What is hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)? You know already
Posted on Mar 11 in Food Porn, Food Scienceby NikaPrint
You have likely heard about the hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) shenanigans afoot.
A company that makes HVP – Basic Food Flavors – found that its product was contaminated with the pathogen Salmonella Tennessee (thats a specific flavor of salmonella easily ID’d by genetics and the SAME strain that was involved in a similarly ethically challenged peanut butter processing plant in Georgia that killed many – CDC link). It proceeded to ship its product anyway, to food manufacturers (assemblers?) across the US (and where else?) even though this company KNEW their product was contaminated with this pathogen that can kill you.
When did this company know? JANUARY 21 on HVP made and shipped out since SEPTEMBER 17 2009
When the FDA found out (FEBRUARY 12), they did not (do not) have the authority to FORCE a recall of a substance that can KILL us, no they had to request and then to BEG this ethically impaired company to do a voluntary recall .. the company ignored these requests for WEEKS.
FDA did NOT issue a recall notice until MARCH 4th.
What about all of this reassures you about food safety? Nothing at all. The FDA is toothless, no doubt from all that HFCS they love so much.
If you take a look in your pantry at just about any label of processed food you WILL find hydrolyzed vegetable proteins.
Like I mentioned in the title of this post, you already know what HVP is.
HVP is a legal euphemism for MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE. Our political representatives are not ours, they are wholly owned by corporations and the legality of calling MSG by alternative terms is pure proof of this reality. So is the toothlessness and impotence of the FDA.
I have blogged about the atrocity that is MSG, see that here: Monosodium Glutamate: Bad for your brain, your figure, and your health.
Do we all REALLY need even more reason to avoid MSG? Seriously? People?
So what the heck is HVP or rather, how is it made, you may be asking (well, some of you).
You fill a ginormulous vat with waste proteins (waste and low quality cereals, soy, wheat, corn), you bring it to a boil and you pour hydrochloric acid all over this stew. You let the acid eat on this until the proteins are broken down into amino acids (lord only knows what sort of carcinogenic reactants arise in this process, its not tested properly).
Once you have what must be a gruesome snotty mess that would be considered a biohazard, extremely caustic sodium hydroxide (lye) is poured onto the toxic gloop. This neutralizes the acids.
What happens next?
You eat it.
Why do they add MSG to so many foods? Because without it you would taste the reality – that you are eating food utterly devoid of nutrition and flavor. If these manufactured high throughput foods were not spiked with this neurotoxic excitotoxin – you would likely never ever eat it and the food processing industry would wither.
Its all about making money at the expense of YOUR health, it is definitely not about real actual bonafide nutritious life sustaining non-toxic delicious food.
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WTF FDA!!! This is ridiculous.
wouldnt it be just fantastic if they had any accountability at all? They have exactly none.
*sigh* FDA is seriously understaffed for even regular inspections as it is. I wonder if private industry could find a niche to complement FDA regulatory inspections…
Just one more reason to eat real food, cooked from scratch. Even if it takes longer. It sure has changed my girls’ lives.
I think thats what the FDA is doing – allowing the industry to NOT self police but with the lipservice towards the industry doing self policing.
I dont know the answer beyond making the FDA have actual teeth and be properly staffed. If this were a priority of the government this would have been the case from day one. Since the politicians get their campaign funding from the very companies they are supposed to have oversight over, via the FDA, we can only expect these politicians to vote for their contributors. I know that doesnt describe a democracy but when it comes to what I put in my mouth, I have to be clear eyed.
The past 8 years of the Bush admin have so utterly damaged almost every single government agency, especially those with regulatory functions, that we as a nation will be paying for it for decades if not with our lives.
Amen, Nika! We (USA) are no longer a democracy (haven’t been since Lord knows) when corporate money drowns out the voices of the populace. It’s evident in those stinking TV and print ads when companies can imply efficacy or outright lie about their product.
Years ago, my mother was introduced to whole food cooking and it changed her life (saved it, actually) and she taught us. She used to rail on about the FDA and its lack of accountability, too. Between the FDA and the AMA, our health doesn’t stand a chance in hell unless we take control of it ourselves. It seems that neither agency has changed much over the years, still dancing to corporate puppet strings.