Siopao: Pusa o Cardboard?

[theveed]

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.
art.cardboardfood.jpg

Steamed buns sold in Beijing contain 60 percent cardboard, a report on China Central Television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country's problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.

State TV's undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing's sprawling Chaoyang district.

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

[mazdamazda]

Wow... are they that desperate?

[m2's kumander]

:puke: ano ba yan...which reminds me..kakain ko alng siopao kanina...nasuka ako..di ko lam if bakit! :nerves:

[FedEx]

There was once in Hong Kong but they used human meat to cover the crime that they had done heheh

[m2's kumander]

:nerves: human meat!!!

tama na po..kakatapos lang ng lunch..baka :puke: na naman abutin ko!

[uls]

hahahahaha

pork flavored, chemical softened cardboard... yummy!

cost cutting tawag jan.

Kaya dapat magtaka tayo baket ang mura ng mga China products.

Di natin alam ano paraan ginagamit nila sa cost cutting.

hehe

[chua_riwap]

Carboard.......palaman sa buns? Wow, patok ito sa Olympics!

I-check din nila yung mga Mami (noodles) nila, baka naman pinakuluang swelas ng sapatos na sahog nyan.

[mcbry]

saw this sa news (i think abscbn) last night.
kakadiri nga yung ginawa nila.
kawawa naman mga inosente na nakakain nun.
tsk tsk tsk.

[uls]

wild wild west pa kasi ang china pag dating sa food and drugs regulations.

pero dito sa pinas hindi din nareregulate ung mga street food.

how about one week old sawsawan ng fishball with all the laway and microorganisms hehe

[XTO]

galing talaga ng chinese sa cost cutting. dati they discovered the magical versatility of tofu. ngayon naman cardboard. sa bagay anything na walang lasa ay di nakakasawa.