Will China’s Food Safety Law Prevent THIS?
Tuesday, March 10, 2009 22:38Bitter to the taste, high in vitamin C, and fun to eat, pomelos have become of my favorite winter fruits in Shanghai and for the last few months that has meant picking one up a couple times a week.
Until a couple weeks ago when I picked up this pomelo near my house, cracked it open, and saw the injection mark.
As you can clearly see from the pictures below, there is an injection mark and there was an absorption. I must admit that I got lucky when cutting the flesh of the fruit as it came out so clearly, and what is striking about it is the fact that whatever was injected… it did not bleed through to the fruit.
Digging into it a bit deeper, I did find a small bit of residue, but again… no leakage into the fruit of the orange substance.
If anyone knows what the substance could be (sweetener?), please send me an email (rbrubaker @ allroadsleadtochina.com). I would be quite interested to know the possibilities…. and whether or not it would be possible to prevent this from occurring under the new food safety law
China Journal : Water-Injected Meat: The Next Chinese Food Scandal? says:
March 13th, 2009 at 3:33 am
[...] the only food subject to injection. One blogger recently reported (and photographed) evidence of a mysterious injection mark found in a pomelo purchased at a Shanghai market. –Sky Canaves Permalink | Trackback URL: [...]
Nicki says:
March 13th, 2009 at 6:42 am
Something to make it heavier? Most fruit is sold by weight.
Adam Daniel Mezei says:
August 25th, 2009 at 4:54 am
I’d caught this post after a series of crossposts beginning at Dan’s China Law Blog…
I’d wanted to know if there was any sort of resolution on this meanwhile? Had you discovered what it is?
–ADM from Prague
Rich says:
August 25th, 2009 at 7:03 am
Hi Adam.
No resolution. I failed to properly store it and my housekeeper chucked the sample before I was able to enlist the help of some friends in the food industry.
Best guess… sweetener.
I am still (against my better judgment) buying pomelo on a limited basis, and before I enjoy it, I am peeling skin off completely to see if I can find similar spots.
R