Be Careful When Eating Apples

It has been recently proven that the adage "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" does keep a person healthy. The skin also provides a good source of anti-oxidant, and fibre to cleanse the intestinal system. But what about the wax used to coat them to keep them fresh? There have been many warnings in email advising consumers to peel off the skin of an apple before biting into it. In fact, one email provided graphic images of 'toxic' wax coating on apples and advise consumers to remove the skin of an apple.


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A website has addressed this issue by disputing the danger of consuming wax (which is from Mother Nature) on apples or other fruits:

Are apples and other fruits coated with wax okay to eat? Yes! According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the wax is natural, non-petroleum based, and approved for use on all kinds of foods.

Just-picked produce, including apples, are coated with wax by Mother Nature to help prevent them from drying out and becoming mushy. Before these products are delivered to markets for sale, they are washed and rinsed of dust and chemical residues, but about half of the original wax coating is lost during this cleaning process. As a result, FDA-approved natural wax is added to make sure that produce is protected during transport, storage, and sale, as well as to make them look more appealing and appetizing. Your apples may seem smothered in wax, but about one to two drops of natural wax is all that's added to each apple. Amazingly, one pound of the wax used in this process may actually cover up to 160,000 pieces of fruit.

Wiping and washing produce before eating or cooking it is recommended to help remove dirt, a certain amount of bacteria, and, yes, some of the wax. You can use regular tap water to accomplish this task, or you could even try one of several new fruit and vegetable wash products on the market.

If you are still squeamish about the skin, by all means remove it although it would have robbed you of that all important anti-oxidant and fibre.

Instant Noodle Scare

It seems there are many people out there who are fond of scaring the shit out of people who eat certain foods or use certain products. The latest email I received warned against eating instant noodles, satay, prawns, and pork. Even the use of shampoo is not spared. This particular email was actually sent out in 2000, and it is being picked up and circulated. This one is about instant noodles, among other things.

Dear instant noodle lovers,

Make sure you break for at least 3 days after one session of instant noodles before you eat your next packet! Please read the info shared to me by a doctor. My family stopped eating instant noodles more than 5 years ago after hearing about the wax coating the noodles - the wax is not just in the Styrofoam containers but it coats the noodles. This is why the instant noodles do not stick to each other when cooking.

If one were to examine the ordinary Chinese yellow noodles in the market, one will notice that, in their uncooked state the noodles are oily. This layer of oil prevents the noodles from sticking together.

Wanton noodles in their uncooked state have been dusted with flour to prevent them sticking together. When the hawker cooks the noodles, notice he cooks them in hot water and then rinses them in cold water before cooking them in hot water again. This process is repeated several times before the noodles are ready to be served. The cooking and rinsing process prevents noodles from sticking together.

The hawker then "lowers the noodles in oil and sauce to prevent the noodles from sticking if they are to be served dry. Cooking instructions for spaghetti require oil or butter to be added in the water when boiling the spaghetti to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Otherwise, one gets a big clump of spaghetti!

There was an SBC (now TCS) actor some years ago, who at a busy time of his career had no time to cook, resorted to eating instant noodles everyday. He got cancer later on. His doctor told him about the wax in instant noodles. The doctor told him that our body will need up to 2 days to clear the wax. There was also an SIA steward who after moving out from his mother's house into his own house, did not cook but ate instant noodles almost every meal. He had cancer, and has since died from it.

Nowadays the instant noodles are referred as " cancer noodles ".

Scopes, a site specially devoted to dispelling urban legends on foods and products asserted that there is no truth in the claim.

There Are No Words To Describe This

I received an email containing pictures of the purportedly inhuman punishment of a child for stealing bread in Iran. Email that contain half-truths and lies have reached such epidemic proportion that it has become difficult to separate the true from the untrue.

This email ended with this: No religion can ever justify such a hideous crime. Pass it on...Let the world know what is happening in the name of religion. Pass this to all for public awareness.

According to a reliable source, the pictures are authentic. But the eight-year old Iranian boy whose arm was run over by the lorry was not punished for a crime. He was merely performing "Maareke giry", or a street magic act for money. Note the gentleman (picture 1) speaking into the microphone, apparently advertising the performance. Pictures 6 and 7 which showed the boy shaken but unharmed were omitted from the series. The email first surfaced in November 2005.

Picture 7