Toxic century eggs , flat salted eggs

How odd .

Just the other day I had the most unsalty , insignificant tasting salted egg at a nasi kandar outlet and today at a lohbak stall ,

the century egg so beautifully segmented and laid before our eyes , has no pungent smell nor flavour associated to it .

 It's flat . Flat as the back of a Chinese cleaver , with no flavour whatsoever. Doesn't smell sharp , sooooo odd .

Time to dig the internet for answers .

Apparently , both types of eggs should NOT taste like nothing . At all .

In 2013 , the Chinese government raided many factories in China that were mass producing these eggs . 

Toxic chemicals such as arsenic , cadmium and various leads were used to cure the eggs as it helped hasten the curing process and give the white part such a jewel like translucence , some restaurants began to market them as premium grade century eggs .

From the lead ( II ) oxide scandal , manufacturers have now turned to a presumably safer alternative , zinc oxide  . The thing is , regular consumption of foods laced with that can lead to copper deficiency which leads to numerous health problems you certainly do not want .

In a nutshell , there should be absolutely no compromise into accepting such eggs either !

What it boils down to is this .

Salted eggs should taste salty with a yolk that varies from divinely creamy to one that feels like very fine flavourful sand  teasing your tongue at the same time .

A less salty specimen , could mean that the brining process was shortened before the flavour could fully develop , which could mean that the manufacturers again got their stash of banned chems out . Either that or cheaper chicken eggs were used instead of duck eggs .

Century egg fans meanwhile , appreciate the cheese like sticky crumble on the greenish grey yolk , and tolerate that all important sulfuric /ammonia smell imbedded into the  deep walnut gelatin like white , because these eggs are said to be beneficial for our health  .

When it doesn't smell bad ....uh oh that IS bad news ....it could mean that the egg I just ate was laden with toxic chemicals ! So not healthy !

As I usually enjoy century eggs chopped up in a bowl of porridge , I am unable to detect the jarring difference and that could have serious  health consequences which defeats the initial purpose on why we Chinese consume these eggs in the first place . 

Don't know about you , but now that I know , I'm gonna reject century eggs that don't smell bad . And if anyone serves me non salty salted eggs again , that is one less item I can do without .

We can choose whether to put up with it or not . 

I choose not to .

Location : Penang