I have an interesting problem. After having eaten a McCain frozen pizza I decided to read the ingredients on the side of the box. Having read them I then asked myself what the heck I had just eaten. You would think pizza ingredients would be simple.
So, having nothing else to do at the time I pulled out my Van Nostrands Scientific Encyclopedia and tried to figure out what all those ingredients were. most were just fancy names for ordinary stuff. Only one item gave me problems.
L-CYSTINE
It took me a while to find it. But when I did I almost barfed.
According to the encyclopedia L-CYSTINE is a semi-essentiel amino-acid. Good I thought, McCain is putting stuff we need in there. It’s when I came to the methode of manufacture that I freeked.
Here is the cite:
Van Nostrands Scientific Encyclopedia: 6th Edition
page 119
Table 2
Amino World annual Present mode of
acid Production, tons manufacture
L-Cysteine
L-Cystine 10 Extraction from
Human Hair
THE FROZEN PIZZA PEOPLE ARE FEEDING US PROCESSED HUMAN HAIR!!
I can see Heston screaming it to the world. PIZZA IS PEOPLE
Is this the first step? Will we be seeing other people parts in our food soon?
Has anybody seen anything on this before?
d
ps:I’ve been reading the SDMB for a short while only but I have found the folk here very interesting.
It would seem that Reprises link to a story he found on google contradicts Reeders claim of lab synthesis. My encyclopedia was pretty clear also on the human hair extraction.
Anyone have any cite on synthesis?
Not that I’m eatin frozzen pizza any time soon without reading the ingredients first.
No need to panic. According to this you are both wrong. L-Cysteine does have enough natural sources that we don’t have to mine cemeteries for human hair.
Adam, when the article is talking about “natural sources”, it’s talking about “small amounts of naturally occurring L-cysteine in food”, like in wheat germ. L-cysteine does have enough natural sources in a balanced diet that you shouldn’t have to take over-the-counter L-cysteine supplements. But what we’re talking about here is the tremendously large amounts required in the mass production of food products, like frozen pizza, and it seems pretty clear to me that a lot of L-cysteine is indeed manufactured in Japan and China out of hair, both human and animal.
Based on the links above, it is clear to me that this chemical can be derived both from animal and vegetable sources.
If you want to be sure that a product uses only the vegetable-derived form, I suggest looking for one which is certified to be Kosher or Halal, by a reliable Jewish or Muslim authority respectively. They will have done the necessary research.
mmmm…Soylent Green
I suspect that Arby’s roast beef sandwiches (ARBS ) are made from human meat. I’ve tasted just about every kind of meat except for human and ARBS don’t taste like anything I’ve had before.