Chongqing Evening News
December 10, 2009

Today's Chongqing Evening News tells the story of a new food scandal that has come to light in the city: fake pigeon eggs.

Seems that soaking spotted quail eggs banana oil removes their spots, leaving pristine white eggs that can be sold to unsuspecting consumers as pigeon eggs:

Why dress up pigeon eggs as quail eggs? Lust for profit: half a kilo of quail eggs, around 50 or 60, sells for 4 yuan. But pigeon eggs are priced individually at 3.5-4 yuan apiece. The profit on fake pigeon eggs is multiplied thirtyfold or more, so naturally unscrupulous dealers run their scams with abandon. The twenty-something expectant mothers who make up most of their customer base are not equipped to tell the difference.

The potential harm reaches farther than the pocket-book: banana oil is mildly toxic and may be absorbed into the eggs as they soak.

Pigeon egg vs. quail eggs

Fortunately, the newspaper makes sure its readers won't be so easily tricked in the future by including a four-point egg test:

1. General appearance: Pigeon eggs are about twice the size of quail eggs and are symmetrical end-to-end. No matter how quail eggs are "dressed up," they will always be half the size of pigeon eggs and will have one sharp end and one rounder end.
2. View in the light: Like chicken eggs, pigeon eggs are translucent when held up to the light. "Dressed up" quail eggs will not let the light through — when the spots are stripped off, a chemical "coat" is added to the shell.
3. Taste: When boiled, pigeon egg-whites are gleaming and tender, qualities lacking in quail egg-whites, which are little different from chicken eggs.
4. Weight: This is a simple test. Half a kilo is around 50-60 quail eggs but just 30 pigeon eggs.