Who can resist a scrumptious bite from a fluffy magenta-colored cotton candy? Or refuse an ice-cold cordial drink on a hot day?

The current uproar over formaldehyde serves as a warning to people that behind the attractive appearances of these treats, there may lurk all manner of dangerous chemicals.

"Since the hullabaloo over formaldehyde, my wife has been extra careful about buying food with preservatives," said Agus Haryanto, who works for the University of Indonesia's School of Humanities.

But the lacing of foodstuffs with formaldehyde is just the tip of the iceberg. Investigations by various bodies, including the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) and the Jakarta Food and Drugs Agency (BB-POM), have persistently found dangerous dyes, prohibited synthetic sweeteners, borax, formaldehyde and dangerous levels of benzoic acid in samples of foodstuffs sold throughout the city.

"We've routinely warned small-scale food producers about the dangers of certain substances such as formaldehyde and borax in foodstuffs. But it seems that when the people we talk to stop using these substances, another batch of unscrupulous producers takes over," BB-POM director Atiek Herwati said.

One only needs to visit a local state elementary school here to see the sort of chemical-choked foods that vendors sell to children.

That bright orange chili sauce smeared liberally over fried meatballs on a stick, a favorite of children, may well contain the carcinogenic dye rhodhamine-B.

"Rhodamine-B is a textile dye, but street food vendors like to use it as it is heat resistant, so when making cotton candy, the red color does not fade," Atiek explained, adding that besides being used in chili sauce and cotton candy, the dye was also widely used as a colorant in cordial drinks, red cendol (doughy rice-flour droplets used in cold drinks of the same name), various cakes, and crackers.

And what about the meatballs themselves? If the color of the meatballs is whiter than brownish-gray, then they are likely to have been treated with borax or boric acid.

Borax is often used as a firming agent, meat rub, preservative or tenderizer, and is frequently found in minced meat, meatballs, fried fish and dried fruit. Chronic symptoms of borax consumption include exhaustion, lack of appetite, dry skin, eye inflammation, and infection of the liver and kidneys.

And the bitter-sweet tang often found in cordial drinks sold on the sidewalk is quite likely to be produced by the artificial sweetener saccharin, or worse, the carcinogenic Dulcin (4-ethoxyphenyl urea).

Although its dangers to human health are debatable, daily consumption of saccharin should not exceed 5 milligrams per body weight to avoid bladder cancer.

Meanwhile, formaldehyde-laced tofu is usually tougher than regular tofu, while formaldehyde-laced fresh noodles are more oily. It is also better to choose fish from a stall where there are flies.

"For even flies shy away from formaldehyde-treated fish," Atiek said.

I-box

Some helpful tips on eating healthy:

* Avoid fresh foods that do not go off after several days at normal room temperature. Chances are they contain preservatives harmful to your health.

* Always run tofu, noodles, and fresh fish under lots of running water before cooking to reduce harmful substances.

* When cooking fresh noodles, make sure to discard the water the noodles were boiled in and use separate, freshly-boiled water for the soup. It does no harm to do the same thing to dried noodles to reduce harmful substances.

* Avoid brightly colored snacks.

* Formaldehyde is a strong smelling chemical, so if the food you buy has a chemical smell, it is likely to be contaminated.

* Fresh noodles laced with formaldehyde are usually more oily and less sticky.

* Avoid buying tofu that is tough on the outside but brittle on the inside.

* Meatballs laced with formaldehyde are usually more rubbery, and those treated with borax are lighter in color.

Collated from various sources.