SOME stewed pig ears have been made from chemicals that could cause blood and heart problems, sounding a fresh alarm on food safety.

    The popular Chinese snacks sold at a market in Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, were made from gelatin and sodium oleate, the food safety office of Jiangxi’s provincial health department said Tuesday.

    The local public security bureau is investigating.

    A man from Ganxian County of Ganzhou bought some cooked pig ears March 30, only to find they smelled terrible when he was going to eat them.

    He sent the ears to Ganxian’s administration for industry and commerce. Local authorities detained the alleged seller April 1 and samples were sent to testing organizations earlier this month.

    The identity of the seller was not revealed and it is unknown who made the ears.

    Chinese food safety regulations ban sodium oleate from food, said Fan Zhihong, associate professor of nutrition and food safety at China Agricultural University.

    “Adding the chemical makes the ears taste better and makes it hard for customers to discover that the ears are actually fake,” Fan said. “Eating an excessive amount of sodium can result in high blood pressure and influence the heart’s function.”

    Fan said the gelatin used in the artificial pig ears may pose an even bigger health hazard. Given the cheap price of pig ears, the gelatin used to make them is very likely to be of very poor quality or may be industrial gelatin, Fan said.

    Industrial gelatin, a forbidden additive in China that’s made from leather products, is very high in chromium, which can lead to cancer.

    Yang Fan, a researcher at a nongovernmental environmental protection organization based in Beijing, said there are ways to distinguish fake ears from real ones. Hair and capillaries usually can be seen on real pig ears, but are not found on fakes, Yang said.

    (SD-Agencies)