Soy flour in meat floss might harm liver and kidney

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Low-grade soy flour essence found in the local breakfast classic meat floss might be harmful to liver and kidney, reports said Friday.

In Taiwan, people like to add generous amounts of pork or meat floss to their breakfast, be it in traditional local food such as congee, rice balls and steamed buns or Western-style sandwiches.

However, recent reports have shown that in order to save costs, unscrupulous traders add low-quality soy flour and essences but use less meat, while still selling the final product as pork floss.

How can consumers tell real meat floss from the adulterated product? According to media reports, a Tung Foundation (董氏基金會) expert says that real floss will contain pork fibers and therefore feel rather rough and stick together, while the floss made with soy flour is rather thin and is more likely to fall apart than to form lumps.

Nutrition experts advise consumers to perform a simple test with iodine bought at the local pharmacy. If you add some iodine to the pork floss and the latter turns bluish green, it means that soy flour has been added. The more flour, the darker the bluish color will be upon contact with iodine, according to experts.

After you’ve chewed real pork floss, you will have a taste in your mouth as if there is a residue there. However, if the floss immediately melts as soon as you put it in your mouth, there is a strong chance that you are eating an adulterated product, experts say.