TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian National Police Inspector General Setyo Wasisto initially suspects that the motive behind the recent fake egg hoax is to spread fear and merely scare people away from consuming eggs.

“It’s to scare people from eating eggs,” he said on Thursday.

However, Setyo reminded that this cannot be taken lightly since eggs in Indonesia are one of the essential sources for protein, “This can cause bring out a long-term effect when children nowadays are afraid to consume eggs, they would not get sufficient protein during their growth period and later on in their adulthood,” said Setyo.

The fake eggs hoax was first known to originate from a video that went viral throughout social media. The video shows a man at a market that police say is in Johar Baru Jakarta, who could be seen inspecting an egg by cracking open its shell to evaluate its egg whites and its yolk.

The man in the video said that the egg was a fake since he claims that it was made from elastic silicone and covered in plastic.

Setyo revealed that the hoax had economic implications for egg farmers in Blitar that saw their income drop by 30 percent-40 percent because people were hesitant to buy eggs.

Inspector General Setyo Wasisto guaranteed that fake eggs do not exist since it would not be economically viable to produce fake eggs using advanced technology compared to the price eggs are currently sold at.

TAUFIQ SIDDIQ