Up to now, maybe your only connection to seaweed was with a doubtful look, when the local sushi restaurant decided to serve it as a side dish. You all know what I am talking about: Those reportedly healthy strands of greens with the grape-sized bubbles that you really do not want to smell two days after they have been washed ashore. For the Chinese, however, seaweed is a high-turnover food industry. A tonne is worth no less than EUR 10,000. So, when rumours about tearproof seaweed made of plastic erupted a fortnight ago, the Chinese web was ablaze. A YouTube video showing what looks remarkably like plastic being stretched went viral with over a million clicks, but the news was fake: In truth, it was real, plastic-free seaweed that could be stretched without ripping. No food scandal there. Chinese seaweed prices still plummeted by 50%, costing the food industry millions.