Here's a new viral trend for you: Fried toothpicks.
South Koreans have started posting videos of themselves frying, seasoning, and chowing down on toothpicks.
The first thing we think of in the West is wooden splinters, but this Asian craze doesn't involve wooden toothpicks. These toothpicks are made of corn or potato starch, dyed with green food coloring, and look like little kryptonite spears.
When they're fried, they puff up like green Cheetos.
Just watch:
The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) released a public announcement telling citizens to please not eat the toothpicks as their safety for human consumption has not been verified.
This is not a product to eat!
The starch toothpick is a hygiene product.
The safety of these hygiene products is managed according to standards and specifications for ingredients, manufacturing methods, and uses starch, but their safety has not been verified.
I'll admit; I don't speak Korean, but Google translate tells me that post from the MFDS in part reads,
Please give toothpicks to your teeth according to their purpose!
I particularly love the wacky sound effects included in the public service announcements.
It reminds me of the U.S.‘s Consumer Products Safety Commission and all their silly safety announcements:
I guess if there's any cross-cultural commonality in humanity, besides our desperate need for a savior, it's that we're all really, really dumb!
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