Fake-busting activists and merchants clash: Is lutein in eggs "natural baseline" or artificial coloring?

Caixin.com “315” period, news about “detection of lutein in eggs” continued to ferment. Fact-checkers provided testing reports claiming that eggs contained lutein, stating these eggs were “dyed eggs with artificial coloring”; supermarkets and brand merchants argued that the lutein in eggs came from natural ingredients. Later, the fact-checkers released a report showing even higher lutein content to counter the brands’ false advertising.

This complicated “fact-checking drama” originated from the grassroots fact-checker Wang Hai’s team. Popular supermarkets like Pang Donglai, egg brands such as Huang Tiane and Zhengda were all involved in the public opinion. The discussion even surpassed the exposure of “bleached chicken feet” on CCTV’s “315 Gala.”

On March 17, Fengji Food, the parent company of Huang Tiane, issued a statement saying that the company’s products had been sampled and tested by the local market regulatory authorities. The samples had been sent to testing agencies, and the results would be announced as soon as they were available.