Читать книгу E for Additives - Maurice Hanssen - Страница 28

Certain religious disciplines, such as those of the Jews, the Muslims and the Sikhs, as well as those who have an ethical objection to certain foods or additives, have written us many letters asking distinctions to be made between additives that are animal, dairy, vegetable and synthetic. In addition, synthetic additives can be made from natural materials. Wherever possible this information is included in this edition, but there are a number of cases where the additive can be derived in different ways, some of which would be acceptable to particular groups and some of which would not.

This gives rise to the apparent paradox that some foods are approved by the Rabbinical authorities but contain additives which are on the banned list. In all cases this means that the food has been checked back to source, additives and all, and it has been prepared in accordance with Jewish principles.

List of non-kosher food additives:

Additives, or ingredients, which have not been allocated EEC

numbers, and may also be derived from non-kosher sources, are:

Edible fat or oil; gelatin, enzymes of catalase, lipase, pepsin, trypsin and rennin (or rennet); modified starch with glycerol; glyceryl tribenzoate, glyceryl tributyrate and glyceryl tripropionate; glycine; oxystearin; stearic acid and stearates; monoacetin, diacetin and triacetin; spermacetti; sperm oil; casein and caseinates; wine vinegar; wine or brandy as flavouring agents; proteins.

Note that whey and lactose are milk derivatives. Please note also that the additives and processing aids used in wine making, and therefore also in the preparation of fortified wines such as sherry and in brandies, are frequently of animal or dairy origin. These would normally be removed before the wines are bottled. In both this case and for the additives listed above, where there is any doubt it would be a simple matter for the regulations to be changed so that, for example, an (A) was used as a suffix for additives which were derived from animal material and the suffix (D) for those from dairy material.

It would unquestionably be fruitful for there to be a coming together of the leaders of the many groups involved, including vegetarians, vegans, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and Seventh Day Adventists, who would certainly together form a sufficiently persuasive and numerically strong grouping to convince both the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and also the EEC Commission in Brussels that such additive identification is both necessary and possible. As things stand, the problem is hardly recognized as existing.