A video showing a man claiming there is plastic in a popular brand of cream crackers has been dismissed by netizens as being misleading.
To prove his point in the video, the man, who spoke in a Malaysia-accented Chinese dialect, used a cigarette lighter to burn a few crackers from well-known brand Hup Seng.
As the crackers lit up easily and appeared to be melting, he claimed that they could have contained synthetic material – insinuating that they were not safe to eat.
Uploaded by Facebook user Emo-Ji early on Friday (July 29), the video has garnered over 730,000 views. It also got many netizens fired up.
They pointed out that a few ingredients in the crackers like oil and carbohydrates, such as wheat flour and corn starch, are in fact flammable.
Some demanded the video to be deleted while others warned the man in the video that he could be sued by Hup Seng for making a false claim.
One Facebook user showed a clipping of a Chinese newspaper article which cited an expert saying that the crackers are safe for consumption.
AsiaOne sent questions in an e-mail to Hup Seng to clarify the matter, but has yet to receive a reply at publication time.
The controversial video
AsiaOne noted that the cream crackers caught fire and burned easily in the video. The man then placed the crackers in a wok that looked shiny and well-oiled.
The biscuits continued to burn.
So, is the video legit or was it staged?
No one seems to know for sure right now which is why AsiaOne decided to conduct its own experiment using the same brand and type of crackers that were used in the original video.
AsiaOne’s burning experiment
We tried to burn the first piece of cracker with a cigarette lighter, but it didn’t light up easily even though we held it directly under the flame for long enough.
The targeted spot got charred instead but the fire didn’t spread to the other parts of the cracker. In fact, the air suddenly smelled of burnt toast.
We repeated the attempt with another piece of cracker and the results were identical.
Our conclusion: The crackers used in our test did not catch fire easily, unlike the ones shown in the questionable video.
chenj@sph.com.sg
