Planning for your upcoming full moon festival?

Planning for your upcoming full moon festival? Bakeries have begun stocking up moon cakes - including the one with egg yolk and of course double egg yolk filling. Charming!!! 

There are now many contemporary moon cakes like the ones with chocolate and strawberry filling, crusts made from jelly instead of the traditional pastry. My favourite is still the lotus seed! 

But those who do like the egg yolk filling - beware! Read on why.........

Century egg is known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, and millennium egg. In Mandarin, it is also known as Pidan. It is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, lime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green, cream-like substance with a strong odor of sulphur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, transparent jelly with little flavor. The yolk is prized and is used in Chinese moon-cakes to symbolize the moon. people from other culture eat salted / preserved egg for their porridge and rice dish.

Safety issue with Century Egg and Salted egg.

Century and salted eggs are best sold when the eggs yolks are red or orange in colour. The problem happens is when some of the farmers add colours or dye to the feed so that the ducks and chicken eggs produced are red or orange in colour and darker so that this can attract consumers to buy them.

One of the dye feared to be used in chicken and duck feed are Sudan Red Dyes. Sudan Red I,II,III and,IV is not allowed in most countries because it is a suspected carcinogen (cancer-causing). It is also banned in Malaysia.

 

On November 20, 2006 the Xinhua News Agency reported that red-yolk duck eggs containing the carcinogenic red dye Sudan Red IV have been found in some provinces and cities including Beijing. The eggs have been produced by Sanhu Eggs Co. Ltd based in China’s Jiangsu Province. The officials have also reported that the cancer-causing dye could be used wider than anticipated.

SAFETY CONCERNS RELATED TO SUDAN DYE

The red dyes Sudan I, II, III and IV are oil soluble, azo dyes used legally in the leather and fabric industries. They are fairly inexpensive and readily available. However, they are not approved at any level for use in foods. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a part of the World Health Organization, has assessed the Sudan dyes as Group 3 geno-toxic carcinogens. (source: New Zealand Food Safety Authority, UK food recall - New Zealand updated 21 February 2005)

Sudan I has been used as a food coloring in several countries but it has been classified as unsafe, because it is known to cause tumors in the liver or urinary bladder in rats, mice, and rabbits. It is therefore a possible carcinogen and mutagen for humans.

 

TESTING of SALTED EGGS to DETERMINE PRESENCE AND LEVEL OF SUDAN DYE

The Malaysian Association of Standards Users (Standards Users) tested only duck salted egg and duck century egg in 2010. Chicken eggs were not included due to budget constraints – test for Sudan Dye is expensive.

In Malaysia Sudan I, II, II and IV, as well as Sudan Red G, are not permitted to be added as colouring substance in food under the Food Regulations 1985.  However, Sudan 1, may be formed as an impurity during the production of Sunset Yellow FCF. Sunset Yellow FCF is a permitted colouring substance under the Food Regulations 1985.

By referring to the full specification on Sunset Yellow FCF prepared at the 69th JECFA (under CODEX) in 2008, the permitted level for Sudan I (1-(Phenylazo)-2-naphthalenol) is not more than 1 mg/kg or 1ppm. Thus, the presence of Sudan 1 in Sunset Yellow FCF is permitted with a condition not more than this level. In all other aspects, the provisions of the Food Act 1983 and Food Regulations 1985 shall be complied with.

Out of 4 samples tested, 3 samples contained level of Sudan I dye exceeding permitted level of less than 1ppm.  The samples exceeded the 1 ppm limit by 30%, 80% and 210% respectively. 

Standards Users would like urged the Ministry of Health Malaysia to revise the existing regulation to include safety clauses specifically on this dangerous carcinogenic dye in all food products.

 

There is still lack of awareness and understanding among the manufacturers on the food regulation and face difficulty in understanding grey areas that exist in the regulation. We also urge both the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries to provide clearer guidelines on food products which are prepared in the farm and delivered to consumers (via retailers etc.) such as eggs and milk.

Standards Users was unable to access information from the relevant department within the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries on safety measures taken in poultry farms to prevent animal feed from being tampered with banned colourings.

Based on the background study that we have done, we have noted that there are also other consumer products that have been detected for Sudan Red Dye in other countries. Due to our limitation, we were not able to test these products. Among products suspected to contain Sudan Red Dye are:

1.    Pesto sauce

2.    Curry (masala) powder

3.    Tumeric prowder

4.    Chilli powder

5.    Unrefined palm oils

6.    Seasoning products

As a precautionary measure, we urge both Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries to carry out market surveillance and test salted / century eggs and other products (listed above) which have tendencies to be tampered with Sudan Dye.

AS a precauitonary measure source your mooncakes for the upcoming full moon festival from certified safe sources. Among the labels to look for is the HACCP labels.

For more information please contact:

The Malaysian Association of Standards Users

No. 24 Jalan SS 1/22A

47300 Petaling Jaya

Selangor

Malaysia

Te: +6037875 3168

Fax: +603 7875 2168

e-mail: info@standardsusers.org