"magnulus" > wrote in message
. ..
> Quorn has been available in the US where I live for about a year,
although
> it has been used in Europe for quit a while. It is gererally regarded as
> safe by Europe, is made from a non-genetically modified Fusarium venenatum
,
> a fungus. CSPI objects to Marlow foods describing Quorn mycroprotein as
> "mushrooms", but I believe not too much should be read into the claims by
> Marlow. To a scientificly illiterate population, caling quorn a mushroom
is
> not far from the truth. Both mushrooms and F. venenatum are part of the
> kingdom eumycota- fungi, so to the layman, they are basicly the same
thing.

Both humans and sea slugs are in the kingdom Animalia, so I guess they're
basically the same thing too by that logic.

>In addition, CSPI has goaded the press into describing Quorn in the most
> disgusting, bizarre manner possible, despite the fact that fungi have been
> part of the human diet for centuries. There is quite a bit of Aspergillus
> cerevisae in beer and breads, quite a bit of Aspergillus oryzae in miso,
> mold in bleu cheeses, and people have been eating mushrooms and truffles
for
> quite a long time. Fungi have been used to produce medicines, to produce
> food flavorings (for instance, monosodium glutimate), or vitamins and
> minerals (for instance, B-12 and chromium tablets). F. venenatum is
raised
> in large sterile vats, fed on glucose. When the process is finished, the
> fungal protein is texturized and mixed with binders and flavorings. I
> imagine if you showed the average meat eater the insides of a slaughter
> house, he wouldn't think his steak looked too pleasant anymore, either.

As you mentioned before, people are scientifically illiterate. They just
hear "fungus" and think it's something yucky, even as they're eating
mushroom soup, they might say "ewwww fungus." Most people stupidly think
mushrooms are plants.

> Yes, some people are allergic to Quorn. But what is new about that?
Many
> people are allergic to peanuts, soybeans, chocolate, mushrooms, wheat,
> shellfish... the list could go on and on. We don't deprive people of
> peanuts or soybeans simply because a few people are allergic to them, or
> could even die from them (so far, to my knowledge, nobody has died from
> eating Quorn). Then CSPI makes issue of mycotoxins in Quorn. Well,
Marlow
> foods has quality controls in place to monitor for presence of mycotoxins,
> and they brew the F. venenatum in a way to minimize the risk. And Quorn
> isn't the only source of potential mycotoxins. Peanuts can produce
> aflatoxin (a mycotoxin), which can kill animals and causes cancer in
animal
> experimental models (although evidence of cancer risk from humans eating
> peanuts is scant). Yet peanuts remain in our food supply, and for the
vast
> majority of people, it will never be a problem for them. Or how about E.
> coli? It is omnipresent in meat (and also found in some fruits and
> berries), especially hamburger, and only proper cooking/handling destroys
> it. It is potentially a bigger health problem

Yeah, and I like eating raw wild dewberries. A lot of other people around
here do too, and I've never heard of a dewberry death.

> I myself occasionally like eating Quorn. It is not a staple of my diet,
> or something I eat routinely (I much preffer broccoli, bean sprouts, soy,
> and peanuts as a protein source). I have never had a reaction from eating
> it. It has a faint "mushroom" taste, but other than that, it doesn't have
> alot of flavor on its own. It's not really vegan, but Marlow foods is
> working on a replacement for the egg albumin to make it acceptable to
> vegans. Rather than castigating Marlow foods, they should be praised for
> creating a more environmentally friendly protein source. Quorn is not
aimed
> primarily at hardcore vegetarians, but the legions of people who want
> something that resembles meat and that they know how to cook with- people
> for whom tofu is just too wierd, or perhaps people who aren't ready to
dive
> headlong into those brussel sprouts and broccolli.

I'd like to try Quorn sometime.

-Rubystars