Fake Eggs?

On Thursday, The Star published an article on a fake egg discovery in Penang.

A woman who bought a tray of eggs in Pulau Tikus had a shock when she found them to be “fake eggs”. Consumers Association of Penang president S.M. Mohamed Idris said the housewife had brought the eggs to his office after finding something fishy when she tried to cook them. “She told us that the eggs did not smell like real eggs and were tasteless. It was also of unusual shapes and larger than real eggs. “The fake egg also had a rougher surface than the genuine one. “When cracked, there was no sign of chalaza, the structure inside the egg that keeps the yolk in place. “The fake egg white and yolk quickly mixed together, unlike that of real eggs,” Idris said.

He said after boiling the egg and cutting it open, the egg yolk appeared to be more “yellowish” than that of a normal egg. Idris said an e-mail widely circulated among the public in Penang had claimed that fake eggs which were common in China, were full of chemicals and sold at lower prices. Idris also said it would be very hard to tell the difference between fake eggs and genuine ones as both looked almost identical. “Try to look out for the weird shapes,” he said, adding that his staff members had bought more eggs from the shop frequented by the woman and found them to be “fake”.

A tray of 30 real eggs costs around RM10.50. The fake eggs cost RM11. Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism enforcement chief M. Guna Selan said his office had not received any such complaint.

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....and then today, interestingly another article on it too. But here comes the punters LOL. =)

Punters are getting excited over the alleged egg scam in Penang and taking out their chifa books to guide them to put their money on the right number. This follows complaints by buyers and the Consumer Association of Penang that fake eggs were sold at the Pulau Tikus market here.

Following media reports on the matter, enforcement officers from the Domestic Trade, Consumerism and Co-operatives Department here carted away 378 eggs from the market and sent them for analysis at the Chemistry Department in Petaling Jaya, with the results expected in a week. The punters are using their chifa books to check out the number 959 which is normally associated with eggs, and juggling the figures and also adding a “0” (zero) in their forecasts.

(A chifa book is a small book which co-relates numbers to certain objects and actions. It is also available online on the four-digit operators' websites.) Hawker K.K. Lim, 51, said his friends were inviting each other to bet on the numbers. “Since it has to be a four-digit, we were thinking of adding a zero' in front of 959 as zero' resembles the shape of an egg,” he said. A housewife, who only wished to be known as Soon, said she was flipping through her chifa book when a neighbour came knocking at her door to ask about it. “I was thinking of adding a 3' before 959 since the enforcement officers raided three stalls at the market. “I will also buy 3378 since they carted away 378 egg samples from the three stalls,” she said.

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So... you may ask... what on earth is fake egg?

Here's a video on Youtube that I found. =)

Errr....