Big Factory Food Strikes Again

[marmar]

Posted by Marion Nestle at 5:12 am
March 13, 2010

Recall of the Flavor-Enhancing Additive Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein in Hundreds of Products
This post first appeared on Food Politics.


I wasn’t planning to make a big deal of the recall of hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) - and the more than 100 products containing this flavor ingredient in the United States and in Canada – because the FDA seems on the job and nobody is getting sick (as far as we know).

But this one now looks like another food safety scandal.

To begin with, HVP is one of those fifth flavor, umami substances. As the FDA explains,

HVP is a flavor enhancer used in a wide variety of processed food products, such as soups, sauces, chilis, stews, hot dogs, gravies, seasoned snack foods, dips, and dressings. It is often blended with other spices to make seasonings that are used in or on foods.

Translation: it is indeed in everything.

This scandal begins with a whistle-blowing customer of Basic Food Flavors, the manufacturer of HVP. The customer ’s company apparently tests its purchased ingredients for pathogens (what a concept!). It found Salmonella in the HVP. Sometime early in February, it notified the FDA. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/03/13/recall-of-the-flavor-enhancing-additive-hydrolyzed-vegetable-protein-in-hundreds-of-products/

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. About processed food.

We stopped buying most processed foods about a year ago.
If it has more than 5 ingredients, we don't buy it, period.
No hot dogs, etc.

What an eye opener the process has been.

Our grocery bills have gone down, actual shopping time is substantially decreased.

A teenage relative was poking around the kitchen recently "looking for something to eat"
and complained " All you have is...ingredients!"

Yeah...that is what we had when I was growing up...ingredients.

[Hannah Bell]

5. cute. :>)

[eppur_se_muova]

2. I don't understand why it is in potato chips ...

shouldn't the ingredients be potatoes, oil, salt, EOF?

(I mean real potato chips, not Pringle's reconstituted potato substance-like ingestible food substitute.)

[Cetacea]

3. Perhaps the relationship is casual, but

it seems to be in many foods that many have difficulty eating "just one". (which could simply be because it is a flavour enhancer, but I suspect there is something else at play)

[upi402]

4. American obesity is very suspicious

:tinfoilhat: I started eating whole foods, natural food -in the 70's.:tinfoilhat:

The hippies were right.

[dixiegrrrrl]

6. Why thank you, my dear.

I appreciate that recognition.

btw...back when we invented Earth Day, there used to be a slogan,
one that the advertising companies later stole.
"It's not nice to fool Mother Nature".
Applies today also.

:hippie:

[upi402]

8. Tossed out my old copy of 'Diet for a Small Planet' recently

and got all melancholy. But we need to pare down getting ready to leave the country, so need to let go. Maybe we'll send you real unmodified food seeds when we get where we're going! :grouphug: One love my sister

[Nikia]

7. The company I work for uses HVP as an ingredient in a couple of products

Now that I have handled and tasted it by itself, I recognize the taste in products and don't really like those products anymore. Luckily, our HVP comes from a different company.
I guess that I should pay more attention to what products are being recalled. Unless this company provides an HVP with an unusual flavor profile, most companies buy all their HVP from one supplier so many products from a customer company will be affected. I did not realize how far the recall extended either.
Regardless whether or not an affected ingredient is a manufactured ingredient or an agricultural product, I think that it is important that there are strict safety regulations and that they are enforced. I know that the president of our company is against this, but really we should welcome it if we do the right things already. The companies who aren't being safe aren't doing it out of malice, but because they are trying to cut costs and avoid spending money on improvements. Stricter food safety laws and enforcement will level the playing field.