spiderdust

I couldn't sleep, so around 3:15 I got up to have a couple of Oreos & some milk, and while browsing through my e-mail, came across this:

CSPI Asks FDA To Recall Quorn Meat Substitute

Quorn - a meat substitute
produced by Marlow Foods Inc. - is causing "terrible" adverse events in
consumers and should be removed from the market, the Center for Science in
the Public Interest (CSPI) charged in a recent announcement. At an Aug. 12
press conference, CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson claimed that
the product is causing vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramping and nausea in
consumers, and the FDA is not doing enough to curb these adverse events.

"The maker of Quorn has told journalists and the public that its product
is safe, causing illnesses in only one out of about 140,000 people. That
figure is a complete joke. It assumes that everyone who suffered a problem
identified its cause and contacted the company," Jacobson said in prepared
comments. In an Aug. 15 press release, CSPI announced that more than 130
complaints from British and American consumers were reported to its Web
site, http://www.QuornComplaints.com.

Earlier this year, CSPI charged that Marlow Foods (a subsidiary of the
pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca) deceived its customers by describing
Quorn as an "all natural vegetable protein in the mushroom family." In
actuality, Quorn is derived from the fungus Fusarium Venenatum that "is
about as closely related to mushrooms as human beings are to goldfish,"

Jacobson stated at the conference. The FDA granted Quorn the Generally
Recognized as Safe, or GRAS, status in January.

As a result of CSPI's earlier allegations, U.K. government officials
directed the company to remove the term "mushroom protein" in
advertisements. A CSPI petition urging the FDA to outlaw the term "mushroom
in origin" on Quorn labels is pending.

In a statement responding to CSPI's claims, Marlow Foods asserted that
"[CSPI's] scare mongering allegations have absolutely no scientific basis."

The company further claimed that Quorn products "are amongst the safest
foods to eat" and have sold more than 2.2 million portions in the United
States.

"The latest data available shows the average person is 4,000 times more
likely to have food sensitivity to fish or shellfish than Quorn products ...

300 times more likely to have intolerance to milk than Quorn products ...

[and] 400 times more likely to experience intolerance to soy than Quorn
products," the company added.

A Marlow Foods' petition pending at the FDA seeks to approve Quorn as a food
additive.

For the latest information on FDA regulation of food labels, see the Guide
to U.S. Food Labeling Law.

http://www.thompson.com/libraries/fooddrug/food/index.html