人造鸡蛋背后的骗局

12月26日中央电视台“焦点访谈”栏目播出《假蛋真相》，揭露部分制假者打着“人造鸡蛋技术”的幌子骗取培训费。打着高科技的旗号，声称掌握了人造鸡蛋技术，成本只要5—8分钱，便可以以假乱真，其实，他们用的是真鸡蛋“以真乱假”，目的是骗取培训费。

According to the manual provided by one of the companies who provide training for making artificial eggs, the main ingredients of the artificial egg include: sodium alginate, calcium chloride, and other chemicals.

A technician from the company first uses yellow pigment to make the yolk. He puts it in a halved ping pong ball and, when the shape is formed, puts the "yolk" in the sodium alginate solution. This completes the egg except for its shell. The last step is to use calcium oxide to make the shell.

Everything about the egg looks real when it is made. But within only three days, this artificial egg shrunk to the size a small piece of chewed gum. How did a perfect looking artificial chicken egg become a small blob?

Zhang Junying, professor at Beijing University of Chemical Technology says the artificial egg technique itself is fictitious.

"Making an artificial egg, and making it look and taste like a real egg, is much harder than having a hen lay a real egg. All the yolk and egg whites are made of chemical solution. Once the shell is broken, the stuff inside will dehydrate. Even if the shell doesn't break, it's still impossible to make an egg from chemicals."

However, teaching the technique of making artificial eggs is still a business in many places.

Zhu Baoli, deputy director of Food and Drug Administration of Huitong county of Hunan Province, has investigated this issue.

A trainer of such a business told him:

"He told me that the training of making artificial eggs is just a big lie! Those companies just cheat you by performing such a fictitious chemical magic."

Still, data is insufficient to prove what risks this kind of artificial egg could pose to people's health. But it's certain that these man-made eggs are not good for our health.

One way to distinguish the artificial eggs are, once opened, its yolk will quickly mix with the egg white.

For CRI, I am Li Dong.