Stop eating fried toothpicks, South Korea warns after viral social media trend
nbcnews.com
Video clips showing people consuming the deep-fried starch toothpicks with seasoning such as powdered cheese have racked up thousands of likes and shares on TikTok and Instagram.
A health warning from South Korea’s food ministry has urged people not to eat fried toothpicks made of starch in a shape resembling curly fries, after the practice went viral in social media posts.
Video clips showing people consuming the deep-fried starch toothpicks with seasoning such as powdered cheese have racked up thousands of likes and shares on TikTok and Instagram.
“Their safety as food has not been verified,” the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said in a posting on Wednesday on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “Please do not eat (them).”
Wait but they're made of starch?
Yeah, they're pretty interesting as far as toothpicks go. They shatter pretty easy and melt if you leave them in your mouth. They work, but not as well as your standard wooden pick.
Sweet potato starch that Koreans have used forever to make noodles.
So are they actually even toothpicks?
Yes, but maybe also other things you shouldn't eat.
So bizarre; foods like this already exist everywhere. In india they're called far far, in UK chinese restaurants they call them prawn crackers, in Mexico they're chicharrones de harina or duritos, and if you don't have access to any of these options where you live, you can literally just fry rice noodles or spring roll wraps and they'll puff up. So why the toothpicks?!
How have I not heard of "far far"
I can fry rice noodles? Uncooked ones? Brb
Yep!
Next they'll be telling me I can't eat those biodegradable packing peanuts that taste like popcorn
They're just corn starch. Eat to your heart's content.
They're probably not made to the same sanitary standards as food products.
That's so clearly written by AI that I find it hard to believe any of it's true.
Yeah. I can understand.
Cheetos?
If it isn't safe as food, then I don't think it should be considered safe to go into your mouth.
Not sure this holds up. Most people use plastic toothbrushes and nylon floss, but wouldn't consider either of them especially safe as food.
You don't eat your toothbrush or floss right? I think that's what the above poster was getting at.
You shouldn't eat a toothpick, either.
I mean, I understand that they're not being made to be eaten, but they're made from sweet potato starch or cornstarch.
Sure, they're not being prepped for consumption, so there might be dangerous chemical preservatives or something not listed, but the reason people are eating them is because they're made of food.