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Patience
VEGA's constant probing into the darker corners of the farming
and food industries finds it in concert at times with other
special interests. An explanation some years ago to a Muslim
authority that flavorings and colorings in the ingredients
of Coca-Cola were added in the form of tinctures (i.e. solutions
in alcohol) fluttered some dovecotes and even caused concern
in Middle Eastern territories. VEGA explained further that
alcohol is a chemist's generic description of a great number
of compounds even including sugars such as sucrose, lactose,
fructose, glucose, and godnose. We haven't heard the resolution
of those doctrinal matters, which comprehend acceptance of
homeopathic remedies. Lactose (milk sugar) and certain additives
and colorings in pharmaceutical tablets and pills annoy veggies
and sufferers from certain intolerances and allergies. However,
we've heard from the highest authority in Europe that this
problem need no longer deter Muslims nor teetotallers of any
sort; and, in Coke's eyes, it has been veganized, but not
in ours (see VEGA NEWS 15).
Encapsulation of sensitive ingredients (such as flavorings)
used in food manufacturing and in certain forms of pharmaceuticals
and herbal remedies is objectionable because gelatin of various
origins, some uncertain, may be used. This is a concern for
a powerful Jewish element in the USA and for veggies, for
whom alternatives are being introduced. The corollaries of
the BSE epidemic have resulted in an increase in gelatin obtained
from pig collagen and fish; the first does little for the
Jewish observers of dietary laws and VEGA has heard the fish-product
described as vegetarian gelatin. As with vegetarian cheese
the description is satisfactory for many Jews, but not for
veggies.
Yeast is a by-product — even a waste product, for it
fetches such a low price that it's hardly worth transporting
as pig-feed — of brewing. Value-adding triumphs in the
form of "healthy" attributes and individual and
distinctive packaging, as sales and advertising of Marmite
demonstrate. Yeast extracts offer good sources of B-vitamins,
especially after fortification (e.g. with vitamin B12), and
can thus be attractive for veggies among many others in the
ranks of Marmite soldiers. However, there are 2 causes for
mutiny. For veggies the buying and selling in the enterprises
of the food industry Marmite made in the UK in the factory
owned by Bovril and making both products raised doubts; the
risk of cross-contamination cannot be excluded, and these
factors spell one reason for veggies and Jews with strict
observances to look elsewhere. Which they can, by staying
with the Marmite brand, but with the version made in South
Africa in a dedicated factory and sold, without clear definition,
in containers of the familiar shape and appearance and obtainable
(at a higher price) in areas with a high proportion of Jewish
customers (as in Golders Green in London). The dubious version
carries approbations for veggies that are absent from the
kosher product. In recent commercial dealing the Marmite and
Bovril brands have been acquired by different companies.
Then the high salt content of Marmite, Vegemite, and own
brands (as well as possible inclusion of caramel colorings)
fomented causes of discontent in the veggie ranks and arouses
concern that the products were spoilt by the corruption of
salty desires from toddler onwards. VEGA's entreaties to the
manufacturers of Marmite and own-brands to sell low-salt versions
have so far come to nought. Health-food stores commendably
meet that demand.
Further investigations of sources have revealed surprising
tales of contamination of yeast discarded with a content of
used finings from the brewery. We are still trying to trace
sources for the extract used in other brands and, as with
other acid-hydrolysed vegetable proteins, doubts linger over
contamination with the toxic chloropropanols, a matter engaging
food regulators in the UK and the rest of Europe. (Chloropropanols,
such as MCPD, arise in various methods of processing and fermentation
applied to meat and vegetable substances). Products imported
from China are receiving special attention; the Food Standards
Agency recently despatched a delegation to study manufacturing
practices and inspections in China.
It is likely too that GM technology will have gone into additives
and processing aids, some not declared at all on labels, in
foods and supplements commonly on sale. Major firms involved
in making vitamins for supplements, foods, and feeds have
recently been heavily fined for commercial malpractices with
world-wide ramifications, and the brokering complications
add to confusions over traceability. Whereas VEGA could once
be assured that vitamin B12 (as hydroxocobalamin) was doggedly
kept strictly veggie (i.e. vegan) - although this assurance
could not be given for some formulations - we have been defeated
so far by the brokerage system in asserting the origins and
suitability of the cyanocobalamin used in fortified foods
and feeds and in medications (both for people and farm animals).
We explained in VEGA REVIEW 2 the issues raised by "vitamin
D".
Dedication
The pharmaceutical industry has to practise well-segregated
manufacturing processes for substances, such as penicillins,
known to be allergenic. Parents with highly sensitive babies
"buy vegan" in efforts at excluding animal-derived
dairy products from the children's diet. Nonetheless, some
surprising reactions still occur. They are traced to production
in factories with common lines inadequately cleaned out between
use for dairy-foods and dairy-frees. The babies have been
the most sensitive indicators of such flaws in manufacturing
processes, but now methods of analysis have been refined,
revealing evidence of the cow's contributions and contamination
with GM-soya in foods sold as dairy-free and no-GMOs. Many
ingredients, additives, and processing aids in the food industry
are by-products from major enterprises and brokered on world
markets, so ultimate origins are hard to trace; certainly
"due diligence" may not be achieved, especially
in issues such as GM. In Britain, as in many countries, dairy-products
and some meat and fish commodities will have been derived
from animals fed on GM soya and GM maize, notwithstanding
assurances on the labels from organizations purporting objections
to genetic manipulations.
Trouble at t'Mill
Run-on and carry-over are common in mills producing batches
of foods and feeds. Suspicions of such contamination of batches
of concentrates for animals on farms and in zoos with meat-and-bone
meal and with medications and production-boosters have lingered
for some time. Similarly, celiacs have had cause to avoid
certain oat products because they are contaminated in the
milling process with remains of previous batches of wheat,
barley, or rye. There is evidence that celiacs can include
uncontaminated oats in their diets and some manufacturers
are running mills and processing machinery confined (dedicated)
to this single cereal.
The Food Standards Agency and its antecedents have emphasized
the need for scrutiny and traceability in food-production
and are implicating NGOs, such as VEGA, who have long been
active in educating customers and consumers cultivating a
healthy interest in what they buy and eat. We are seizing
every opportunity in the interests of the veggie "constituency."
Mycotoxins
Dangers of mycotoxins in foods and feeds to veggie consumers,
human and animal, have engaged VEGA and its forerunners for
several decades. The dangers arise from poor practices in
harvesting, shipping, storage, and importation, processing
and retailing. Specialist products handled through a chain
of merchants and brokers into niche outlets, in which stock
control and surveillance are less effective than by major
suppliers, attract attention from food monitoring services,
especially as some of the once-niche products now feature
as staples on the supermarket shelves. These factors were
illustrated a decade or two ago when samples of peanut butter
in health-food stores and traded by small firms were found
to be more contaminated with aflatoxins than samples with
better-known branding; some of the big firms owned or closely
supervised all the stages from cultivation of the peanuts
in Malawi to stock-control and sales under their name in the
High Street.
Mycotoxins are products of fungal contamination of crops
at any of the stages from field-to-fork. Ergot in cereals,
notably rye, was recognised in the Middle Ages for its horrific
effects (“St Anthony's Fire”) on consumers of the
affected foodstuffs. The problem still arises, occurring when
poor farming practices are observed or when weather conditions
are inclement at or near harvesting. This problem is well
recognised and monitored, so the dangers are negligible in
flours, breads, porridge, and (but only reservedly –
read on) muesli mixtures.
Low-grade crops may find uptakes in the feed industry, which
has been responsible for some big outbreaks of mycotoxin-poisoning
in intensive systems of poultry-production. Pastures may become
contaminated as well, and drugs affecting reproduction and
acting as growth boosters have been developed from the intoxicants
identified. Mycotoxins such as the aflatoxins are less dangerous
in some respects to ruminants: cattle, for instance, transmute
the most toxic forms into less dangerous aflatoxins, which
nonetheless present a hazard that has to be monitored in the
milk supply.
Mycotoxins have tilted the fortunes of war. During WW1 horses
were needed in great numbers as motive power for the armies,
and they needed fodder. In Russia harvesting and haymaking
were often delayed or stores damaged because men had left
the farms to fight. Horses got much of the damaged crop, so
stachybotryotoxicosis destroyed as much of the army’s
motive power as an artillery bombardment or mechanical troubles
in the tanks and trucks of more developed armies. Applications
of mycotoxicosis linger in considerations of biological warfare
and bioterrorism.
VEGA’s interests in mycotoxins and food-borne hazards
was kindled by observations after WW2 of the favors allowed
to registered veggies in wartime food supplies. On the surface
these concessions might have seemed salutary, but on the surface
they also showed signs of mould and other indications of their
perilous and circuitous importations through a disrupted food
supply. Mischief by rodents and insects was also evident.
These health-giving commodities were mainly dried fruits and
nuts; the nuts yielded rich creams and butters which were
occasional treats. Contaminating residues of insects, visitations
and reminders of rodent and birds attentions might have tided
over any dietary deficiencies of vitamin B12, which had not
been identified until the end of WW2.
Epidemiology
Many epidemiological studies subsequently have studied human
populations, such as those in Britain, who have lived through
such carcinogenic challenges, which probably affected European
populations likewise, although not the inhabitants of North
America, who had an easier war but results from whom are often
cited as being of general applicability. Some studies have
concentrated on populations consuming large amounts of peanuts,
as in Madagascar, but these may suffer in comparisons because
of infectious implications of hepatitis with cancer of the
liver. So VEGA interprets epidemiological results on veggies
and other health-motivated populations cautiously: not just
being veggie-minded, genetically-favored, well-educated, a
professional and of modest habits and weight, non-smoker,
and physically active (but not involved in wars or the corollaries)
may be the individual factors of greatest benefit, but they
may underplay the general good we can do for other populations
and the environment.
The Precautionary Principle
This reasoning emphasizes the importance of exercising the
precautionary principle, and VEGA applauds the entry of the
Food Standards Agency and its counterparts in Europe into
prudent surveillance, continuing longstanding monitoring of
the veggie shopping basket.
As a result of recent investigations within EU Member States
consignments of Chinese peanuts and Turkish figs, pistachios,
and hazelnuts have been found “to be frequently contaminated
with unacceptable levels of aflatoxins.” Accordingly,
to protect consumers, measures have been introduced to ensure
that these aflatoxin-contaminated products do not enter the
EU. The requirements to be exercised are:
- Official Chinese or Turkish aflatoxin certificates to
accompany consignments
- Consignments may only enter the EU at specified points
- Each consignment must have an identification code that
must also be on the official certificate
- UK Port Health Authorities to check all consignments for
certificates and retest all Chinese peanuts for aflatoxin
B1 and total aflatoxins, and subject Turkish figs, pistachios,
and hazelnuts to random testing.
- Consignments with unacceptable contamination will not
be released on to the market.
VEGA notes that there have also been suspicions over pistachio
nuts from Iran. We recommend purchasers to read labels for
country of origin. We also commend thought on the wholesomeness
of diets and lifestyles in which the harm of occasional hazards
and indiscretions may be mitigated by protective factors equal
to the challenges. Some — but not too much — reliance
on this principle may be gained from studies on smokers in
China and Japan whose diets, presumably because of their content
of antioxidants, bestow some protection from the menacing
cigarettes. Hence our interest in what goes into the muesli-mixture.
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