I quit drinking, quit smoking, quit coffee, but now ... chocolate.

Hydrogenated fats are deadly. They are mostly illegal in the US. But now, an exception. MARS BARS.

Thank goodness, I prefer my chocolate plain and dark and bitter and swiss.

But after almost eight years of clean living, this? MARS! Very disappointed. If you're vegetarian, that chocolate bar is untouchable!

Story below, excerpted:

As of this past May 1, Mars brand candy bars are no longer suitable for vegetarians. The affected brands, which include chocolate and ice cream versions of Snickers, Bounty, Milky Way and more, now contain rennet, a product obtained by extracting the stomach lining of calves.

This news comes on the heels of an announcement by the United States Food and Drug Administration that there is a move underfoot to change the standard of identity for chocolate, allowing food additives such as (deadly, my add) hydrogenated fats and other distinctly non-chocolate ingredients to be included in a product that can still be called chocolate.

What does this all mean? If you're in the UK, it means that grabbing a quick chocolate treat may mean compromising your vegetarian values and, if you're in the US, it means that in the near future, chocolate manufacturers will be offering an inferior product, which you will likely be paying the same price for.

GINA'S NOTE: Wonderful. The food industry lobbies, and we matter not at all. Unless we choose to buy our chocolate wisely. Check labels for hydrogenated fats and, if you agree, use your dollars to vote. If customers don't buy, the lobbyists and companies who don't mind slowly giving our children and adults fat-related diseases might wake up.

Is there any end to the lack of corporate concern for human health. First the hundred-plus carcinogenics listed in safecosmetics.org (see earlier post) in almost all the products I use daily. Pantene to make my long hair smooth, my supposedly organic lotions, my mascara and makeup I need for my TV job. All high up on the carcinogenic and animal-testing lists.

In the next few days, I am going to start using its database to find products that score low (0 to 2) on a daily basis and really put an effort to it. If we don't do it, who will?

Chocolate, makeup, moisturizers. You wonder why reproductive cancers are going up. (And as I said, only FOUR of the more than 100 carcinogens banned from personal products in Europe are banned here. Someone tell me why no one is protecting the health of our people.

Okay, I know the answer. Do you?

Comments

[Joe Tangredi]

Also, have you seen the rumors that up to 1/4 of the volume of "chocolate" sold in the US is made up of the bodies of cockroaches?

Supposedly the crates of cocoa beans lying on docksides in Brazil and other cocoa bean growing countries are heavily infested with cockroaches. It's too much trouble to remove the roaches, and they die in transit. When the beans go to the factories, the roach bodies are never picked out, and are close enough visually to a coffee bean that they're just dumped into the chocolate-making machinery wholesale, along with the beans.

Congress and the FDA have a long history of "regulating" insect parts, and specifically cockroach parts, in chocolate sold in the US. There are specific regs regarding the number of insect parts available in chocolate -- but of course, after the beans have gone through grinders, and had other ingredients added, it's hard to distinguish insect body parts. Nonetheless, the few remaining legs, heads, etc. that survive intact attracted attention somewhere along the line, to make the government aware of this and step in to regulate. As always, though, industry lobbyists fight every effort at regulation tooth-and-nail along the way, so there's a constant push-and-pull between the chocolate industry and the FDA about how many insect parts are acceptable.

The big scandal here is that the public isn't aware that up to 25% of the bulk of American "chocolate" may in fact be dead bugs. And this may be one of the big reasons that allergies to chocolate are so common in the US.

I'm sure you've noticed how much better European chocolate tastes. My guess is that's because it's subject to much stricter regulations on impurities and contamination by vermin, etc.

[Gina]

Dead bugs, huh? That may explain why I am getting enough protein in my diet, even though I'm a chocolate-eating veg.

Great post. Freaky stuff.

[Chris]

Can I guess, can I guess? Is it the almighty dollar?

Congrats on quitting everything except chocolate, that and coffee are not to be leaving my diet anytime soon.

[Rapid Weight Loss Diet]

Congrats on your progress! Surprised that chocolate is the hard thing for you, being that both coffee and alchohal seem to be really hard for most people to give up.

[Cigarette Free]

Thank you for your post. Yes, chocolate can compromise your health. But smoking is dangerous for your health, money and time, and should be avoided at all cost.

Perseverence is the key. So try the best to repel the urge of smoking ( or eating chocolate)again.

[marc flayton]

It is better they don't spray the chocolate beans with chemicals. I used to open crates from India and to protect the clothes they sprayed ddt it made one very sick.

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