What's Really In My Fishballs? | Talking Point | Episode 38

Do you know what's in the fishballs you eat? Talking Point travels to Vietnam to track down the source of a key ingredient and finds out if our fishballs are more unhealthy than we realise.
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About the show: Talking Point investigates a current issue or event, offering different perspectives to local stories and revealing how it all affects you.
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[@saskan6373]

Just some suggestions: 1. When doing a taste test, DON'T reveal what it is BEFORE ppl taste them! They should just eat the fish balls, express their opinions, BEFORE being told of its composition. We want to hear their honest opinion. 2. It would be better if you took samples from different hawker stalls, brought them to a lab to test them and revealed its composition. To answer your title, "What's really in my fishballs?" - Honestly, I still don't know!

[@nazicokris9255]

Smart !

[@johaqqisjoe303]

They should have tried 100% mixed fish too - if possible

[@commonsense2821]

@Gazpacho Suave eww wuhan

[@pemimpi]

This show is definately an opinion leading

[@samsulkarim164]

Face palmed when I saw him reveal which is which.

[@wafierocks7549]

i feel like the lack of itoyori fish is concerning not because the quality of fishballs we are getting is lower, but the overfishing and driving a species to extinction

[@deeb.9250]

Is itoyori endangere? It could be that the demand for it goes to sg. Plenty other fishes suitable for fishball with white flesh and fishy taste. Its because sg wants 50%+ fish content that itoyori becomes preferable they cant filler with more flour

[@wafierocks7549]

@@deeb.9250 I don't think its endangered, but its currently vulnerable. It would be tragic to see the species become endangered

[@rdromzirazali351]

wrong perception about the supply of itoyori,Singapore reluctant to pay higher compare to Taiwan,Korea.I am a Seafood supplier from Jakarta sharing the facts of the itoyori

[@everythingtechpro007]

Just don't buy FISHBALLS .

[@Fals3Agent]

worrying and sad, overfishing is a problem, hopefully, we are ready to accept substitutes so that sustainable fishing can be made possible

[@beautifullybroken4879]

For that to happen you'd have to find away to remove greed from the equation. & as long as there is money it will never happen

[@febiyantocahyadi2806]

I dont believe of overfishing....what i believe that we took the fish but never to think of ocean ecosystem...like chicken..we cut alot of chicken butbwe develop way to breed chicken

[@datoming]

Hear, hear… I share your view over the deterioration of fish stock in our oceans. The undersized fish shown in the video should have been put back to the sea. The fishermen are not bound by regulation to return undersized catch back to the sea and the factory doesn’t raise any concern with the fishery authorities. These are signs of the Vietnam government’s oversight in not totally complying with EU import regulations and there is no way for the EU countries to discover the malpractice that damages the ecology. It is depressing. However, one cannot expect those Vietnamese fishermen, fish retailers, fishball manufacturers in Asia to share our concern over ecology. They are just concerned about drop in fishing supplies from the oceans without realising they could all contribute in improving our marine ecology.

[@billpetersen298]

Most countries overfish. But have you heard of the Chinese fishing fleet? It’s fishing, the whole world.

[@kawings]

5.08 workers cutting fresh fish is just for show, do not confuse the viewers!! in reality everything is ready processed in form of fish paste blocks. I had been working inside the fish ball processing plant before. No factory would be wasting their time to cut and scraping the meat out. furthermore bones are crushed together with the fish to form the paste.

[@Birdylockso]

You may have worked in a low grade factory. If they intend on a premium product, the client would expect the quality. The taste, smell, and color would give away if you only use the flesh or not.

[@impulsiveurge5837]

Actually thats healthier because bones contain calcium

[@anhduynguyen170]

@@impulsiveurge5837 not the coarse bone bits that could poke your gum or get stuck in your throat lol

[@impulsiveurge5837]

@@anhduynguyen170 Its a paste dude. It will go down smoothly.

[@jellyfishes-png]

mmmm tasty lol sardine bones are already good so i don’t see the difference

[@Altearithe]

It's so trippy actually hearing Vietnamese in a documentary (I'm AB-V). Normally Vietnam is forgotten when anything from Asia is covered, so that was a nice change.

[@datoming]

Thank you for making such high quality documentaries. I enjoy many such documentaries from your channel. The approach is well-thought out and presentation is easy to follow, entertaining too.

[@nuanced8225]

Absolutely loving these talking point episodes. Some of the comments here give good suggestions for improvement but the basic information is much needed and well researched. Keep it up.

[@CNAInsider]

Great to hear!

[@Livelovelaughes]

Thnk u cna for making such an informative knowledge , yet keeping it easy to understand and attractive to view . It will definitely help people to live healthier and live longer

[@bobotmeister]

man, managing fish ball stalls must be paying really well for the manager to wear a rolex while making soup... 😂

[@lolorick5885]

Lot's of good grade A Rolex Copies in Southeast Asia

[@SpiritsBB]

Thanks for the video. I actually learnt something. We have Li Chuan food Corp here in Vancouver. They also sells it in T&T supermarkets (retail chain in Vancouver). So this video hits very close to home. Gonna look at whether what I usually get is 100% fish or mixed.

[@jolly1039]

No blind test? What type of stupid test is that???

[@xdgs567z]

Jimmy L funny how they ate the whole fishball that was 100% fish and took a small bite of the other fish balls lol

[@RosCCkpg]

seems like the manager/director has eaten too many fish balls and affected their decision-making.

[@Birdylockso]

Exactly! Why didn't they do a blind tasting? What a waste of opportunity for unbiased report.

[@crackheadperson9417]

1) 1:57 can we take a moment to think about a scenario. You are in the meat section of the supermarket and you are trying to buy some ingredients while looking for meat you see a man beside you who is talking to the fishballs. *What will you do* 2) 8:09 You are walking home after school and while walking you see an uncle pretending that something is falling from the sky and is trying to avoid it. *What will you do*

[@tomeofslyev]

BRUH I CAN'T EVEN🤣

[@bryanyeo9796]

"Does that mean my fishballs just got healthier?" 😂😂

[@pupplemupple]

best show on cna ngl

[@TubersAndPotatoes]

Can we please not consume/fish the Itoyori species to the point that they're in such short supply? Is the Itoyori fish farmable, just like they're farming the Pangasius fish (commonly labeled as "Dory") on a massive scale in Vietnam?

[@aj-sz8mu]

farming is too costly for small fishermen. it needs a large amount of investment to get started.

[@halcyon3685]

Every time I look in the frozen seafood aisle, my appetite goes down thinking of all the preservatives and salt content in the products.

[@halcyon3685]

Gazpacho Suave nah

[@aerojetrocketdyners-2538]

cries in german sausages

[@KelvinCrLin]

Love CNA , very informative.

[@ChowYewLoon]

If they actually reveal the ingredient of the fish balls.....No one want to eat them at all....

[@truboxl]

The taste test is skewed to fit the general narrative of lower quality is bad fish ball. It is supposed to be blind test. Unacceptable.

[@maestrovso]

I had made a decision to never buy another pack of fishball again a few years ago when I notice them there was hardly any fish meat. Also I know despite this video most have farmed fish from very polluted water of SE Asia. I had decided if I crave them I just have to make my own. It is disgusting to see them hauled out fishes of all kind and sizes and the little ones are not spared to grow bigger.

[@lifestories7957]

Eye-opening! Greetings from Hong Kong.

[@Oridux]

9:01 That right there is a Vietnamese classic moped. Only one mirror.

[@Juan-nz1gu]

I really love the videos with this guy

[@uruvilaathakarjanan9996]

Respect to your team & you for flying over to Vietnam & Exposing the Truth.

[@acraze2u]

They definitely should have done a blind taste test! But my mom has made me fish balls from scratch and it's definitely a lot better tasting and bouncier than the stuff sold in stores. However, some premium price point fish ball specialty stores carry fish balls, fish cake and fish tofu that are generally better tasting than the ones bigger conglomerate grocery stores carry in my opinion :9

[@worldview2888]

03:28 VERY YOUNG but VERY smart and intelligent! : ) some children you ask them they will just shake head.

[@patrickwsj]

maybe they started take 1 with such reaction and got to the reaction you are praising at take 47. by that time anyone would have warmed up to the questioner.

[@ahyarhartanto1802]

if it was me during my childhood, I won't even answer any question from the strangers XD

[@realzia2]

Yup these be some questions we be asking

[@rakelscada5576]

I have also seen one with label " produce in Singapore" (I think it was coffee). Do you have coffee bean plantation in Sg or you got them from the farms you owned from other countries?

[@kiangee]

Silly to tell the testers what they are tasting, it's already a confirmation biased.

[@yzhong4]

Would be nice to know what’s crab stick seasoning consist of

[@lamc.m4773]

itoyori is Japanese name. Local name ang go li , ikan kerisi or in English Treadfin sea bream.my knowledge for best taste fish ball are made from lizard fish , wolf herring and yellow tail fusilier fishes.... Great program.

[@eddiensw]

Aiyo.. Our fishball content is getting "fishier"

[@exist8242]

Lol

[@liyuanhao3818]

its the same person that did the tour with xia xue !!

[@dhrgkbqxtjr2743]

I never ate chicken nuggets or sausages until grocery prices started skyrocketing and meat became unaffordable during the quarantine lockdowns in March. Whole chicken went to RM8.49 per kg! Beef and pork were between RM14-RM19 per kg. Meanwhile, sausages were less than RM2 for a packet of 10

[@CalonDosen25]

12:22 Vietnamese illegal fishing? I really enjoy the video from the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs which releases every time a Vietnamese ship is sunk. So much fun

[@riskbusin3ss]

Chill out on the fish balls Singapore, your demand is depleting the fish in the ocean.

[@micger]

the dietician can't do math lol

[@Oridux]

11:11 Translation is wrong. She said that there were too many fishing everywhere and that in summary, there were were just no fish. Close but no cigar.

[@schadenfreude6274]

Oh shut up. No one cares.

[@Oridux]

@@schadenfreude6274 Do you speak Vietnamese?

[@schadenfreude6274]

@@Oridux đụ mẹ :)

[@Oridux]

@@schadenfreude6274 ayyyy

[@pinkipromise]

thanks the translation didnt make sense

[@sungoodpath4985]

We the older generation had real fishcakes done by our mothers/sisters because we didn't have ready made fish balls/ fishcakes back then . We only realize how fortunate we were years later. That's life. 🇸🇬

[@eqxinx]

11:44 he picked up the bucket lmao

[@JohnLabu21]

Now im wondering how much does it cost to own and keep that merc/any classic car in singapore? Does CNA have an episode for this? 🤔

[@papagen00]

This is why I make my own fish balls and shrimp balls and squid balls.

[@ParmMohan-us6rn]

So sad to hear the depletion to fish stocks in the oceans. Human demand does not make logical sense.

[@davidshaklebottom4816]

I didn't know . Wow

[@CL83biker]

Looks like there are more questions than the answers.

[@ruairiobradaigh9810]

Nice classic Mercedes

[@ariyantolim2197]

Here in Indonesia the considered good chicken nugget contains only around 35% of chicken meat, meanwhile for the fishball... i'm not sure but for sure I know some traditional fishball manufacturers add borax to create that bouncy texture. Oh ya there is increasing trend of using catfish and plecs to make fishball and siomay here.

[@nangryo]

The best tasting fishball is the one that you make homemade :)

[@norm8542]

I am more worried about the declining fish populations

[@pewalator]

I always thought fish balls were made of... fish’s balls

[@albertteng1191]

Here in the philippines, singapore fishballs are best sellers. Cant have hotpot without singapore fishball, crab balls, meat balls etc etc

[@slaiyfershin]

Jaclyn...hubba hubba!

[@traveller536]

ASMR artists like Zach Choi needs to watch this

[@xenphoenix]

Most fish balls in the market have very little fish. Many added egg white and soy protein to get pass 10% protein on ingredient list. To put things in perspective, breads and noodles can easily contain 12% protein. Fish balls (or cuttlefish/ chicken/ pork/ beef balls) should have at least 15% protein. It's stingy, dishonest, and unhealthy - for any form of meat balls to have less than 10% protein. Consumers should check ingredient list.

[@godsamazinggrace5331]

EAT fishball noodles are tasty and bouncy Although occasionally I do get some mix of the saltier fishy ones

[@ten._.s]

Starch is not that bad... The stabilizers, flavorings, preservative and ect...

[@marks4553]

Yeah that lady is pretty ignorant, also what causes Diabetes is not the Carbs alone, it's not carbs and food containing lots of sugar causes insulin resistance...

[@ten._.s]

@Mark S Carbs in fish balls are mainly insignificant... It’s the carbs in white rice which is eaten in large amounts daily by many which might lead to diabetes...

[@SpiritsBB]

No she's right. Typically when you eat fishball you eat it with rice/noodle. If consumers don't know they're eating 60% carbs, the diet balance will lean very highly on the carb side of it. It adds to the equation that the poor are at greater risk of obesity than the rich. Why would you try to refute what Dietitians say anyways?

[@ten._.s]

@SpiritsBB Then they should say that they should eat less rice or noodles as well as fish balls due to the high carb content...

[@SpiritsBB]

​@@ten._.s No they shouldn't. The whole dish is what you get at restaurants. The percentage of each macro-nutrient is already fixed. The only thing that changes will be the content of the fishball. Telling people what to do won't change their habits. It's like telling you to eat more vegatables because it's healthy. Will my advice change your habit? Probably not.

[@rajasingammuthusamy959]

During general maintenance in a phyton snake factory, the welder noticed the phyton flesh being processed in blocks for delivery to the customer. Guess what, you guess as good as mine.

[@stardust5870]

Love this video, just DONT GOTTA RUIN THOSE CHICKEN NUGGETS

[@CNAInsider]

whoops, then maybe you shouldn't watch the next episode? *plug for next week's episode*

[@rushdrift]

I'm more worried about the future of the fish, might go extinct.

[@GlobalDrifter1000]

This could be shortened to ten minutes.

[@salimatoukamara713]

Nah you just have a short attention span most likely because of tiktok

[@GlobalDrifter1000]

@@salimatoukamara713 no have tictak

[@Buggy-dn5jf]

2x Speed may help you

[@mrluigi9923]

you dont know what goes into your processed food ? read the content table on the packaging.

[@goldkwi]

Ive tried fishballs in JB malaysia and China, honestly really bad compared to Dodo and Bobo here. Maybe those are the 40% mixed fish surimi

[@CutePuppy520]

Hahahahaha.... Wrong, it’s about 5% fish.. You’re too naive to be thinking there’s 40% fish inside fish balls here in Malaysia

[@johnnysmoke612]

Can't be any worse than Rooster Fries! 😁😁😁

[@baz77a]

So let me get this right, the preferred Fish species for making fish balls is dwindling alarmingly due to over fishing but this program is concerned about taste and what a disaster it will be consume a product with only 40% of the preferred fish? I personally found it sad that the fish paste factory accepted undersized fish for the sake of manufacturing a sellable product. There is simply no impetus to change the behaviour to conserve and arrest the “itoyori” decline. The almighty dollar rules.

[@MintyMiku]

1:58 healthyly

[@meganaire3003]

Honestly, the graphics are a little scaremonger-ey.

[@rashminable]

What do you mean? It was uncomfortable for me to watch cos I choose not to eat meat but I'm curious to know your perspective?

[@meganaire3003]

@@rashminable 1:07 the zoom in and the vignette of the text, the anatomical flip through showing cancer in the body creating a 'visceral' response (geddit?), even when the narrator says "12% higher risk of cancer" - which if the existing risk is 2% that means the actual risk is like... 2.24%...

[@shibolinemress8913]

Cloudy with a chance of fishballs

[@elvis2420]

21:06 that save on that joke tho

[@LizNguyen]

Yumm fish ball

[@Oldirocks]

Mmm, I love fishball

[@xeenslayer]

Is there going to be another episode on nuggets? Probably going to get a bit too scandalous to air heh.

[@CNAInsider]

watch out for the next episode!

[@bixbe_sglearn]

Best about this piece...the faux Rothko in the background of the opening segment and the Benz that he got into. Interior in good shape too.

[@arrowstheorem1881]

Though SG praise itself all the time, it's quite sad that most of the things the people eat are not fresh as in they are airflown or shipped from afar. And many will feel defensive when people do not say flattering things about sg

[@arrowstheorem1881]

@@cupcakechronicles4551 True. *Clap clap*

[@kelvenlim9283]

At 22:20, he asks "so MSG is the salt?". And the lady then says "high in sodium". I want to clarify that MSG and salt (sodium chloride) are not the same. Her statement is inaccurate.

[@yixuanlee8934]

6:57 nice car

[@adriangana]

Fishball here in the Philippines is the only food that I know when I was a kid it's 50cents....now it's still 50cents, what kind of sorcery they are doing on it? LoL

[@reddevils9758]

man just casually ride in vietnam

[@Penaming]

Ask Sembcorp to build an open sea fish farm offshore rig for itoyori fish anchored off Pedra Branca. After all oil industry is in the dumps. Or wait for China to do large scale open sea fish farming in the SCS.

[@thiccdonut5470]

Isn’t yellowtale fish meant to be in fishball? I’ve never heard any of these fish before

[@deadchannel6005]

The mercz tho

[@bstaznkid4lyfe392]

Not gonna eat fishballs ever again..lol

[@kisunamayan]

10:18 / 10:19 Reporter: itoyori Fisherman: aw Reporter: itoyori Fisherman: aw 😄😁😁😅🤣🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@godsamazinggrace5331]

Steven chia and Diana ser current affairs programs are the best

[@nameinvalid69]

sometime it doesn't really matter. Life isn't always good.

[@thithachnguyen8913]

My family don’t eat this kind of food ,sadly😄!

[@Flappmeister]

It's quite funny to hear this reporter skip over the problem of overfishing so quickly, and instead jumping back to "but what about the quality of the fishballs?!" There was a perfect moment there to highlight in more detail the effects overfishing of any fish species will do to not only consumers and businesses, but the ecosystems that sustain our oceans. Instead, the point was shunted aside. I understand this is more about nutrition rather than overfishing/sourcing, but some awareness/reality checks was missed here.

[@kittykitkat4968]

I avoid packet food and frozen meals, they are full of preservatives.

[@AndrewL]

wow, how come Steven can speak Vietnamese?

[@crystalidx]

Probably if it was very harmful it would be off the market, but still no transparency in the food production.

[@arrowstheorem1881]

SG sings praise that it's people are living the longest or very long and yet most of it's people eat lots of processed foods . So is processed foods really that bad or are the people living that long? Is the statistics audited by international bodies?

[@lizrod7892]

Funny I just bought fish balls 🤔

[@louiereycorpus1113]

The accents!

[@elainenevermind5276]

I wish healthy food are cheaper accessible.

[@jasonboore5431]

Yes its cheap but you need more time to buy and prepare

[@jasonchewjason]

It seems the product of Singapore in the video only water are from Singapore.

[@heesingsia4634]

jasonchewjason doesn't the water come from Johor?

[@jasonchewjason]

@@heesingsia4634 oh ya. 100% non sg.

[@noodlelicious.]

I love these but I have serious reaction to MSG that often comes with it. Can we discuss on that matter please.

[@AwesomeRara]

Nurul Abdul msg is actually ok. the only harm msg does to you is high sodium, which also happens when you have too much salt. the hair loss is actually bad science that has been proven false.

[@dalzy25]

Nocebo effect.

[@weijun998]

MSG reaction has long been proven as a placebo effect due to bad science back then and it's kinda racist the way it started. Many asian around the world eat MSG without having any effects. Food like seaweed, tomatoes, potato chips, corns, peas, mushrooms, etc all contains MSG. Primarily sodium from msg is literally the same as the sodium from table salt. Glutamate literally does nothing in your body other than leaving a savory taste in your mouth.

[@ainouta123]

Nice mercedes

[@nadrud]

we normally get 7 to 10 trucks or bc you are here we are getting 3... the power of the media at work. If there was a drastic drab on the supply. There would not be a full factory of workers.

[@jasonboore5431]

Still better to eat a Fish soup ( Tinola and Sinigang ) 😋😋

[@sho9214]

It’s better to eat the fish than fishball!!

[@gijose83]

Oh deeeeeeng