Page 73 - Fall2012

Soy Alert!

SOY-LING BACON: SICKENING SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
By Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD

Health experts often propose turkey bacon reviewer who is eco-conscious, mostly vegan
as a “healthy option” for those who decline to eat and an avowed fan of Morningstar Farms meat
pork for either religious or health reasons. While analogue offerings, begged to differ. She started
this might seem an excellent alternative to the out wanting to like the stuff, and even asked
average health-conscious consumer, the ques- “How bad could the fake stuff be?”
tion to ask is “What does it take to turn a turkey Very bad as it turned out. Given the ingre-
into a pig?” Well, dubious ingredients such as dient list, better her taste-testing this than me!
hydrolyzed soy protein, canola oil, hydrolyzed Here it is: egg whites, soybean oil with TBHQ
corn or wheat gluten, corn syrup, autolyzed yeast for freshness, textured soy protein concentrate,
extract, “natural” and artificial flavorings and modified corn starch, wheat gluten, hydrolyzed
“liquid smoke.” vegetable protein (corn gluten, wheat gluten,
An even bigger question is “What does it soy). Contains two percent or less of glycerin,
take to turn a soybean into a pig?” More than you salt, soy protein isolate, sodium citrate, sodium
most likely want to know! Pig out intelligently phosphate, sugar, natural and artificial flavors
with Smart Bacon®—a product advertised as from non-meat sources, torula yeast, caramel
bringing “that hearty bacon taste into the veggie color, monocalcium phosphate, sodium tripoly-
world”—and you’ll get the following ingredients: phosphate, natural smoke flavor, malic acid, guar
Water, soy protein isolate, wheat gluten, soybean gum, yeast extract, locust bean and guar gum,
oil, textured soy protein concentrate, textured sodium sulfite, carrageenan, red #3, disodium
wheat gluten, less than 2 percent of natural smoke inosinate, disodium guanylate, niacinamide, iron
flavor, natural flavor (from vegetable sources), [ferrous sulfate)], autolyzed yeast extract, nonfat
grill flavor (from sunflower oil), carrageenan, dry milk, yellow #6, vitamin B [thiamin mono-
1
evaporated cane juice, paprika oleoresin (for nitrate], vitamin B [pyridoxine hydrochloride]
6
flavor and color), potassium chloride, sesame vitamin B [riboflavin], citric acid, cyanocobala-
2
oil, fermented rice flour, tapioca dextrin, citric min.
acid, salt. Here’s what Ms. McDaniels reports:
Yum, and just the thing for vegans following “The fake bacon is worse than you can
Dr. Neal Barnard of the Physicians Committee possibly imagine. First impressions: when you
for (Ir)responsible Medicine, who recommends open the packaging, you're hit by a pretty asser-
Smart Bacon® and similar products for those tive synthetic aroma, an almost-but-not-quite
who crave bacon but want to avoid “the embar- right recreation of the meaty, smoky bacon "So repulsive
rassment” associated with consuming such an smell. This eerie sort of Bacon Uncanny Valley
unhealthy substance. continued into the visual—this fake bacon just I couldn't
How does it taste? I spat it out though the looked like unchewed sticks of gum. It made me recommend
Smart Bacon® folks promised, “you'll swear anxious—some primordial fear inside me clicked this product
you're back in grandma's country kitchen (even on, because the stuff just does not look like food.
if she lived in Brooklyn).” “This product is basically egg whites, soy to even my
For the “delicious hearty flavor of smoked protein, corn starch, wheat gluten, and vegetable worst
bacon with a crispy bite” and “44 percent less protein—oh boy!—and then, through the magic vegetarian
fat!” try Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon of science, it's turned into this white, malleable
Strips®. Mavyn McDaniels, a Yahoo Voice strip with pinkish-red grainy texture-y stuff enemy."

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