A stroke of good fortune or cause for concern?
One netizen reported that her sister had bought a tray of eggs, only to find not just one, but at least seven eggs containing double yolks.
Posting about the unexpected find on Monday (Feb 13) to the Complaint Singapore Facebook page, user Danny Ng shared how her sister was elated when she cracked open the first egg.
"Quite lucky right, 1/1000 chance to find an egg with double yolk," he wrote, adding that the next four eggs also yielded twin yolks in each.
Two more eggs cracked open the next day turned out the same, with Ng surmising that the entire tray was made up of double-yolked eggs.
He did not say where the eggs were purchased from in Singapore.
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Their surprise though, turned to concern that the eggs may not be au naturel.
"Is that even possible?" and "Have we bought a tray of fake eggs?" questioned Ng in the video.
In his post, Ng wrote: "Was she extremely lucky, or did she just get a tray of fake eggs (with some standard errors when producing them)?? Anyone else with similar experience?"
Commenters who responded to his call for help had varied responses, but with most stating that it's unlikely to be a case of fake eggs.
A few however, urged Ng's sister to discard the tray.
One user indicated that the production of such eggs might be "induced", but did not explain further, except to say that the eggs are "edible", but should not be eaten "too frequent [sic]".
Another expressed doubt that such coincidences could be a natural occurrence.
On the flip slide, several commenters assured Ng that they too, have come across such eggs and he had nothing to worry about.
"It's normal, I love it… Don't worry too much," wrote one user, sharing that it's possible when buying large-sized eggs.
Other users agreed, with one stating that her father had once bought her a few trays' worth of double-yolked eggs.
One user who used to run a bakery business shared how she had gotten such eggs from a supplier, and there was "no complaint about the quality".
"Now when I try to get one, I can't even find," the commenter added.
AsiaOne has reached out to Ng for more information.
According to American publication Food & Wine, the occurrence of double-yolked eggs are about "one in a thousand", and are the result of rapid ovulation — which may be caused by "hormonal changes or a hyperactive ovary" in hens.
Hens that experience "abrupt, drastic increase in hours of light exposure", are also more likely to produce double-yolked eggs, it added.
Other sources online share how they are more likely produced by young hens that have just started laying eggs, or older chickens nearing the end of their reproductive period.
'Fake eggs' debunked
But it seems Singaporeans' concern over fake eggs doesn't seem to have abated, following social media reports of "fake eggs" being manufactured, purportedly in China, back in 2017. The reports have since been debunked.
In 2017, Singapore authorities had also investigated one customer's complaint that he had been served "synthetic" soft-boiled eggs at a coffee shop here. The agency found the allegations to be false and the eggs to be in fact, genuine.
candicecai@asiaone.com
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