BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite

Subject: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 11:18 PM

from today's Sunday Telegraph.
......................

The United States had banned Vegemite, with Australians are now being searched for jars of the spread as they enter the country.

The crackdown was prompted because Vegemite has been deemed illegal under American food laws because it contains folate, which can only be added to breads & cereals in the US.

Kraft spokeswoman Joanna Scott said: "The (US) Food & Drug Administration doesn't allow the import of Vegemite simply because the recipe does have the addition of folate."

She said the US was a minor market for Vegemite.

Australian expatriates in the US said the ban had been gradually stepped up and was now ruining breakfast traditions.

......................

I hope the Kuwaitis don't do the same, or my sister would have to return to Oz as she can't live without her daily (over)dose of Vegemite.

sandra (occasional Vegemite eater)

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Janie
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 11:27 PM

Well, I just had to know. So I entered the term into my trusty Google, and now the rest of you who are also not from 'down under' get the benefit of my research!

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 21 Oct 06 - 11:50 PM

That's just good taste

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: John O'L
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:36 AM

Some folks just don't deserve Vegemite

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:44 AM

It is ironic, if this is true, since recent findings in the U.S. show that we don't get anywhere enough folic acid. link

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: JennieG
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 01:59 AM

I sometimes send Vegemite to my son who is living in Toronto - Vegemite and tim tams - that's what he misses about Oz! (and hopefully his parents too)

Cheers
JennieG

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: John O'L
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 02:59 AM

Vegemite and Tim Tams. There's a survival pack no Aussie should venture abroad without.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 03:25 AM

Soon the US will be banning real food altogether....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 04:06 AM

Janie, thanks for the link, I might just send it to my sister.

and thanks to Joe or the Clone who provided all the relevant links

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 04:35 AM

Tim Tams are available in Tesco's in the UK, as is Vegemite.
Folic acid is recommended for expectant mothers, I believe it's to help avoid Spina Bifida in their babies.
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Morticia
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:03 AM

has it banned Marmite as well? They taste very similar.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: JennyO
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:56 AM

Vegemite and Tim Tams

Preferably not together though :-)

Dunno what I'd do without my Vegemite. To some people there may be some similarity between Vegemite and Marmite, but to a true Vegemite lover, there is no substitute.

What I can't understand is, why would there be a restriction on folate? Seems like a good thing to me. Does this mean that if one was to send some Vegemite to, say, a Santee in the US, it would be confiscated?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Mr Happy
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:58 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegimite

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:02 AM

Jenny - maybe if the label was removed & a Marmite label substituted it might get thru! Tho the lid would be a give-away.

Maybe just empty the contents into a Marmite jar?

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: JennyO
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:11 AM

Empty the contents into a Marmite jar? I've never bought Marmite in my life (although I've tasted it), and I'm not about to buy it just to get the jar! Anyway, does anyone know if Marmite has folate too? Maybe it does.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:14 AM

Anyone who checked any of the links at the top will know my passion for Vegemite. It started as a joke because as a typical American, I'd never heard of either Vegemite or Marmite. After making fun of both for awhile I thought it only fair I should try it. Helen in Oz actually sent me some and damned if I didn't like it! Then I tried Marmite and liked it too.

We ran thread after thread about each and both with all the traditional fighting over which was best. I had found some local sources for each and was as a happy as a dog shittin' green.   Eventually my preference became Vegemite but I still kept both on hand. I may be the single biggest American consumer.I even bought an entire case of the BIG jars........AND NOW THIS!!!!!

To have only Marmite will not do......and worse, I am ready to restock Vegemite.   This is a tragedy equal to me as Rabbi Sol's non-Kosher chicken scandal. This is undoubted another George Bush fuck-up!

***FUCK THE FEDS***
I NEED MY VEGEMITE

Spaw.....already experiencing withdrawal

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:42 AM

I wonder which Big Pharma lobby in Washington persuaded the FDA to attack Vegemite? What company sells lots of folate tablets? hmmm

Spaw, we couldn't even send you a jar. Nowadays all overseas parcels have to say what they contain & I assume US Customs folks would be looking for supplies in parcels from Oz.

I assume Canada hasn't banned it? But how to get it across the border in the quantities you want is another matter.

good luck

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:42 AM

Marmite! The true path!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 09:10 AM

Although the FDA won't allow that either. Apparently the labelling isn't good enough for US consumers, and just having a weight on the jar doesn't tell you how much is in it!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 10:02 AM

frankly I am not surprised because Vegamite is disgusting stuff with a consistency not unlike VIC vapour rub, whereas Marmite is nectar -glossy and it tastes divine.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 10:26 AM

Bunnahabhain are you saying Marmite is banned too?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: JennyO
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 10:52 AM

I can't find anything about Marmite being banned, but it has exactly the same amount of folate in it as Vegemite, so I can't see why they would ban one and not the other.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Bill D
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 11:04 AM

Perhaps the company needs to consider exfoliation.



I'll get my hat....

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 11:05 AM

Marmite and Vegemite speakeasies - bootleggers trucking it in across the Canadian border - gungerunners having battles with the Feds.

US bans Vegemite

I trust there will be a reciprocal on Coca-Cola by everyone living in the Free World outside the Yeast Curtain that contains the USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Sorcha
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:12 PM

Aw, just fib a bit on the forms.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: MBSLynne
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:27 PM

Hmmmm....I wonder if there is a connection....my brother(Australian) just left the US yesterday. He's stopping off to see us (in the UK) on his way to Russia. I wonder if he is going to become a vegemite smuggler??

Yes you can now buy Vegemite in Tesco, as I do regularly. When I first lived over here I had to visit London frequently because the only place you could get it then was in shops around Australia House. The trouble is, the jars they sell in Tesco are so SMALL. When we visit home we bring back several 900 gm jars. I had a friend who was living over here for a couple of years and his Mum used to send him catering tins of vegemite.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:43 PM

I can see it now.....A fortune made in the speakeasy business. This time you could turn the tables a bit and actually have a bar as a false front. In back they serve up Vegemite on toast, with cream cheese on Bagel, etc..........................

Ya' know this just proves how gawdamn stupid our gummint really is. Talk about your broke-dick mamaluccas..........With all the serious problems we have, even in the prescription drug world where we could be doing so much good...........But NOOOOOOOOOOOO.....We're fuckin' around with Vegemite. Some of these people...........geeziz............Every morning they fear their brains will explode if they use them that day.........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: number 6
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:45 PM

As long as Canada doesn't ban marmite ... thas's what matters.

I gotta hand it to you folks here on the Cat that have turned me on to marmite ..... I love it!

sIx

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: CapriUni
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 12:50 PM

If the FDA thinks folate is safe to eat inside the bread, it makes no sense to decree that it's dangerous to put top of the bread. After all, once digestion starts, everything is inside.

Yet more evidence that the FDA has drifted from its original mandate to protect our health, and is now more concerned with protecting big business's profits.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 02:41 PM

Now when we read in the paper about police confiscating "certain substances" after raids we'll have to keep in mind that it might be yeast extract they are talking about.

I would think that used imaginatively this could do enormous things for sales of Vegemite back in Australia.

How long before patriotic Aussies (is there any other sort?) will be singing the Vegemite Song rather than Waltzing Matilda or Advance Australia Fair:

We're happy little Vegemites
As bright as bright can be.
We all enjoy our Vegemite
For breakfast, lunch, and tea.
Our mother says we're growing
stronger every single week.
Because we love our Vegemite.
We all adore our Vegemite.
It puts a rose in every cheek!

I hope they extend the ban to Marmite...

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: SINSULL
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 02:43 PM

I can see Spaw sharing a cell with a Columbian drug lord, jailed on the same charges.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: catspaw49
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 03:08 PM

Sins, I aspire to reach that exalted level.......Right now the best I can do is hang around the schools:

"Hey......(whistles)....yeah, you...Kid..........c'meer a sec........Wanna' be cool?..........I can jazz ya' up on B12 Man.....Makes you a wildman...........Hey....won't hurtcha'............Try this...........a little toast and a little Vegemite and you'll be digging your boringass History teacher......Give it a try..........."

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Peace
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 03:38 PM

They ought to ban termites instead.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 05:25 PM

FDA refusal Actions ( from the fda website)

United Kingdom                     GX5-9912303-9 33   1
    Unilever Bestfoods Ltd.
    Crawley Gb-Wsx, GB RH10 9RQ                            LOS-DO
    37KCT99   MARMITE YEAST EXTRACT                        Reason:      
                        21-SEP-2006                        LACKS N/C
                                                          NUTRIT LBL

Reason: LACKS N/C
    Section: 502(b)(2), 801(a)(3); MISBRANDING
    Charge: The article is in package form and appears to not
    have a label containing an accurate statement of the
    quantity of the contents in terms of weight, measure or
    numerical count and no variations or exemptions have been

Reason: NUTRIT LBL
    Section: 403(q); 801(a)(3); Misbranding
    Charge: The article appears to be misbranded in that the
    label or labeling fails to bear the required nutrition
    information.

Given that was a month ago, sounds like a ban to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 05:58 PM

Asking for ingredients on a packet of yeast extract is like putting 'contains nuts' on a packet of nuts....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Peace
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:05 PM

This product DOES contain nuts.

This one, too. Hopefully not when the pic was taken.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:16 PM

Here's the info on a jar of Marmite:

Ingredients: Yeast Extract, Salt,Vegetabvle Extrract, Niacin, Spice Extraxcts, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Celery Extract, Bitamin B12

Nutrition Information per 100 gms
Energy 920J/219 kcal
Protein 38.4gm
Carbohydrate 19.2g, of whuich sugars 0.5gm
Fat 0.1gm of which saturates trace
Fibre 3.1gm
Sodium 4.3gm
Thiamin 5.8mg (414% RDA)
Riboflavin 7.0mg (438% RDA)
Folic Acid 2500mu g (2500% RDA)
Vitamin B12 15 mu g (1500 RDA)

What do these pillocks want in the way of a list of ingredients?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Greg F.
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:17 PM

Jesus wept.

Yet more evidence that the FDA has drifted from its original mandate to protect our health, and is now more concerned with protecting big business's profits.

Hasn't "drifted" at all- it was perfectly deliberate. Thank the BuShites for the change in focus- just like the Department of Labor that once protected workers & now protects corporations.

Y'all remember to vote Republican, now.....

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Bunnahabhain
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:27 PM

On the other hand, a ban on importing vegemite and marmite could just be
to stop chemical or biological weapons getting into the US. Well, which are they?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: RangerSteve
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 06:43 PM

Now we're going to have illegal vegemite being shipped into the cities, with Vegemite turf wars giving rise to an Australian organized crime ring. Feds will be raiding vegemite stills in the back woods, and people will be making bathtub vegemite at home. Vegemite runners will be smuggling it in from ships anchored off the coast. Didn't we learn anything from Prohibition?

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:08 PM

Yup - how to promote something by banning it. As demonstrated all these years with other prohibited substances. That's why prohibitions continue - it clearly can't be anything to do with seeking to reduce use.

I think this has been organised by the manufacturers as a way to build up US sales of Vegemite (and apparently Marmite as well).

Doesn't a ban make you want to have a little taste...

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Helen
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:18 PM

The Vegemite ads were on tv again last night here in Oz, so they are using the ban in the US to spark interest (i.e. create more Vegemite addicts) over here. Good marketing ploy. Negative publicity creates sales.

And yes, McGrath of Harlow, I'm just getting the cravings now for Vegemite on toast. Darnit! Now I'll have to go and make my breakfast.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Helen
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:30 PM

Just had a little panic there. I thought we had run out of Vegemite but I found the emergency rations, so it's okay.

And 'Spaw, as I recall, I did warn you before I sent you that jar that it could be addictive. It was your own choice when you took your first "hit". :-)

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: The Badger
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:40 PM

Vegemite - Marmite with taste!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: John O'L
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 07:57 PM

"The Yeast Curtain" - I love that.

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Lox
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:07 PM

Yeast curtains?

Isn't that a euphamism for thrush?

There is potential here for some very unpleasant jokes.

I will keep them all to myself and let someone else take the rap!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Don Firth
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:10 PM

Scene:   Waterfront, container ship has just docked.

One Homeland Security inspector to another: "Forget that geiger counter, Fred. Those containers could be full of Vegemite!"

Don Firth

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:30 PM

Vegemite - Marmite Lite.

But in face of a common enemy the various mites should cease this squabbling. Mites Unite!

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: GUEST,Allen in OZ
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 08:53 PM

Re Mites Unite

Who remembers the phrase:

" Ma mite
" Pa Will"


AD ( a Happy little Vegemite at least until they sold the company to Kraft of US)

Subject: RE: BS: Oh, no!! US bans Vegemite
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 22 Oct 06 - 11:06 PM

Unilever are big baastards. They mght well ahve the clout and the lawyers to rip the knickers off the FDA.