France, bovine blood, and you.

[Harborwolf]

I’ve heard that congress is making a bill to put a warning label on products from France that “are clarified with bovine blood.” This would go on items like wine and bottled water.

What does this mean? How is this done? Is this even dangerous? Is this anything more than pathetic retribution against France for their anti-war stance? Any answers would be appreciated.

[5-HT]

I don’t know the specifics, but I know that this is no longer done since the Mad Cow scare in europe. however, since Wine is aged for some time before it is sold, there is still plenty of wine out there that the process was used on.

[Lorenzo]

*Originally posted by Harborwolf *
**I’ve heard that congress is making a bill to put a warning label on products from France that “are clarified with bovine blood.” This would go on items like wine and bottled water.

What does this mean? How is this done? Is this even dangerous? Is this anything more than pathetic retribution against France for their anti-war stance? Any answers would be appreciated. **

I think it’s only some French wine produced before the Mad Cow Disease disaster that was clarified with bovine blood but never bottled water.

Dangerous is a relative term. I suppose Mad Cow Disease tainted blood wouldn’t be too healthy, but that’s just a UWAG.

I believe the US Congress has tried to make the reason for these proposed bans (not sure whether or not they are pathetic) as transparent as possible. Congress has offered no other explanation.

[Harborwolf]

but how and why do they do this? How can cow blood clarify anything?

[Davebear]

*Originally posted by Harborwolf *
**but how and why do they do this? How can cow blood clarify anything? **

IIRC, the blood coagulates around the “lees” (I think I’m remembering that term correctly), or sediments they want to remove. The resulting clots then settle to the bottom of the cask/tank, and the clarified wine is carefully siphoned off, into another tank.

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

From 1999.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/377938.stm

Friday, June 25, 1999 Published at 12:03 GMT 13:03 UK

Wine seized in bull’s blood scare

More than 70,000 litres of French wine have been seized amid fears that it may have been treated with an illegal purifying agent.

Health inspectors say a product made with dried bull’s blood, which has been illegal since a ban imposed during the BSE crisis, may have been used in the winemaking process.

Bull’s blood was widely used to clarify wine before bottling until the ban was imposed by the European Union in 1997 as part of measures to fight BSE, or mad cow disease.

In the process, known as fining, the blood would be used to help remove resin and suspended particles - changing wine from cloudy to clear.

Most wine makers now use modern clay-based fining agents to clarify the wine.

Most of the wine seized was table wine, labelled VDQS, and not the renowned Cotes-du-Rhone wine which bears the high-quality AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) label.

Looks to me like Dennis Hastert’s worrying about something that’s basically been a non-issue since 1999.

Sounds like a lot of “hey, get on the Iraq bandwagon, you French persons” political grandstanding, IMO.

Beltway enmity builds against Europeans / Barbs fired across Atlantic over...

Beltway enmity builds against Europeans
Barbs fired across Atlantic over Iraq stance
Friday, February 14, 2003

…At a House GOP retreat last week, House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., lobbied his colleagues to set higher health standards for imported French bottled water. France is the top exporter of water to the United States, and the requirement could crimp sales of Evian, Perrier and other popular brands.

Hastert also wants to require bright orange warning labels on bottles of French wine that use bovine blood as a clarifying agent to reduce the haze. The European Union banned the process in 1997 following the mad cow disease scare, although scientists haven’t established a clear link between bovine blood and the disease.