What the hell is this about?

herekitty · #1 10-26-2006, 04:01 PM

http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/vegemite.asp

Claim: The U.S. has banned all imports of Vegemite due to the presence of folate.

Status: False.

So the claim is false, but it is true that the U.S. only allows bread to have added folate. I didn't know this. Am I missing something? Is that supposed to be bad for you? Do they ban it in other countries?

part of the article:

Quote:

The controversy centres on folate, an ingredient in Vegemite.

Under US regulations, folate can be added only to breads and cereals.

"One of the Vitamin B components (in Vegemite) is folate," Mr. Herndon said.

"In and of itself, it's not a violation. If they're adding folate to it, boosting it up, technically it would be a violation.

"But the FDA has not targeted it and I don't think we intend to target Vegemite simply because of that."

Joanna Scott, spokesperson for Vegemite's maker, Kraft, reportedly has said, "The Food and Drug Administration doesn't allow the import of Vegemite simply because the recipe does have the addition of folic acid".

Black Mambo · #2 10-26-2006, 04:05 PM

I can't understand why they'd have such a stance on it. Is there some kind of adverse effect it can have that we don't know about? You'd have thought they might have mentioned this publicly.

In summary, I don't know what the hell this is about.

herekitty · #3 10-26-2006, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Black Mambo

I can't understand why they'd have such a stance on it. Is there some kind of adverse effect it can have that we don't know about? You'd have thought they might have mentioned this publicly.

In summary, I don't know what the hell this is about.

It just doesn't make sense. Why only bread? I know there is someone around here lurking who has a potential explanation, please share!

awful_cherry · #4 10-26-2006, 09:12 PM

Because if all foods are allowed to be fortified with folate it's possible that people could wind up eating way too much folate? Just a guess.

Cheshire Cat · #5 10-26-2006, 09:47 PM

?

I thought folate was meant to be good for you.
There was something on the news last week about bread and folate and how they wanted to put folate in all bread, but I think it was poo-pooed by the food industry people and it's not going ahead. That's here in NZ, anyway.