Good morning!
Today’s topic is about veganism, but a different take…
Just FYI:
Season 1, Episode 1 of the podcast will publish on
Wednesday Morning.
I’ve a very cool guest and I promise it will be worth a listen
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Anyway, C’mere to me…
The Vegan Economy
Are the substitutes safe?
In the past few years due to the huge growth in consumer demand for meat and dairy alternatives, capitalist motivations may have come up with solutions that are not yet safe…
Whether you have decided to become vegan for health reasons, climate impact, animal cruelty or any other good reason, I don’t think it is a bad thing at all.
I agree that especially to reduce one’s carbon footprint we need to drastically consume less meat, even something as simple as moving from beef to chicken would cut yours in half.
Bloomberg ‘Quicktakes’ had a very interesting piece on the ‘The Vegan Economy’, this quote sums up the argument well.
“Nutritionists question the health credentials of some processed meat alternatives, noting their high sodium and calorie counts. The environmental group Friends of the Earth has warned that genetically engineered ingredients — such as the iron-rich molecule heme that makes Impossible Burgers taste meaty — require more rigorous testing to determine their safety.
There’s also concern that much of the industry’s innovation is coming from Silicon Valley startups backed by venture capitalists whose focus on maximizing consumption might override public safety worries.”
(read more - Bloomberg)
So I did some further reading, specific reference to the ever-popular ‘Impossible Burger’.
GMOs, genetically modified organisms, are nothing new and crops have been modified for years to produce better yields etc
However, like any pharmaceutical product, GMOs must undergo strict testing before being approved for human consumption.
One such health declaration is known as GRAS, which stands for ‘Generally Recognised As Safe’, based on the ingredients being used widely and safely, possibly in another form.
The magic ingredient in the impossible burger is SHL - Soy Leghemoglobin Heme.
This is a protein which is produced from genetically engineered yeast and is claimed by the company to be the ingredient that makes it taste like meat (no live yeast in the product).
Impossible Foods have always argued it is completely safe, and it may well be, but in 2015 the claim of GRAS was rejected by the FDA who were concerned that SHL had never been consumed by humans.
In 2017, they tried again and the company commissioned a study on rats. However, this was subject to criticism because the study was shortened to just 28 days, and it is unlikely that any adverse effects would show up in such a short period, yet they still did…
The company did also carry out other tests, such as in vitro tests including a chromosome aberration test on humans lymphocytes.
In July of this year, the FDA wrote to Impossible Foods and told them that “they had no further questions” regarding their claim of ‘GRAS’ for SHL.
A result for them but still a bit vague of a response though… in my opinion.
This is Impossible Foods explaining HEME themselves.
You can always find what you’re looking for on the internet, so take this with a grain of salt.
(although this article is well referenced… )
“The number of animals and duration of a feeding study are two key design elements in an investigation of the safety of a new GM food substance.
It was always unlikely that SLH would have strong and obvious toxic effects in the short term; any adverse effects from a novel food substance would likely be subtle. Long-term studies with relatively large numbers of animals are required in order to reveal the significance of such effects. Given these requirements, it seems clear that Impossible Foods’ study was statistically weak.
There were too few animals in each test group (10 per sex per group) and again, the study was too short in duration (28 days in a rat is equivalent to just 2-3 years in a human) to clarify any health concerns from long-term consumption of this product.
In light of these limitations, it is remarkable that the SLH-fed rats did show a large number of statistically significant potentially adverse effects, compared with the control group”
(read more - GMO Science)
That article goes on to say rats had unexplained changes in weight gain, changes in the blood that can indicate the onset of inflammation or kidney disease, and possible signs of anaemia.
Impossible Foods dismissed these statistically significant effects as “non-adverse” or as having “no toxicological relevance”.
Veganism is probably the way forward but with it has come a massive demand for substitutes and as in the early days of anything new, it is worth being cautious of corporation claims…
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