The squid disappeared in the form of dechini… Caught in Chinese fake food

“It’s been 5 minutes since I boiled the squid and it started to disappear again like yesterday.”

Recently, in Weibo, the largest social network service (SNS), controversy has arisen because a video of a squid melted and disappeared by boiling it in boiling water is spreading. The woman in the video shared this fact with netizens, saying, “After boiling for about 8 minutes, the squid completely melted away.”

On the 5th, according to Chinese social media Weibo and local media, on the 25th of last month, a woman living in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China, posted a video of boiling squid bought at the market on social media.

According to the video, shortly after the woman put two squids in hot water and boiled them, the shape of the squid dissolved in water and disappeared. As time passed, the water turned white as if the starch was released.

After the video was released, when some Chinese netizens raised suspicion, “Isn’t the video manipulated,” the woman filmed and released the whole process from buying squid in the market to the process of boiling.

The woman put the squid she bought in water and started the stopwatch. After that, about 5 minutes and 30 seconds, the squid gradually began to melt, and after 8 minutes, it became completely white porridge. The netizens who watched the video showed reactions such as “Isn’t it a squid made of glue”, “It’s a fake squid”, and “The government should crack down”. Some even said, “It’s not a fake squid, it’s boiled too much.”

The controversy over’fake food’ in China is not yesterday and today. Plastic rice, rubber eggs, paper radish, milk contaminated with melamine, bubble tea made from waste tires, hair soy sauce, and other fake foods have been produced and distributed several times.

Regarding the’fake squid’ controversy raised this time, local experts said, “It is technically difficult and costly to make squid with glue,” and “it may not be a fake squid.” A professor at China’s Agricultural University said, “This is a problem caused by repeated freezing and thawing.” He also said, “This phenomenon also appears in other seafood.”

As the controversy over’fake squid’ grew, the Chinese authorities secured samples from stores selling squid on the 27th of last month and initiated an investigation. Authorities said, “The store that sold squid is currently closed, and we plan to summon and investigate if a problem is found.”

Reporter Jo Ara Hankyung.com [email protected]

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