If there is anything to be learned from America's industrial food machine (in case you missed Food Inc. and other seminal critiques), it is this: nothing can be trusted. Until recently, many vegetarians have been all too happy to jump on the veggie burger bandwagon for a yummy protein fix, believing in earnest that theirs was a healthy choice that benefits the environment. Including me.
If there is anything to be learned from America's industrial food machine (in case you missed Food Inc. and other seminal critiques), it is this: nothing can be trusted. Until recently, many vegetarians have been all too happy to jump on the veggie burger bandwagon for a yummy protein fix, believing in earnest that theirs was a healthy choice that benefits the environment. Including me.
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But a recent report published by the non-profit organization Cornucopia Institute reveals that most non-organic soybean-based goods produced in the United States are bathed in a highly explosive mix of petrochemicals that are used to extract the soy protein. And hardly anybody seems concerned to address what could be a public health nightmare.
Before petrochemicals
In the 1950s, the United States abandoned the former practice of extracting soy protein mechanically (using pressure) in favor of a newer, more aggressive method. Now, soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, and textured soy protein are all soaked in chemicals that separate out soy oil from what E Magazine calls "defatted soy flour" that is then processed even further.
These chemical baths typically consist of 50-60% n-hexane, a heavy industrial solvent and degreaser, along with a remaining mixture of cyclohexane, methycyclohexane and methypentanes – none of which sound especially delicious.
A gulp of Hexane
The European Union only permits the sale of soy products that have less than 10 parts per million hexane residue, but the United States has no such restriction. Nor is it necessary for producers in the US to test whether their products contain traces of harmful petrochemicals. As a result, it is unknown to what extent consumers are being exposed to them.
Article continues: http://www.greenprophet.com/2011/06/the-explosive-truth-about-veggie-burgers/
