SHAH ALAM - Who would have thought of eating a whole softshell turtle? Indonesian mukbang influencer, Bella Yulia went to another level by cooking it into a meal for two.
Taking to TikTok, Bella along with her friend filmed a bizzare mukbang by eating a boiled turtle seasoned with lime.
Holding the whole turtle in their hands, each of them took a bite, and described the meat as being 'chewy'
They then pulled off the turtle's legs, and described it as 'cute' before taking bites.
"So yummy and it taste like chicken," the duo said while munching the animal.
Not content with on consuming the outer part of the turtle, Bella and her friend also seemed to relish the flesh of the turtle by splaying its body parts for viewers to see.
The mukbang episode shocked their viewers and followers, where most of them expressed their disgust and shock.
Instagram user @Nikkiiman commented 'This needs a trigger warning' while another Instagram user @Erranash said 'Whutttt! Pity the turtle,".
Meanwhile another follower, Suzanna Maddy said consuming weird foods like this should stop as it might lead to infections or diseases.
"You girls should stop it. After what we had gone through Covid-19, still never learn your lesson," she commented.
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) marine biology lecturer Dr Muhammad Hafiz Borkhanuddin had said that that eating turtle meat could lead to metallic poisoning as well as a host of diseases caused by parasitic and bacterial infections.
As a research scientist with the university's Faculty of Science and Marine Environment, Hafiz said that turtle meat has been found to contain high concentrations of metal that exceeds international food safety standards.
He warned that eating meat with such high metal content could "cause toxic effects and result in several illnesses such as kidney disease, liver cancer, as well as affect foetal development".