FDA Recalls Flavor Enhancer Present in Thousands of Foods
THIS ARTICLE PUBLISHED MAR 8 ON GOOGLE NEWS TOP STORIES OF THE DAY, BASIL AND SPICE, AND OTHER SYNDICATED NEWS SITES.
On March 4, the US Food and Drug Administration announced the recall of a commonly used flavor enhancer known as Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein or HVP – after samples of the product were found to contain a bacterium identified as Salmonella Tennessee. The bacteria were found in HVP manufactured by Basic Food Flavors Inc. of Las Vegas, Nevada.
HVP is a flavor enhancer used in thousands of processed food products such as soups, sauces, dips, dressings, chilis, stews, hot dogs, gravies, seasoned snack foods, and numerous other products. Fortunately, many products that contain HVP involve cooking prior to eating, which would kill any bacteria present. However, items that contain HVP but do not require cooking prior to ingestion are currently in the process of being recalled. Here is the link to the list of products that have been recalled, or are currently in the process of being recalled: Searchable Database of Recalled HVP-Containing Products.
Concerns over our nation’s food safety have been brought to the forefront in the past year owing to recalls associated with contaminated meat, cookie dough, peanut butter, and contaminated spinach/packed salads. Now, this latest recall of an item that is present in literally thousands of foods has numerous food safety advocacy groups deeply concerned. There is no doubt that preventive measures that would eliminate the possibility of mass contamination of foods are essential and pressing. The multiple food recalls of the last year have significantly undermined public confidence in the overall safety of our nation’s food supply chain.
Notwithstanding the above, here is a thought I would like to leave you with: HVP and similar other “flavor enhancers” are industrial products that are used on a mass scale in processed foods. Is it really that radical a thought to consider that we CAN make foods delicious without such industrial agents? As a research scientist who happens to have a professional culinary background, I have studied both traditional and contemporary food preparation methods utilized in cultures around the world. Of note is the fact that for centuries, food has been prepared across the globe and in disparate cultures – with only the purest, most natural flavoring agents (such as locally grown herbs, spices, etc.) – a technique which, incidentally, has been historically demonstrated to have a “built-in” safety factor. However, it seems to me that only now, in our present times in which the reliance on artificial, chemical, and largely “industrial” flavoring agents has skyrocketed, our worries about food safety have skyrocketed also.
I believe that the solutions to what often seem like mass, insoluble problems are actually quite simple, and inevitably lie in falling back on the fundamentals. We can live without processed foods, or at the very least , we can minimize their use. The evidence of history shows that those who do are the better for it.
