A Food Fight Over a Fungus

By Rosie Mestel, Times Staff Writer

STOKESLEY, England — Refrigerated trucks trundle down
the pretty country lanes laden with pale, doughy masses
of fungus — 32 tons or more a day.

"Pure mycoprotein — good enough to eat, won't taste of
anything, very bland," declares manufacturing manager
Pete Willis, tearing off a golf-ball-sized sample from
a 2,000-pound glob.

Workers in white boots shepherd the fungal paste
through a sea of vats and clanking machines that mix,
press, slice and dice the raw dough.

What comes out at the end is a matter of perspective —
luscious artificial meat patties that taste just like
moist chicken, or dangerous vat-grown "vomit-burgers"
that are sickening consumers from coast to coast.

The product is Quorn, a fungus-based meat substitute
that millions of Europeans have eaten for years. It
entered the U.S. market in 2002 to rave reviews by
consumers, but was quickly met with a dogged anti-Quorn
campaign by an influential consumer group, the Center
for Science in the Public Interest.

Michael Jacobson, the CSPI's executive director, claims
that Quorn, which he derisively terms an "odious"
"mold"-based product, makes people ill — and he wants
every last nugget expunged from American soil.

He has started a "Quorn complaints" website, published
anti-Quorn letters in medical journals and petitioned
the Food and Drug Administration to yank the product,
which he likes to note is made by a former subsidiary
of the "pharmaceutical juggernaut AstraZeneca."

"It seems in the FDA's eyes severe vomiting, diarrhea
and anaphylactic reactions do not constitute harm,"
Jacobson said. "I think that's pathetic."

more at http://tinyurl.com/2yev2 (requires registration)

This should be good: the "vegan" foodies just
LOOOOOOOVE the Center for (pseudo)Science in the Public
Interest when it says something they like; wonder how
they're react now?