The trust crisis caused by ‘coconut face-changing’

At 12:30 p.m. on 6 June 2004, the Weekly Quality Report, a programme on CCTV which broadcasts to a wide audience, featured a special report, ‘The Face-changing of Nata de Coco’. Families listened closely to the woman announcer’s offscreen voice. It was not easy for people living at some distance from Hainan to drink

coconut milk. Now, through microbial fermentation, a new technology can transform coconut milk into Nata de coco, which is then sold in block form or in tins. Thus, people all over China can enjoy the local products of Hainan. But, recently, a letter claimed that two processing factories in Haikou were manufacturing Nata de coco in an abnormal way.