makes up the bulk.
In the
expose, reporters also ordered a papaya shark fin dish from a well-known chain
restaurant and collected samples. Zhu's examinations found an ingredient
similar to chicken glutamate, which although has a pleasant taste was seasoned
with hydrolyzed protein liquid. Ingesting excess glutamate can be
dangerous, said Zhu.
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