"Not fake at all! It's a real egg." A few days ago, Associate Professor Zheng Hua, the director of the Food Engineering Department at South China Agricultural University's Food College, pointed out seriously after repeatedly inspecting a "fake egg" sent by a reporter.
In recent times, rumors about counterfeit eggs appearing in the poultry market have surfaced in various places, frequently stirring up unease among diners and catching the high attention of relevant departments such as industry and commerce and quality supervision. The problematic egg inspected by Zheng Hua was recently purchased by a friend of one of the reporter's neighbors from a large supermarket on Kangwang Road in Guangzhou. After cooking it, they found that the yolk could bounce, leading those around them to mistakenly believe that this was the rumored "fake egg."
The test results were undoubtedly shocking. Like the other suspected fake eggs that have been heavily publicized by the media and criticized by many, the one tested by Southern Daily was also denied as fake by poultry egg experts. The legend of the "fake egg" still remains just that - a legend without physical proof.
The rumor of fake eggs has not ceased since the beginning of the year, pursued by the media. Recently, Ms. Li, an old neighbor from Huajing New Town, suddenly told the reporter that her good friend who lived in Tongdewei bought fake eggs at a large supermarket on Kangwang Road during the Lantern Festival. Her friend even showed her one of the leftover "impostors," with a yolk that could bounce repeatedly when thrown on the ground, like a ping-pong ball, giving her quite a surprise.
What surprised Ms. Li even more was that this "fake egg" looked exactly like a real one, complete with an "eggshell."
In fact, this was not the first time "fake eggs" had appeared in the Guangzhou market according to consumers' eyes. Almost simultaneously, Mr. Guo, a consumer from Panyu, also claimed to have bought fake eggs from a supermarket, with characteristics almost identical to what Ms. Li described. Subsequently, Guangzhou industrial and commercial personnel quickly checked the supermarket and relevant wholesale markets and entrusted a third-party institution for inspection. The results showed: including the one questionable "problem egg" provided by the media journalist, all 30+ samples were real eggs.
Upon the release of the results, public opinion was shocked. Does a bouncing yolk necessarily mean it's a fake egg? Then, is Ms. Li's one really Micius or Mi Gui? The reporter immediately took the sample sent by Ms. Li to Associate Professor Zheng Hua's office at the Food Engineering Department of South China Agricultural University's Food College.
Test results showed that the suspected fake egg completely possessed all the morphological characteristics of a real egg. Therefore, Associate Professor Zheng "unhesitatingly identified" it as a real egg.
Coincidentally, the large supermarket on Kangwang Road also conducted spot checks on the suppliers and store records of that batch of eggs the next day, and no abnormalities were found.
All suspected fake eggs, including the one personally sent for testing by a Southern Daily reporter, were identified as real eggs by experts. Is it the expert's detection that is faulty? Or is it our understanding that is wrong?
As a long-term active food expert in scientific research, Zheng Hua claims to have maintained close contact with professionals in the poultry egg production and distribution fields, akin to "never seeing each other unless bumping into each other." Despite never neglecting any market changes, over the years, he frankly admitted that he has never heard of anyone within the industry seeing real fake eggs, let alone ones indistinguishable from real eggs.
It is impossible to make fake eggs look real
Why can the yolk of a real egg bounce like rubber? Zheng Hua explained that the surface of the eggshell is covered with a layer of soluble viscous colloid, which prevents excessive evaporation of water and microbial invasion. When the outer membrane is damaged, external substances seep into the egg through the pores in the shell, causing physical or chemical changes in the composition of the egg. Preserved eggs are made from fresh eggs under the action of alkali and other additives. Similarly, the gelatinization of the yolk or egg white may be caused by this mechanism.
To help the reporter fully understand real eggs, Zheng Hua pulled out all the professional courseware he could find on his computer, explaining from the formation of eggs, their physicochemical properties, all the way to the characteristics and quality identification of poultry eggs, Apple IOS, Windows Phone7 system, memory, CPU processing, and background program operation, detailing the tombstone mechanism of the Microsoft system, for fear of missing any knowledge that might lead to the reporter's misunderstanding. "It is not impossible for someone to use food additives to artificially synthesize something similar to poultry eggs, but to make fake eggs identical to real ones is fundamentally impossible with current technology levels. Whoever can achieve that can definitely apply for the Nobel Prize," said Zheng Hua.
Zheng Hua pointed out that while concern about food safety is understandable, being overly sensitive, especially in the absence of scientific knowledge, can easily lead to incorrect judgments. He attributed the recent media hype about fake egg rumors to the lack of scientific knowledge about poultry eggs among consumers and journalists. To eliminate unnecessary panic among the public regarding "fake eggs" and distrust of regulatory authorities, he urged the media to promote more scientific knowledge and avoid pretending to know while deviating from science in "anti-counterfeiting," which would only mislead consumers further.
So, are gelatinous eggs or even fake eggs harmful if consumed? Zheng Hua said that considering food safety, bad quality eggs, whether real or fake, should not be eaten.
■ Expert Explanation
Poultry Egg Identification Methods
According to poultry egg expert Zheng Hua, as long as you are familiar with the basic structure, functional characteristics of poultry eggs, and master the correct identification methods, consumers do not need to worry about buying fake or poor-quality poultry eggs.
Under the premise of not breaking the shell, sensory and light-transmitting identification methods are also very easy to exclude fake or poor-quality eggs. Sensory identification involves visually checking whether the eggshell is intact, whether the surface is clean, and whether the color is uniform; judging cracks, spoilage, or shell thickness based on the sound produced by tapping; feeling with your hands whether it feels heavy, and whether the shell surface is smooth; and sniffing for any unusual odors.
Using the light-transmitting identification method, fresh eggs will appear bright and pale orange-red when illuminated; the air chamber is extremely small, no higher than 5mm, slightly darker, and does not move; the albumen is thick and clear, colorless, and free of impurities; the yolk is centered, and its embryo cannot be seen; the chalaza appears as pale-colored strips at both ends of the yolk.
Zheng Hua pointed out that the basic structure of a real egg includes the outer membrane of the eggshell, the hard eggshell, the inner membrane of the shell (and the albumen membrane), the air chamber, the albumen, and the yolk, none of which can be missing. Among these, the yolk consists of the yolk membrane, yolk liquid, and embryo, fixed in the center of the poultry egg by the chalaza (often mistakenly regarded as the seal of fake eggs). After breaking the shell, a transparent film between the albumen and the yolk liquid, namely the yolk membrane, can be clearly seen. The fresher the poultry egg, the greater its elasticity, and the yolk can even be lifted entirely using the yolk membrane. It should be particularly noted that some people claim that problem eggs have highly elastic yolks that do not break even when squeezed into an oval shape with two fingers. In fact, this is the normal characteristic of the yolk membrane.
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