A video making rounds on the Internet shows how workers in Vietnam are injecting tiger prawns with substances to make them look bigger, fresher and heavier when they are sold.
We’re pretty sure prawns in Malaysia come from a variety of sources, but Vietnam is one of the largest sources of imported prawns in the world.
The footage was shot by a Vietnamese TV station earlier this year, and according to multiple news sources, the substance is known as carboxymethyl cellulose or CMC.
The substance, which is often used in food as a thickener for icing, dissolves in water and turns into a smooth liquid before being pumped into the prawns.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCIwZtDOW7Q
More ironically, the tiger prawns from Vietnam, which are mostly imported to Australia, are labeled as ecologically certified. Moral of the story is; labels aren’t everything and maybe we should always dig deeper.
[Source]