I feel like I owe the malachite some apology. For days now, everytime I read about malachite green contamination of the fish sold in Hong Kong supermarkets and wet markets, I thought they were referring to the mineral (which is quite a lovely color, as you'll see from this picture).
Turns out pretty malachite has absolutely no connection with malachite green. MG is a synthetic dye used to color silk, wool, jute, leather, cotton and paper. It was also traditionally used to treat fungal infections at fish farms and while some countries have banned it as a carcinogen, it continues to be used.
The two have similar names purely because they are similar in color.
The government promptly conducted a few tests that concluded that "People would have to eat as much as 300kg of fish tainted with malachite green every day for up to two years to risk getting cancer."
I don't know about you, but numbers like that don't bring any comfort. What else is there to eat unless we import all our food from Australia? Pesticide-flavored vegetables, mad cow, bird flu, pig flu. I read they've found MG-tainted fish (farmed salmon) even in Scotland and Canada.
Still the stomach is a resilient creature for all that. I think I need a snack...
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