THIS refers to the letter ‘Quality of eggs’ (May 29) which has made a correct observation pertaining to the quality of eggs available in the market for quite some time. Apart from the ‘breaking of yolk’ the letter talked about, one has observed a couple of quite disturbing characteristics of eggs over the last few years.

Whenever an egg is put to boil to a level of three-quarter stage, it takes seven to eight minutes to reach that stage.

This is quite a disturbing aspect because not in the distant past, eggs used to reach three-quarter stage in about four minutes. What type of eggs are these that take so long to boil?

Another characteristic of these boiled eggs is that once you take off the shell, the egg white gives the appearance of some transparent matter, with the yolk reflecting through. This is also a phenomenon that has been observed only in the last few years.

There is something definitely wrong with the eggs available in the market.

It is a possibility that either some profiteers are supplying some sort of ‘artificial eggs’ in the market or, in order to maximise profits, poultry farmers are feeding the birds with inferior quality feed, which is hazardous to the health of those who end up consuming these eggs.

The Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) should conduct a surprise check on the chicken feed and eggs sold in the market for the sake of the health of the general public. Random samples of eggs need to be thoroughly examined in the PCSIR laboratories.

Abid Mahmud Ansari
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2021