# Margarine is really black & ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607 "2005-11-18T04:56:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/1 "2005-11-18T04:56:04Z")
I, for one, hate margarine. It’s gross & I can’t believe the American public has actually bought the load of marketing crap that it’s “just like butter”. Whenever I see a TV commercial for some tub of greasy cum with a voice over of “just like fresh churned” I wanna [barf!](http://rileychildrenshospital.com/images/pic_mr_yuck.gif) Which is why I’d love to believe the little flyer someone gave me at work. It had all the facts about butter vs margarine in calories, fat, cholesterol, etc… But what jumped out at me was this: _**Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC…And margarine is initially BLACK, but it is DYED YELLOW to look like butter**_ That sounds too damning to be true. I tried Snopes but only found info on the calories/cholesterol vs butter. Can anyone confirm or deny this? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/2 "2005-11-18T05:01:35Z")
Margarine is milk white without the yellow dye. It’s nonsense to say that it’s “one molecule away from being plastic.” Even if it were, (which is most certainly isn’t) it wouldn’t be plastic or even necessarily substantially _like_ plastic. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/3 "2005-11-18T05:02:06Z")
I don’t have a cite, but I always thought margarine was white, and then dyed yellow. I remember hearing about margarine during WW II, it was white and came with a packet of yellow dye to make it look like butter. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/4 "2005-11-18T05:03:42Z")
Well, we’re only a couple of genes away from being chimpanzees. ☹ And what’s so bad about black? Don’t you like licorice? Really, your ‘flyer’ sounds like either something churned out\* by a health wacko or the American Dairy Association. What the [American Heart Association](http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4776) has to say about margarine and butter. \*sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/5 "2005-11-18T05:04:02Z")
According to Wikipedia, margarine is naturally white / off-white. And as for “one molecule away from plastic”, that’s meaningless. Water is only one _atom_ away from hydrogen peroxide. Chlorine gas (nasty stuff) is one atom away from table salt. As is sodium, a metal that explodes on contact with water. Pretty much everything is “one molecule away” from everything else. Water is one molecule away from TNT, you just need to add TNT. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/6 "2005-11-18T05:10:32Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I, for one, hate margarine. It’s gross & I can’t believe the American public has actually bought the load of marketing crap that it’s “just like butter”. Whenever I see a TV commercial for some tub of greasy cum with a voice over of “just like fresh churned” I wanna [barf!](http://rileychildrenshospital.com/images/pic_mr_yuck.gif) > > Which is why I’d love to believe the little flyer someone gave me at work. It had all the facts about butter vs margarine in calories, fat, cholesterol, etc… > But what jumped out at me was this: > > _**Margarine is but ONE MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC…And > margarine is initially BLACK, but it is DYED YELLOW to look like butter**_ > > That sounds too damning to be true. I tried Snopes but only found info on the calories/cholesterol vs butter. > > Can anyone confirm or deny this? This is why many people shouldn’t be allowed to vote. I have to believe this was a joke. If these were students, then they need a refund with damages included. #1 - This is absolutely incomprehensible. If you read it literally, one molecule isn’t going to do anything to anything because it is so freakin’ small. A more liberal reading suggests that if they dump enough plastic (made of plastic molecules) into margarine then it becomes mostly plastic. Brilliant! #2 - Margarine doesn’t end up the color of butter by chance. It is dyed that way with yellow dye. Back in the old days, say the 1940’s, margarine wasn’t dyed at the factory. It came with little yellow dye tablets that you had to mix with it to try to get it about the same color as butter. At no time was margarine black. HTF does that work. Have you ever tried to dye something black a pale yellow color? (We are going to need an address because I am going to send a van.) ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/7 "2005-11-18T05:19:32Z")
I suppose, if they bleached it it might come out yellow, like brunettes “dye” their hair blonde? 😉 Butter itself isn’t normally yellow either, it’s dyed that color. I’ve read accounts in which pioneer women used carrots (my grandmother did this) to dye butter a more attractive color. I’ve made butter using cream and a jar before, it came out white. The method I used was [this](http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=How+to+make+homemade+butter+using+a+jar&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&u=www.wisagclassroom.org/Homemade%2520Butter.pdf&w=make+homemade+butter+using+jar&d=LMf6go6CLuge&icp=1&.intl=us). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/8 "2005-11-18T05:25:25Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/butter.asp) > [@](#): > > Although a great deal of the information given in the e-mail is valid, one bit of intelligence is nothing more than hyperbole tossed in by the author in an effort to make his point more strongly. The claim that some comestible is but a “single molecule away” from being a decidedly inedible (or even toxic) substance has been applied to a variety of processed foods. > > ``` > [Collected via e-mail, 2005] > > I was told that the difference between Cool Whip and Styrofoam is one molecule... is this true??? > > ``` > > These types of statement (even if they were true) are essentially meaningless. Many disparate substances share similar chemical properties, but even the slightest variation in molecular structure can make a world of difference in the qualities of those substances. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/9 "2005-11-18T05:40:19Z")
A lot of kinds of plastic are made of a single uniform molecule, a polymer made of long repeated chains of organic (carbon-containing) structures. So, yeah. Margarine is one molecule away from being, say, polyethylene. That molecule being polyethylene. If you changed a stick of margarine into molecules of polyethylene, you’d have plastic. Also, lead is only one atom away from being gold. Water is one molecule away from being sulfuric acid. And have you heard about air? It’s only one molecule away from being strychnine! Consider these rumors more carefully before you buy into them. Incidentally, I was pretty much brought up eating margarine, and I find the taste of butter gross when spread on toast or muffins. Though there’s absolutely no substitute for it in baking. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/10 "2005-11-18T05:48:15Z")
**pkbites** don’t listen to these guys. They are the same sort of people who would try to hand wave away the well known dangers of [dihydrogen monoxide](http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html) just as uncaringly. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/11 "2005-11-18T05:58:54Z")
In Quebec it’s illegal to sell yellow margarine. All margarine availible in stores in white. Many jurisdictions used to have such laws, but Quebec is the now the only place in North America with a ban still on the books. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/12 "2005-11-18T06:02:48Z")
The “black” assertion is a muddled form of an old legal issue. When margarine was invented, states with strong dairy interests passed some laws ostensibly intended to protect the consumer from mistaking it for butter, but actually to protect their own interests by making the margarine less visually appealing. It’s naturally white, as mentioned. Some states passed laws requiring that it be dyed black or pink. Laws in some other localities simply made it illegal to dye it yellow for sale, which is why margarine used to be sold with dye packets to allow the consumer to dye it yellow themselves. According to a recent news item, Quebec still has such a law, and their depratment of agriculture recently confiscated some illegal butter-colored margarine from four Wal-Mart stores in Quebec city: [http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=a01aa878-71ff-4565-b058-8e69bd92841e](http://www.canada.com/montreal/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=a01aa878-71ff-4565-b058-8e69bd92841e) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/13 "2005-11-18T06:12:33Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > If you changed a stick of margarine into molecules of polyethylene, you’d have plastic. If my uncle had ovaries, he’d be my aunt. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/14 "2005-11-18T06:41:31Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Consider these rumors more carefully before you buy into them. I didn’t buy it for a minute. Like I said, it’s too damning to be true. But when I said, “ah, bullshit” I was challenged to prove them wrong. Proving someone wrong is just as much fun as proving yourself right! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chotii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@Chotii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chotii)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/15 "2005-11-18T09:21:14Z")
_Butter_ is white before you dye it yellow. My grandmother still calls that stuff ‘oleomargerine’. She was a young woman during WWII, when poor folks couldn’t even hope to afford butter. Early margerine didn’t have butter flavoring in it either. Which must have been a lot like smearing salted Crisco on your bread. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/16 "2005-11-18T09:31:01Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > If my uncle had ovaries, he’d be my aunt. No, if your uncle had ovaries, he’d be either your aunt or your uncle depending upon whether he self-identified as male! Good gracious, you’re one of the last three Dopers I should have to point this out to. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/17 "2005-11-18T12:46:59Z")
> [@Chotii](#): > > _Butter_ is white before you dye it yellow. ah no … It depends what the cows are fed. Grass fed cows produce yellow butter naturally from the carorenes in the grass. Grain fed cows produce white butter which is often coloured with a dye. eg. see [InfoArticle.com is for sale | HugeDomains](http://www.infoarticle.com/Food/Butter.asp) ---
**Author:** ![scm1001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/18 "2005-11-18T12:48:37Z")
correction … carotenes ---
**Author:** ![Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Carnac\_the\_Magnificent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carnac_the_Magnificent)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/19 "2005-11-18T14:11:12Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > **pkbites** don’t listen to these guys. They are the same sort of people who would try to hand wave away the well known dangers of [dihydrogen monoxide](http://www.dhmo.org/facts.html) just as uncaringly. According to leading U.S. government experts, a lot of people die from that stuff! A few weeks ago, I read peer-reviewed research findings that point to the world’s surfs as carrying potentially dangerous concentrations of dihydrogen monoxide. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2005, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607/20 "2005-11-18T14:20:33Z")
> [@Chotii](#): > > Early margerine didn’t have butter flavoring in it either. Which must have been a lot like smearing salted Crisco on your bread. :eek: Don’t knock it 'till you’ve tried it; bread and lard (AKA ‘dripping’) with salt was an important and popular(through necessity) food source until recently, 'round these parts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/margarine-is-really-black-one-molecule-away-from-being-plastic/331607.md?page=2)