The 2005 Indonesia food scare was a food scare in 2005 in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...

, Indonesia, when the government found that 60% of noodle shops in the capital had been serving noodles laced with

formaldehyde Formaldehyde ( , ) ( systematic name methanal) is a naturally occurring organic compound with the formula and structure . The pure compound is a pungent, colourless gas that polymerises spontaneously into paraformaldehyde (refer to section ...

, a known

carcinogen A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide, or radiation that promotes carcinogenesis (the formation of cancer). This may be due to the ability to damage the genome or to the disruption of cellular metabolic processes. Several radioactive sub ...

. Noodles in the 2007 Vietnam food scare also had the same contaminant, and the chemical preservative had also definitely been found on

tofu Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...

, noodles, and salted fish. Thailand has similar formaldehyde problems. Rumors spread that it was used on chicken as well. This was particularly bad in a nation like Indonesia where chicken is widely consumed because of the Islamic stance on pork. Other food contaminants found by

Depok en, Starfruit City , motto = ''Pariraca Darma''(Servant of the righteousness) , image_map = Map of West Java highlighting Depok City.svg , mapsize = , map_caption ...

Health agency in elementary schools in 2006 were

sodium benzoate Sodium benzoate is the sodium salt of benzoic acid, widely used as a food preservative (with an E number of E211) and a pickling agent. It appears as a white crystalline chemical with the formula C6H5COONa. Production Sodium benzoate is commo ...

cyclamate Cyclamate is an artificial sweetener. It is 30–50 times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar), making it the least potent of the commercially used artificial sweeteners. It is often used with other artificial sweeteners, especially saccharin; ...

and

borax Borax is a salt (ionic compound), a hydrated borate of sodium, with chemical formula often written . It is a colorless crystalline solid, that dissolves in water to make a basic solution. It is commonly available in powder or granular form ...

exceeding the permissible levels. Benzoate and cyclamate were commonly used as food additives in Indonesia. Other substances found in the samples, such as

rhodamine Rhodamine is a family of related dyes, a subset of the triarylmethane dyes. They are derivatives of xanthene. Important members of the rhodamine family are Rhodamine 6G, Rhodamine 123, and Rhodamine B. They are mainly used to dye paper and inks ...

, formaldehyde and Methyl yellow —used as a dye—are not fit for consumption.

References

External links

Formaldehyde found in school snacks
{{Consumer Food Safety Food safety scandals Indonesia Food Scare, 2005 Food scares 2000s in Jakarta 2005 health disasters Health disasters in Indonesia

See also

References

External links