For years, Thai-style meat jerkies have been made using air-con vents at a Beach Road HDB block

Photo: Tregg Frank via Unsplash
Photo: Tregg Frank via Unsplash

Who needs specialized food dehydrators when you can just use the raw power of air-conditioners? Utilizing the dry heat emanating from dusty air-con compressor vents along an HDB corridor, a man has been making homemade meat jerkies and putting them up for sale at Golden Mile Complex.

Resourceful? Yes. Hygienic? Hell no.

The National Environment Agency is currently looking into a case involving raw meat being dried out in the open at Blocks 1 and 6 along Beach Road, The New Paper reported. The man responsible for the DIY meat jerkies mentioned to Shin Min Daily News that he has been doing so nearly every day, hanging racks of raw meat in front of compressor vents and placing trays of meat on plastic stools outside to dry in the sun.

According to the 60-year-old, he would then cook the meat before selling his products right on the street or at a store at Golden Mile Complex, located across the road from the residential estate. When approached by Shin Min reporters, the store’s staff said that they’ll stop selling the jerky, of which up to 30 boxes of it are snapped up daily.

Fans of the AC-dried meat have been eating it for years too, apparently.

The stench

Regulars of the shop stated that they have no issues with the food is made, but the actual people living among the sun-dried meats certainly do. The disgusted residents of the Beach Road apartment blocks had sent Shin Min pictures of the raw meat crawling with insects — an unpleasant sight to see on top of the stench they have to endure on the regular.

A resident who spoke to TNP mentioned that the people behind the DIY meat jerkies have been doing so for at least two to three years. The stench has been so bad that residents avoid the corridor where the meats are dried, and it attracts birds and other pests to the area as well.

TNP reporters who visited the site found small pieces of shredded dried meat on the corridor floor, with barbecue racks set up near the compressor vents.

NEA assured that it would take firm action against anyone found to be in violation of the Environmental Public Health Act and advised the public not to consume any food prepared in poor hygiene conditions.

Thai beef jerkies

The method of letting strips of meat dry outside is practiced in Thailand for Nuea Daet Diao, which translates to “sun-dried beef”. Thin slices of beef are marinated overnight in spices before being dried out briefly in the hot sun. Once the exterior has been dried out, the meat is deep-fried and served alongside various dipping sauces or eaten with rice.

These jerkies differ from its American-style versions as the meat is not completely dried out, and still has some moisture in it to make for juicier, tender bites. Which would be nice to snack on without the knowledge that flies might have crawled on the meat beforehand.



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