021048 “Quorn” Meat Substitute Under Attack

The Center for Science in the Public Interest in the U.S. is trying to whack a healthy meat substitute called Quorn, from Marlow Foods in the U.K., a unit of AstraZeneca. Made from a fungus called "mycoprotein," it's used in 90 imitation beef and chicken products and is Europe's top-selling meat alternative.

No matter that Quorn received approval from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) early this year, after a five-year process. "This product was cavalierly waved through by the FDA with an alarming lack of curiosity," says the center's executive director, Michael Jacobson. "The FDA knew that a study showed that this product would make some people violently sick." The center petitioned the FDA and European health agencies to yank all Quorn products.

The British Food Standards Agency rejected the center's petition, noting that confirmed reactions seemed to occur about once per 146,000 mycoprotein customers -- a figure supplied, admittedly, by Marlow. But the agency also noted that allergic reactions occur about once in 300 times for soybeans, the principal ingredient in many meat substitutes.

Jacobson wrote in his newsletter that "the only human study of Quorn" Marlow submitted to the FDA "shows nearly 10% of the people who ate Quorn [felt] nauseated." Yet at about the same time, the center sent the FDA a letter noting that the agency had evaluated four human studies back in 1999. Jacobson now insists that the study he chose "was the only one I knew of at the time." Did he interpret it correctly? The study showed virtually the same symptoms among mycoprotein eaters and a placebo group.

So what's the CSPI's real beef? Perhaps it can be found in its assertion to the FDA that "considering the plethora of tasty, nutritious meat alternatives on supermarket shelves, there is absolutely no need for [Quorn]." The center has long been a booster of Gardenburger, the moneylosing maker of substitute meat.

As its stock began a 74% dive in April, Gardenburger e-mailed food brokers a copy of CSPI's letter to the FDA documenting alleged reactions to Quorn--before the FDA could respond--and speculated that "Quorn's days are numbered." Gardenburger is not getting favorable treatment, the center says. Still, saving Gardenburger would be a coup for the center.

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

E-mail: sflanagan@sprintmail.com