Discouraged from eating saliva noodles

“Chinese locals discouraged from eating saliva noodles” says the CRI.cn headline (thanks to Barfblog for spotting it). The report, about the town of Changxing, says:

“The Chinese Business View reported on Thursday that the township government has launched a 500 yuan award for the first six families that do not treat their guests to ‘xian shui mian’ during the New Year or Spring Festival. ‘However, none of the local households has received the award until now’, according to Ma Binglin, an official with Changxing township government.

“Ma Binglin further explained that they decided to alter the village dietary habits for the sake of their health since the noodle soup is reused many times and contains each diner’s saliva. The repeated use of the soup has brought about the name “saliva noodle“, and is considered unsanitary.”