Ban Canada!!

[Gob]

The owner of a British food shop in Canada says he has been ordered to stop selling Marmite, Ovaltine and Irn Bru because they contain illegal additives.

Tony Badger, who owns Brit Foods in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, told local media that food safety officials had removed the foods from his shelves.

Other affected products include Lucozade, Penguin Bars and Bovril.

Mr Badger said he had been selling the items since 1997, and had never had problems in the past.

"We've been bringing Irn-Bru in since the very beginning," he told CKOM. The bright orange caffeinated drink is particularly popular in Scotland, but sold in countries around the world.

"My understanding was we were importing legally. We've been declaring it through a customs broker and we've never had an issue until now," said Mr Badger.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is reportedly cracking down on the sale of such goods and increasing its inspections of suppliers.

Irn Bru contains at least one additive - Ponceau 4R - which has been linked to hyperactivity and does not appear on the approved food list in Canada.

The other products are banned because they are "enriched with vitamins and mineral" while some canned foods and soup contained too much animal product.

The CFIA could not be reached for comment.

Mr Badger said he first ran into trouble in October when his Christmas stock was seized as it was imported from Britain. Then last week, officials from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency came to his shop to confiscate the remaining produce.

"The concern now is, with the next shipment, if it gets held there may be new issues with new products, so it somewhat paralyses our ability to bring new product in," he said, adding the delays had already cost him thousands of dollars.

But he said the agency was now conducting a health assessment on the foods to determine whether they were fit for sale.

"I haven't heard of anyone dying from consuming Irn-Bru in Scotland or Britain," he said. "So hopefully we will get a favourable decision."

One customer, Briton Nigel Westwick, told the Star Phoenix newspaper that he "couldn't understand the insanity" of preventing Irn Bru from entering Canada.

"For a country that allows one to buy firearms, guns, bullets... stopping a soft drink suitable for all ages seems a little ludicrous."

[Joe Guy]

I looked up Ponceau 4R and it says it is made from petroleum.

Irn Bru doesn't look like anything I'd want to drink, but Marmite? What's illegal that's in Marmite?

(paste witty retort here - ______________)

[Lord Jim]

They've been smuggling Marmite into The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave from The Great White North?

Oh, the humanity...

What next?

I'd sooner hear that the Iranians were smuggling Yellow Cake in school box lunches for kindergarteners...

[rubato]

Not just Canada, civilized countries ban it too:

Health effects

Because it is an azo dye, it may elicit intolerance in people allergic to salicylates (aspirin). Additionally, it is a histamine liberator, and may intensify symptoms of asthma.

Ponceau 4R is considered carcinogenic in some countries, including the US, Norway, and Finland, and it is currently listed as a banned substance by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).[2] Since 2000, the FDA has seized Chinese-produced haw flakes (a fruit candy) on numerous occasions for containing Ponceau 4R.[3]

The EFSA has decided on 2009-09-23 to lower the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for Ponceau 4R from 4 mg/kg to 0.7 mg/kg bodyweight per day. The substance causes increased migration of nuclear DNA in glandular stomach, bladder (≥ 100 mg/kg) and colon tissue (≥ 10 mg/kg). Clastogenic activity was seen in bone marrow at dosages equivalent to an intake ≥ 80 mg/kg, but no carcinogenic effects were noted.

The production process may result in unsulphonated aromatic amines present in concentrations of up to 100 mg/kg which may be linked to cancer. Also the EFSA panel noted that the JECFA limit for lead is ≤ 2 mg/kg whereas the EC specification is ≤ 10 mg/kg. The colour additive can also increase the intake of aluminium beyond the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) of 1 mg/kg/week. Therefore the limit for aluminium may be adjusted to accommodate for this.[4]

Yuck! The kind of nasty shit the Chinese are always putting in food.


yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

While I think the taste and smell of marmite would be a sufficient deterrent to its consumption, it appears that the Canadian officials object to its "overfortification" with vitamins B12 and B2 (riboflavin); I couldn't find the recommended/ required maximum amounts for daily consumption, but there also aren't any listed side effects for either of these compounds (other than the tendency of riboflavin to produce free radicals when exposed to intense UV light--not something it's likely to see in a jar of marmite or when consumed).

Re the other canned foods, the only thing I can find is a claim they contained "too much animal product" without any explanation. Perhaps these are labeled as vegetarian or vegan? Perhaps the animal product is mouse feces? Who knows. But I'd rather have a can of beef stew or soup containing too much beef than too little.

[Scooter]

The issue with the Marmite is that fortifying a product with vitamins and minerals beyond a certain point means it can no longer be classified as a "food" and is considered a "natural health product" (an odd term to apply to Marmite, I know - essentially they are putting in the same class as a vitamin supplement). Such products have a completely different regulatory regime that must be followed in order to be approved for sale.

The version of Im-Bru in question has an additive not approved in Canada for food consumption; there is another formulation of Im-Bru without this additive that is sold here.

I haven't anything about the "too much animal product" issue - the only thing I can think of is that there might have been a problem with how the products were labelled that was misleading as to the animal content.

[Big RR]

Thanks for clearing up the overfortification issue, Scooter. That makes more sense.

[oldr_n_wsr]

But it helps build strong bodies 12 ways!!!!

oh wait, that's wonder bread.

Never mind.

[Scooter]

Apparently there is a version of Marmite (with bilingual English/French labelling, no less) that is carried by major supermarkets in Canada, although I have never gone looking for it. It sound like what this guy has tried to do is go around authorized distributors of the legal versions of the products and import the versions that are approved for sale here - probably in order to up his profit margin.

No sympathy whatsoever.

[Rick]

But it helps build strong bodies 12 ways!!!!

oh wait, that's wonder bread.

Never mind.

Wonder bread was taken to task over that claim also

[Big RR]

Actually, as I recall, that was an FTC action which claimed that Wonder Bread, which met the government standards for enriched white bread, was not lying (it did contain essential/useful vitamins and minerals), but that it misled customers into thinking their bread was different from other enriched breads. The FCC maintained that Wonder (actually continental bakeries) had to stop claiming it was somehow different from the other breads, even though each and every one of them could ve made the same claims if they chose to. Wonder eventually backed down.

edited to add: Actually, eventually Wonder won at trial, with the judge saying the FTC was wrong, but by that time they had gone onto other ad campaigns. The judge ruled that Wonder was not wrong in making the claim even if every other bread maker did not, and they were entitled to advertise the perceived advantages of their product so long as they did not say that they are the only bread that did so.

[Joe Guy]

The issue with the Marmite is that fortifying a product with vitamins and minerals beyond a certain point means it can no longer be classified as a "food" and is considered a "natural health product"

The law in Canada is obviously different than the U.S. in the way they classify natural health products. I don't think the FDA even uses that term.

Looking at the ingredients below I can't see why Marmite would be considered a natural health product. Also, there's nothing natural about it if it is fortified.

There are products in the U.S. that have more fortification than Marmite and have no special classification.

[Daisy]

Probably not to up his profits, more likely that Brits want the Marmite that they have at home, none of that foreign muck masquerading as Marmite

I take a small jar of it on every holiday, toast and Marmite is such a comforting taste of home.

[Scooter]

The law in Canada is obviously different than the U.S. in the way they classify natural health products.

Well yes, it is another country after all.

I don't think the FDA even uses that term.

The FDA uses the term "dietary supplement", although NHP might
encompass a broader range of products, I'm not sure.

There are products in the U.S. that have more fortification than Marmite and have no special classification.

Well then he can set up shop in the U.S. and sell it there. The manufacturer has clearly chosen not to have those versions of the products approved for sale in Canada, since they supply a different version for sale here.

[Lord Jim]

You know, every Brit I've ever gotten to know is a wonderful person, and I count a number of your lot among my friends...

But what is it with you guys with the Marmite, the cricket, and the warm beer...

ETA:

Mr Badger said he had been selling the items since 1997,

I don't think I'd want to mess with Mr. Badger...



Sounds like a name out of a Beatrix Potter book...(great stories)

[Big RR]

Actually Jim, when it comes to ales and stouts I prefer them warm (well cellar temperature really) rather than cold, and while I am not a fan of cricket, I find it no more tedious than baseball (even though it does have more complicated rules, at least in normal play--but then baseball has things like the infield fly rule), but that's just me. But I agree with you on marmite--I've tried it a couple of times and it is one of the very few things on my "will never eat again" list (even lutefisk doesn't make that list, although it's close). But I know some who rave about it; I don't get it either (but maybe there's nothing to "get").

[Daisy]

But what is it with you guys with the Marmite, the cricket, and the warm beer...

Ale is kept cool, but not brain freezingly cold. Cricket is a game of skill and strategy and is best watched with a nice refreshing pint of ale on a sunny afternoon.... And with all that ale being made we found something delicious to make from its leftovers.

They're in our blood

[Lord Jim]

with all that ale being made we found something delicious to make from its leftovers.

Yes, I posted a while back how Marmite came to be:

"I say Nigel, you know that goo we scrape off the beer barrels and mix in with the fodder for the pigs? I'll bet we could put it in little jars, give it a fancy name and sell it to people for a pretty penny."

"Good lord Ascoyne, you're obviously completely potted to come up with an idea like that. Come now, nobody would fall for that..."

And thus yet another proof of the PT Barnum maxim was born...

[Joe Guy]

Yuck... Marmite!!

I'd prefer to eat a turkey that lived stuffed in a crate full of its feces and then had its head chopped off, feathers plucked and was cooked with a mixture of stale bread and dead oysters stuck up its ass.

[Daisy]

Yuck... Marmite!!

I'd prefer to eat a turkey that lived stuffed in a crate full of its feces and then had its head chopped off, feathers plucked and was cooked with a mixture of stale bread and dead oysters stuck up its ass.

Your loss, more for me