About one year ago, my level of concern over Formaldehyde exposure went from "never thinks about it" to "disturbing thoughts" after an unusual incident. It happ

About one year ago, my level of concern over Formaldehyde exposure went from "never thinks about it" to "disturbing thoughts" after an unusual incident. It happened after I bought an air quality sensor to monitor CO2 levels in the basement. It had other measures too, but they were of secondary importance to me - that is, until... One night I was in this basement room having some leftover fried rice when I happened to glance at this air quality meter. It's formaldehyde readings were normally zero, but suddenly they were reading very high. I was astonished. Attempting to try and figure out what was causing this, I noticed the formaldehyde levels were affected by how close the meter was to the fried rice dish. This fried rice came from a local restaurant that's quality has always seemed good. This particular fried rice was Cantonese style salted fish fried rice[0]. The fish in this case is salted, aged, and a little fermented[1]. It's definitely an acquired taste that me and a handful of people in my life really enjoy. After some googling I found a few stories about how this type of salted fish had been found to contain formaldehyde[2][3][4]. Apparently the additive helps the meat firm up into a more rubbery texture, which is something I did notice about this particular fish chunks in this rice dish. Ever since then, I have not returned to this restaurant and I don't order that item off menus anymore. [0] https://10best.usatoday.com/interests/food-culture/why-salted-fish-fried-rice-has-a-cult-following-in-hong-kong/ https://10best.usatoday.com/interests/food-culture/why-salte... [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK304384/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK304384/ [2] https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/09/formaldehyde-detected-in-supermarket-fish-imported-from-asia/ https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2013/09/formaldehyde-detected... [3] https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/is-formalin-present-in-your-fish-heres-how-to-buy-unadulterated-seafood/article24431555.ece https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/is-formalin-pre... [4] https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/is-formalin-present-in-your-fish-heres-how-to-buy-unadulterated-seafood/article24431555.ece https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/is-formalin-pre...