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Matt Ernst started worrying when his face swelled up and turned deep red. Panic hit when his throat began to feel tighter and tighter, till he was gasping for air.
Figuring that Ernst was having an allergic reaction, his girlfriend handed him some Benadryl. It didn’t take long for the antihistamine to take hold and for Ernst’s throat to begin to open up.
As the couple tried to figure out what might have caused the reaction, Ernst recalled the last thing he’d eaten: a fake chicken cutlet. Then the 48-year-old Florida software salesman remembered the scratchy, itchy feeling he’d had in his throat the last time he’d eaten the meat substitute made by Quorn Foods, Inc.
A quick web search and Ernst discovered he wasn’t the first to have a reaction after eating a Quorn cutlet. The website for the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) described similar episodes in others and the group's nearly decade-long campaign to get the Food and Drug Administration to either pull Quorn’s fungus-based meat substitutes or to add a warning to the products’ labels.
Quorn products, sold at popular grocery chains including Whole Foods, come in the shape of artificial “Chik’n” patties or nuggets – or even cylindrical beef approximations or turkey “roasts." The main ingredient is a so-called mycoprotein -- protein extracted from a microscopic fungus. Quorn has sparked a yum or eww debate among vegetarians since it hit the U.S. market nearly a decade ago.
CSPI, dubbed the “food police” for picking on makers of fattening foods, recently provided a report to the FDA detailing 500 adverse reactions to Quorn’s mycoprotein in U.S. customers. The consumer watchdog group also says that it has also compiled a list of 1,200 more adverse events from European and Australian customers.
In a letter to the FDA, CSPI’s executive director Michael Jacobson described several accounts in detail, including the case of a 20-year-old man Texas man who said he began to feel nauseous soon after eating Quorn’s Chik’n Nuggets and then blacked out, fell, and hit his head. Also detailed was the case of a 75-year-old Maryland woman who, four hours after consuming a Quorn Chik’n patty, began vomiting uncontrollably while at a Les Miserables performance, passed out and eventually ended up in the emergency room treated with an anti-nausea medication.
Jacobson told the FDA, “we believe, and we suspect that any reasonable person would believe, that any novel food ingredient that causes hives, anaphylactic reactions, or vomiting so violent that blood vessels burst, cannot, indeed, must not, be considered by the FDA to be ‘generally recognized as safe.’”
But Steve Marinker, a spokesman for Quorn Foods, said the products "have been extensively tested and approved as safe by the relevant regulator in each market. The level of intolerance to Quorn products is extremely low and much lower than for other protein foods such as soya, nuts, shellfish, dairy and eggs."
For its part, the FDA argues that while there may have been some reactions to the Quorn product, they are rare – and most likely not due to allergies to the food.
The agency took a close look at the adverse event reports forwarded to it by CSPI as well as those reported in the medical literature and concluded that there was “no evidence that mycoprotein-containing products cause a heightened allergic risk or other food safety concern,” said Douglas Karas, an FDA spokesperson.
The bottom line, Karas said, is that most of the reactions are probably due to “intolerance” rather than allergic reactions. “In the case of mycoprotein, some highly sensitive consumers appear prone to adverse gastrointestinal effects after eating mycoprotein, which are, judging from the reports very unpleasant,” he added.
That response doesn’t sit well with Gary Ebert, a 43-year-old software engineer from Silver Springs, Md. Ebert has been a vegetarian most of his life and was happy when he found Quorn’s line of foods. But after one of the products made him violently ill, Ebert said he thinks mycoprotein should come with a warning on its label.
“I for one don’t think unreasonable for the label to say that this might make you so sick you won’t be able to eat solid food for 24 to 36 hours,” Ebert said.
Leave a Comment:
How the heck would somebody know if they were allergic to mycroprotein until they ate this stuff?
I am a vegetarian but I personally prefer Amy's or Gardien products. They seem to make them with better quality ingredients and this article seems to proove that.
This is just another reason to make vegetarianism illegal. They are destroying our society. I can say they will have to pry my T-bone from my Cold-Dead-Hands!!!
If you are willing to buy and consume a product that is made from fungus, you deserve the illness.
Its freakin' MUSHROOM...if you are allergic to 'shrooms, you should not eat Quorn products.
somebefuddledperson, that HAS to be the stupidest comment I've read today.
And that's saying something. Ever hear of mushrooms? Ever have some on your pizza? So everyone who eats mushrooms deserves to get sick, huh? WOW.
Seriously? This is what the FDA said? They are completely useless! No doubt this was their response after receiving a large "donation" from Quorn products. And people are saying Ron Paul is crazy for wanting to shut down useless agencies like them? Anyone that doesn't want to shut down this wasteful government spending is the crazy ones!!!
I am sick of the throwing the baby out with the bath water statements to abolish everything just because there are problems. The FDA and EPA are severely underfunded and cannot maintain total autonomy to do what they need to do because there are political influences that nix enforcement and research. THAT is the problem, not the agencies and the "wasteful spending".
You can say what you want about large donations, but any small food company is no match for Big Agri and their insanely deep pockets, strong lobby, lack of oversight and enforcement (meat recalls are VOLUNTARY!), Frankenfood patents and bullying of farmers who don't buy their seeds, etc.. I want regulatory agencies to REGULATE and INVESTIGATE our food system not abolish and have no one watching what business does.
Ron Paul hasn't passed a single bill in his almost 30 years in Congress. I don't think he is crazy but I also wouldn't say his policies are effective either.
@ comment 1.2
Hmm... Okay... So stuffed mushrooms are out. Truffles are out. Anything with truffle oil is out. Sauteed mushrooms & onions: out. Supreme Pizza... ooh, ouch. It's got mushrooms: out. Mushroom burgers gone too... Shiitake mushrooms, out. Porcini mushrooms (and their sauces, oils, etc) out. Most of my favorite pastas have mushrooms... cream of mushroom soup... you know, I'm just gonna stop there. Why do you hate my mushrooms?
Fungus is delicious! (Though I wouldn't eat a Quorn product after reading this... but then again, I wouldn't anyway-- I like my ChickEn just fine).
I might also add: yeast is a fungus... so, you know... there goes all your bread and <EEP!> all your beer! I don't like this hypothetical world you've created Befuddled... not at all...
Don't eat this crap and you don't have to worry.
While a mushroom is a fungus, a fungus is not always a mushroom. A quick Google search reveals that mycoprotein is fusarium venenatum, and is grown in a vat, feeding upon a sugar solution with oxygen and ammonia supplied so it can breathe and form protein.
As a person who enjoys their meaty meals, it surprises me that one would refuse to eat meat, yet eat something grown in a vat, fed sugar, oxygen and ammonia, then flavored and colored to resemble chicken or pork or whatever meat product they are attempting to simulate. I suspect that an allergy to mycoprotein may not be the same a a mushroom allergy, and it may be the coloring or flavoring ingredients that may cause a reaction in some as well as the fungus.
Shellfish gives me a severe allergic reaction, yet when I become super paranoid about going out to eat somewhere that has a lot of shellfish, people tell me not to be so paranoid. Eggplant also gives me problems, and still, people tell me not to be paranoid. I have a huge issue with soy, and puts me in such severe pain, one that is almost as bad as kidney stones, for hours, people brush it off as nothing.
The point is that there is always going to be food that gives people allergic reactions, and cause problems. However, just because I have allergies to eggplant and shellfish, and tofu brings me to my knees, doesn't mean that everyone else shouldn't eat them.
I am sooo with you J100. If your going to seek out products that simulate meat, then just eat meat. My wife is a vegitarian and she won't touch any of the pseudo-meat products. She doesn't like meat.
As for the illness, the stuff makes me sick just looking at it.
I am so thrilled with this article. Don't get me wrong, I am not unsympathetic to those who are vegetarians or those who have allegies, but this is for all those times that I have had to listen to folks/read articles telling me that meat is bad, evil, etc., as if their foods are so perfect. This proves that you have to be careful regardless of what you eat. A few weeks ago I wanted to smack the crap out of a vegetarian friend who kept telling me that I was going to die from eating meat, it's going to kill me. Whatever. Anyway, everything should be checked by the FDA. I am sorry folks had reactions, and I agree a warning should be on the label or the ingredients should be listed in case someone is allergic to the product. That concerns me.
How is this any different from the numerous people that are allergic to any other food? (Peanuts for example)
Now that they know they are allergic, just don't eat it.
Well that is exactly my question. Quorn is clearly a known allergen so how is it different from peanuts? If your product contains peanuts you need to have a warning label that it contains peanuts. In fact if your product was simply processed on equipment that also processed peanuts you need to put that warning on your products label.
Trust me I have no intension of knowingly eating Quorn again. But how I am to know if a product contains Quorn? Let us say that the obfuscating geniuses at Quorn decide to rename the product then what? I have to suffer with violent nausea with simultaneous violent diarrhea and not be able to eat solid food for 24 + hours because the FDA will not take a stand? What if they simply stop calling it a mycoprotein and they start using some other obfuscated term? How am I to avoid it then? Just not eating it is not as simple as you make it sound. Trust me I read the ingredient list of every food product that is new to me (usually to make sure that it does not contain meat) but when the allergen is not clearly named (and in my opinion purposely obfuscated) how is one supposed to do that?
The only food allergy I have is mold specifically the mold used in blue cheeses. When I have eaten a particular strong blue cheese I have broken out in a minor rash on my chest that went away in a few hours if I recall correctly -- I have only eaten blue cheese twice (both without incident) since I first discovered my specific allergy in about 1991 so my recollection is a bit fuzzy. However, the last two times I have gotten allergy tested my mold allergy did not even show up. The only other allergy I have is to Dust and Dust Mites. For that I have taken anti-histamine's daily for about 20 years (and seasonally for about 8 years before that). My point here is two-fold.
1) Mold is not listed at all on the product label.
2) Even though I had anti-histamines in my system I still got violently ill within about 45 minutes of eating Quorn and I was unable to eat solid food for 24 - 36 hours.
Having said all that I do not want the product banned. It is actually a good tasty product. Why should my allergy/reaction mean that other can not enjoy the product. In my opinion it should not mean that. I just want a simple warning label similar to the warning labels required for all products that contain peanuts. I just do not want to accidentally ingest this product again.
Finally I wish to say thank you to Linda Carroll for researching and publishing this article . . . as I told you when you interviewed me I really appreciate you and everyone who is bringing this product to light!
I am not a vegetarian but I am allergic to mushrooms. I check every label also and, although I would probably never eat this particular product, I agree that by hiding the true name of an ingredient is irresponsible. ALL ingredients should be listed on ALL product labels so that the consumer can decide for themselves whether or not to purchase it. Besides allergies, we may just not like a particular ingredient and avoid the product for that reason.
Gary FuBar
You have a known mold(fungus) allergy, yet you ate a product made from fungus. Was it because you didn't realize what myco meant?
Solve the problem by eating whole food. You remember... apples, carrots, beans... stuff like that.
My idea of processed food is hummus. Anything more complex than that doesn't make it into my grocery cart.
Well, okay... I confess: Amy's chocolate cake and pizza. But I trust Amy. At least for chocolate cake and pizza.
I don't think a warning label is asking to much of these people... things that contain peanuts that normally don't... or even come into close contact with peanuts say "warning may contain peanuts"... because people with allergy to peanuts can be severely injured or killed...... how is this any different?
Yes, we need proper labeling/warnings so those that have 'adverse effects' aka allergy (or just don't like fungus) can avoid the product. how hard is it to list in the ingredients: contains mycoprotein-derived from microscopic fungi ????
Yep, that's why shampoo bottles now have instructions. The entire product is made of fungus. It's not hidden. Do peanut bags come with warning labels? Oh never mind. They probably do... *sigh* Makes one wonder how humanity hasn't died out yet without all the labels warning people of the obvious before now.
Nutgrape that is a good question. But the answer is not simple. First no I did not know what a myco meant . . . the label explains that it is like a mushroom, truffles and the like. Well I am not allergic to mushrooms or truffles so I thought it would be ok. I eat mushrooms all the time. The other thing is that mold and mushrooms are two different allergens (at least as I understand it). Molds are single celled organisms which grow in colonies while things like mushrooms are complex multi-celled organisms. The label is very clearly stating that Quorn is derived from a mushroom like organism. Now the more I read about Quorn it does seem that it is more like a mold than a fungi. The issue is of course is that if this is true then why does the manufacturer compare it to mushrooms and truffles when it is really more like mold? My impression is that the manufacturer does this because they are intensionally obfuscating the issue because they think more people will try the product if they compare it to one of the most expensive foods in the world (truffles) than will try it if they compare it to the molds used to make cheeses.
So the short answer is yes I did not fully understand what myco meant. Again I need to stress that the last time my allergy to mold showed up in an allergy test was over 20 years ago. The last two times I was tested for allergies I was found to be negative for a mold allergy. I even specifically question my Allergist about it. He said words to the effect of "well you are no longer showing that allergy". And before anyone else asks yes it was the same allergist performing all three tests.
Having said all that I have to be honest and say that even if the label had been more honest and said this product was derived from a mold like organism I would still have purchased the product because the only reaction I have ever had to eating a mold was a very very specific types of mold (specifically the molds used to make blue cheeses) -- I stress was because I have eaten blue cheese two or three times since I ascertained my allergy (after I tested negative) all without any reaction at all. The difference here of course would have been that after I ate it the 8th or 9th time and I got violently ill I would have immediately known it was because of my former mold allergy and I would not have eaten the product again. In other words there would not have been another instance of me eating a product labeled Quorn. I feel I must also add that if there was a statement on the bag which read something like "Allergic consumers this product contains a mold/fungi to which some people have a severe allergic reaction" I would have never purchased the product in the first place. The point here is that when a manufacturer intensionally misleads the consumer by saying the product is similar to mushrooms and truffles when it is in fact far more similar to molds is quite simply wrong.
Ok I get it if the manufacturer now acknowledges that fact (that they intensionally misled the public) that they open themselves up to a class-action lawsuit. Which is something I am sure they wish to avoid (hell if I was a higher up in that company I would want to avoid that as well). My goals are to avoid anyone else going through what I went through -- or at least for anyone who has a similar reaction to me to be able to quickly realize what happened and to avoid having this reaction happen again if I happen across another product who purposely obfuscates the same ingredients with different names. My goal is not to make the manufacture pay for my distress or to sue the manufacturer. I have no intension of doing that.
I agree. I personally prefer the Quorn products to soy based fake meats. I've never had an adverse reaction to it.
Agreed, easily our family's favorite too. I'd be disappointed if I had a reaction to it, but I wouldn't demand no one else be able to eat it if they like.
I've been a vegetarian for almost 20 yrs. I was glad when I discovered Quorn products years ago, because it was a good alternative to soy. Just because some people are allergic to mushrooms, doesn't make this a bad product. That'd be like saying peanut butter is horrible for people just because some people have allergies to peanuts.
I've been a vegetarian for 10 years, and personally love Quorn products. If you read the label it does say it's made from mushrooms, as does their website. And I agree - just because some people are allergic doesn't make it a bad product.
While I appreciate what you are saying and I agree that it should not be taken off the market. I do need to point out that because of this article if you or your family get sick after eating Quorn you will now know not to eat it again.
So what about the folks who have not read this article (or the article in the Wall Street Journal)? That is why in my opinion a warning label is merited.
I am allergic to chicken and certainly do not propose that the sale of chicken should be banned.
My kids have severe nut allergies. The instances that caused them to vomit for 8 hours, coupled with swollen throats and diarrhea that really angered me included an elementary school teacher (apparently the emergency care cards filled out in triplicate meant nothing whatsoever) who gave out nut-filled chocolates as treats to well behaved kids, and the supposedly nut free sample cookie given from a "health food" store that I later discovered contained cashew butter.
It's not the manufacture and sale of items that people are allergic to that is dangerous. It is unclear labeling, or just plain criminally stupid distribution.
If eating meat is so bad, why do vegetarians always try to make their substitutes look and taste like meat???
I have nothing against the taste of most animals, I just don't like the way they are maintained and killed.
God point, T-Day!
For most vegetarians, myself included, it's not about "not liking meat". It's about not liking the way food animals are raised in the hell of a factory farm in order for me to have meat. So, being a person with a conscience, I have two choices: go out and hunt, which I have neither the time nor the inclination to do, or satisfy my desire for meat with a substitute. Get it?
Meats TASTE great. That doesn't mean they're good for you.
To expand on Tree201's point, I grew up enjoying beef burgers and hot dogs, but I dislike how environmentally unsound cattle ranching is and since beef isn't all that healthful, it was nice to switch to enjoying various veggie burgers and hot dogs. Same yum, better for me and my planet.
Just echoing what others have said...I absolutely LOVE meat but I do not eat it because of the inhumane way the animals are raised and killed and because of what I feel are unsafe practices in commercial farming factories.
So, I too go for the "meat like" meat substitutes. A girl cannot live on bean sprouts alone!
So basically what i'm understanding from the vegetarian comments is, avoiding meat and being a vegetarian is your way of protesting cruelty to animals. Based on this conclusion, i would also have to say that most vegetarians are nature and animal lovers too.
That seems like a good take on what you're reading rkb5555. Thanks for the comment. I am a vegetarian because of the way animals are treated in almost all meat farms, so I don't partake in the 'holocaust' of animals. I know not everyone around the world has the same choices as we might in making those decisions, so I'm not condemning all meat eaters. I just happen to think that if one has the means and ability to prevent the unnecessary cruelty of animals, then he/she should do that.
It's nice to hear that vegetarians are not necessarily against hunting. It's been a while since I've gone, but I do like to deer hunt (and yes, every bit of meat is eaten). I think it's funny when people think hunting is cruel but factory farmed beef or chicken is not. At least the deer gets to do what it wants, up until (if) I get a clear shot from where I'm sitting.
For me it is none of the above. It is a health issue. I had my cholesterol checked in a routine exam when I was 20 (longer ago than I care to admit). My cholesterol was high (over 240 if I recall correctly). This was when I was extremely active riding my bicycle over 100 miles a week. I realized I needed a change. So I cut out red meat. I never like chicken and or turkey much so that left me with fish. Well quite simply the fish I liked (Salmon and Fresh Tuna etc) were far too expensive for me while I was in college so I became vegetarian. By the time I was able to afford the expensive fish I did like I lost the taste for it.
Yes I do love animals and nature etc but I for one am not militant about it. I even (rarely admittedly) cook meat for my non-vegetarian spouse. I have nothing against hunters and or meat eaters. It is a choice and I am not the kind of person who wants to impress my personal choice on others. I do have to admit that the meat eater that I respect most is the person who hunts the animal themselves and who eats all parts of that animals (ie the organ meats etc). In fact I get a little angry at vegetarians who refuse to wear leather. If you are going to kill an animal I for one think you should use the whole animal including its hide. But again I do not look down on anyone because of their choice.
T-Day 101- LOL! Though I am not a full Vegan, I agree...I mean I don't like meat so why is there such a big market for meat like vegetarian products.
I tried Quorn once. I enjoyed the flavor but became so sick afterwards that I never bought them again. It's a shame that happened because I support alternative food sources and would have been a devoted customer if that hadn't happened.
What is the issue?? If eating something that's supposed to be healthy causes you to become ill, I would definitely leave the product alone at all costs.
A REAL grilled chicken sandwich is still pretty healthy and I'm sure tastes alot better.
To each his own, but give me the real stuff! Life is too short to be eating fake protein, especially when it tastes like crap most of the time.
Meats have issues too so please get off your soapbox meat eaters. Ever heard of mad cow. and Jlew it is not fake protien, its fake meat. The protien is real. jeeesh.
I agree with your first statement in principle here. I can assure you I do not plan on ever eating Quorn again. However, what happens if/when a new manufacturer starts making a product with the same ingredient but calls it something else? The marketing "geniuses" call it something else like "a yeast like protein" which would be just as in/accurate as calling it a mushroom like protein then what? How many people realize that yeast like could also mean mushroom like or fungus like or mold like? Well I for one would realize it but most people who have not taken a college class in microbiology will not realize it.
What if the new manufacture simply calls it a vegetable based protein? Broadly calling a mushroom a vegetable is a stretch but you get my point?
In other words unless a warning label is required what is to stop the current manufacturer (or a new company) from using a different equally obfuscating description which fools me into eating the product again?
As far as a REAL chicken sandwich tasting better that is quite simply a matter of opinion. It is your opnion that real chicken tastes better. Well good for you! You can eat real chicken. I for one do not like the taste of chicken which is why I stopped eating it. The point is that taste is subjective. You do not like fake meat fine then do not choose to eat it. I do not like real meat (for several reasons) so I choose to eat fake meat. Debating choice in this context is just silly.
The point here is that yes I wish to avoid Quorn at all costs but I can only do that if the packaging honestly and straightforwardly lists the ingredients . . . which let us face it has not been done.
MSNBC better change the spelling in the title before Chick-fil-a comes after them for using their trademark spelling! LOL
That's Chikin, not Chik'n
And its on the box of the fake chicken that I cannot comprehend why someone would eat when real chicken is not expensive but I digress.
Quorn is pretty good, though I tried not to think about what I was eating when I was eating it. I was aware that some people got sick but I wasn't aware it was this severe.
If I were Chik Fil-A I would be screaming about now over the title of this article. I thought it was about them till I read it.
That's the name on the product.
I know! God forbid that people actually be required to read an article rather than jumping to a conclusion based upon the headline...
Seriously who would knowing eat a "fungus-based meat substitute". It sounds completely disgusting. Come on people eat real food. If you are a vegetarian there is still plenty of real food that you can eat without resorting to products such as this.
People eat mushrooms all the time...know what they are? FUNGI.
Some people like the fungi. I know at least some kinds of veggie burgers have mushrooms as a main ingredient. It's not for me, but if someone else likes it and doesn't get sick on it, go for it!
I prefer Quisp. Quorn sound like a cross between queasy and warm. Ick.
thank you for this article, I'll never buy this brand-EVER !
I've always thought it's odd that vegetarians look for meat substitutes even in the shape of actual meal.
I guess that's true for vegetarians who don't like meat. I'm a vegetarian but I love meat. I eat the way I do because I don't like the inhumane animals are raised and killed in and I have major concerns over the safety of factory farmed meats...so I always go for things that look like and have similar texture to meat..but if you're a veg head because you hate meat, I'm not sure why you'd buy this stuff and not just regular ol' tofu.
the FDA must get some serious kick backs to allow this to go on...maybe congress should cut there budget.
Why exactly? You know if they start banning everything that a few hundred people have a reaction to, we can say good bye to milk, cheese, ice cream, peanuts, white bread, strawberries, shrimp, soy, etc.
Or they could look at the studies and realize most people tolerate it as well as any other food. If you think this is weird food, take a look at how they make a McDonald's Chicken Nugget sometime.
The FDA's job is does not include forcing people to read labels or predicting who and when an undiagnosed food based allergy or sensitivity can occur, nor are they the Attractiveness Police. We will eat yogurt (mold), tripe (stomach), eggs (comes out of where???) and Jello (rendered from bones) but fungus should be banned because it's icky? Or because a small percentage of consumers had a reaction to it? Why not ban milk, shellfish, and peanuts entirely if that's the bar we're aiming for. I'm a vegetarian in a meat-eating household, and have used Quorn products for years with no ill side effects. My husband has a soy allergy so even some "normal" food, not just meat substitutes, are off limits, and the Q stuff allows me to make dinner that we will all want to eat. As a consumer, the best thing you can do is know where your food comes from, how it's made, and read your labels for ingredients. The FDA is no substitute for common sense. And yes, I feed a whole bunch of this and other alternative foods to my family, including my kids once we ALL know it's story.
HUSH!
How dare you insist that people show common sense and read! The government, as we all know, is there to wipe our collectively fat illiterate asses from birth until death!
They just need to list it as a possible allergen (though they're trying to say it's not).
if people saw what really goes on inside a slaughter house, they'd all be vegetarians. lols. seriously. that ground beef? its the entire cow, intestines, poop and all. research people!
If you have ever eaten or smelled organ meat, you would know that is a load of garbage. They don't use organ meat in ground meats as it would change the flavor and texture of the resulting product so drastically as to make it unappealing to the customer. Meat producers have no economic reason to put intestines into ground beef especially since doing so would turn off most consumers since the flavor is unique and easily detectable to the human pallette.
Why don't you research and come up with logical reasons to oppose the beef industry rather than using scare tactics and gross-out anecdotes in order to dupe a few illiterate morons into giving it up.
Just to be clear, I am not including sausage which does often include beef heart. Cardiac tissue is vastly different from the smooth muscle present in visceral organs though. It has more in common with skeletal muscle and the heart is perfectly edible if you can correctly process out the connective tissue and blood vessels (grinding). The other organs are also potentially edible but are often prepared in a very different fashion.
Is chicken so expensive that you have to buy fake crap? You get what you pay for.
its not that its expensive but Id rather eat that then chicken with poop in it. See FAST FOOD NATION (or FOOD INC)and educate yourself. We've eaten mock meats for years and our hearts, cholesterol, arteries and waistlines thank us.
Oh stop the hysteria, not gonna work on me. Every animal craps. A chicken is a chicken. That it one day pooped and some got on it is irrelevant. Clean it, cook it, eat it. What more instruction could you possibly need.
But you will sit there and tell me that this fake meat is better for you than real chicken. .. wow. We will see who lives longer. I will help the doctor explain that mysterious clog you developed.
Back in the 80's I used to tell my friends that fungus was the food of the future. I guess I'm what you might call a visionary.
There's a fungus amoungus
You sound like a fun guy...
Cylindrical beef approximations are my favorite!
I've got a cylindrical beef approximation for you.
What a slanted article. Out of context figures (500 sickened out of how many users?) are highlighted, but the actual research referred to by the FDA is omitted.
How much do Kraft (owner of Boca Foods) and Kellogg (owner of Morningstar and Gardenburger, which has been pressing the FDA to ban Quorn since it was approved) give to NBC in advertising in a year, I wonder?
A cynic after my own heart!
I'd like to hear Perdue testimony.
What you do not realize is that while I praise MSNBC for publishing this article they were not the first to publish an article on Quorn. The Wall Street Journal published an article about Quorn a few days before this was published. So I guess not only was NBC paid off but so was a pulitzer prize winning journalist from the Wall Street Journal?
Back to a serious point. Yes I too wonder what the percentage of users who experience problems was; however, the only person who talks about that is the manufacturer who let us face it has a vested interest in making that number as small as possible. Also getting the percentage of users is no small feat. Let us say for example that 100,000 packages of Quorn were sold in the US at the same time as the 500 who got sick. Then the question becomes how many people ate those 100,000 packages? Was it 10,000 consumers buying 10 packages each? Of those 10,000 consumers how many people in each household actually ate the product? Was is just one person eating it or was it every member of a household of four? Now all of a sudden we have between 10,000 users and 400,000 users? Which of course is nearly impossible to ascertain. I do agree I would love to know the actual percentage but let us face it . . . it is nearly impossible to track down that number. At best it could be reported that out of X number of packages sold 500 people got sick which would be just as misleading as just saying 500 people got sick.
The point I thick this makes is to stay far away from processed food of any kind. If you want to eat chicken, buy a chicken and cook it. If you want to be a vegetarian, buy and eat grains, legumes, vegetables, etc. and cook them. Don't buy real or fake chicken nuggets in either case.
but we've eaten mock meats for years and no issue what so ever. Smart bacon, the mock roast beef and the vegan shrimps, no issues with us. we love them.
If dead cow meat was good enough for Jesus Christ, it's good enough for me!
Clayton Bigsby for president.
clayton bigsby...toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo funny! thanks for the laugh!
This is simply nature telling vegans and vegetarians to stop screwing with the diet she intended you to eat. Fake meat, really?
Just eat a piece of meat and get on with your life.
Different strokes.....we've eaten Quorn for years, chicken, turkey, meatballs, no weird reactions, NO PROBLEMS. Animal meat has chemicals, arsenic, when you look at the choices, a meatless lifestyle was the way to go for us.
PROTIP:
Everything has chemicals... Kinda the requirement for matter...