talk about food safety…

Here is a picture of food made from animal product, beef.

We call it “bakso”. This delicious food is commonly found in everywhere in Indonesia. Almost every body likes this food, but we rarely careless about the safety. Few months ago the national TV reported about “bakso” mixed with rat meat. And it also reported “bakso” mixed with borax.

In Indonesia borax is a common, but forbidden, additive to such foods as noodles, bakso (meatballs) and steamed rice. The country’s Directorate of Consumer Protection warns of the risk of liver cancer with high consumption over a period of 5–10 years.(wikipedia)

So, how to know that the meatball we eat contains borax? we can recognize it by the texture. The texture will extra firm rubbery (kenyal). And usually borax added as a preservative, so it is still in good condition even it store in room temperature for several days.