This is a TRUE STORY ...and it happened in Perlis, the northern most state in Peninsula Malaysia, at a place called Titi Chai Kangar..the pasar malam (night market) area where goreng pisang (banana fritters) are sold in the afternoon...
This is a witness account of what happened:
"Mom said, my uncle saw the goreng pisang hawker adding plastic straw (for drinking water) into the hot oil (and it melted) before he fried the goreng pisang. That is why goreng pisang, ubi (sweet potato)...etc. all are very crispy for hours.... And when my uncle asked the hawker he just kept quite. Later when my uncle told my mom about what he saw they realized that this is how fried fritters are crispy for a while. My mom said that in Thailand they do the same thing to keep the fried food crispy e.g. ikan bilis (anchovies), fried onions ...which if you leave them in the open air for hours they will still stay crispy..."
Here's another one:
"I was with my family in Cameron Highlands recently and it was 3 pm when we were hanging around a market area. We saw many hawker stalls, and suddenly something attracted my attention...at one of the stalls, there was a big wok of boiling oil with a half 5-litre empty oil bottle in it. The plastic bottle melted slowly in the hot oil. At first I thought it was an unintentional act by a 7-year old girl...but when I looked closely, I saw she was holding a pair of chopsticks and stirring the bottle.. it appears the act was intentional...Oh! my God ... these people are using melted plastic to fry food...so that the tit bits will not go soft when it cooled due to plastic in it!"
So...DO NOT EAT CRISPY FRIED FOOD from the hawkers!..try leaving it in the open air for hours and see what happens...
Plastic when burnt or exposed to high tempertaure causes a very toxic and carginogenic substance, dioxin, to be released. So be cautious of the food that you buy from hawkers.
Wednesday 5 March 2008
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4 comments:
Heard about this too but not sure whether it is true.
Thanks for visiting, BJ. Anyway our local hawker food hygiene factor is always a question mark. They will try all sorts of "recipe" to attract customers disregarding their health. A good example is the preservative they use on the food. For example boric acid is commonly use to preserve fish paste and make fishball "bouncy". Anyway it's a good idea not to overindulge in these food.
Shocking,how sellers never think about people's health only care for money this this world. I have stop buying fried banana eversince i saw them recycle the oil many many many times.The oil is black in colour.
Take care,
www.exceldream50.blogspot.com
Hi Vas,
Although BJ had doubted about the truth of this story in his earlier comment I think it's better to be safe than sorry!...abstain from eating our local roadside food as much as possible. Most were prepared in the most unhygienic conditions and food quality is dubious.
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