“Was not their mistake once more bred of the life of slavery that they had been living?—a life which was always looking upon everything, except mankind, animate and inanimate—‘nature,’ as people used to call it—as one thing, and mankind as another, it was natural to people thinking in this way, that they should try to make ‘nature’ their slave, since they thought ‘nature’ was something outside them” — William Morris


Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Chitin and Your Mouth

I updated my photo on Big_Other.com

It's hard not to eat pieces of insect even if you're a vegan. It turns out that there are substantial quantities of said pieces in products such as peanut butter and chocolate. The FDA deems this contamination of “aesthetic” significance. There's a whole paper just in that designation isn't there? HT Jarrod Fowler.


Chitin also appears in mushrooms. Interesting non-boundary there between “animal” and non-animal. John Cage was a vegetarian who studied mushrooms, along with his day job as spearhead of the avant garde.

Carlos Casteneda was stopped by a horrified fan at a burger joint in New Mexico while he was chowing down on a hamburger. When asked to explain himself he replied, “Everything is sacred.” Think about it.

(It's also hard not to eat pieces of animal when you're committed to eating pieces of them
deliberately. Wilde: “alcohol, when taken in sufficient quantities, produces all the effects of drunkenness.”)

I remain a vegan.

CHOCOLATE AND CHOCOLATE LIQUOR Insect filth
(AOAC 965.38)
Average is 60 or more insect fragments per 100 grams when 6 100-gram subsamples are examined
OR
Any 1 subsample contains 90 or more insect fragments

Rodent filth
(AOAC 965.38)
Average is 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams in 6 100-gram subsamples examined
OR
Any 1 subsample contains 3 or more rodent hairs

Shell
(AOAC 968.10-970.23)
For chocolate liquor, if the shell is in excess of 2% calculated on the basis of alkali-free nibs
DEFECT SOURCE: Insect fragments - post harvest and/or processing insect infestation, Rodent hair - post harvest and/or processing contamination with animal hair or excreta, Shell - processing contamination
SIGNIFICANCE: Aesthetic

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Was reminded by this item of one-time knowledge (long forgotten) of the percentages of rodent droppings allowable in processed cereals, cornflakes, puffed wheat, etc., etc.
I guess it would have to be 'available' information under modern legislation though ?