A vegan blue cheese won the prestigious Good Food Award, until the dairy industry forced the foundation to disqualify it with a rule-change.
  • @[email protected]
    50•2 months ago

    It was disqualified for having an ingredient that was not GRAS(generally regarded as safe). Even GRAS is a pretty low bar for food safety.

      • @Tja
        2•2 months ago

        I mean, asbestos is dangerous if broken down and inhaled, so as long as you just eat it and you don’t choke on it…

        • @derpgon
          3•2 months ago

          Ground chests are also probably not okay to inhale, but here we are eating them whole. Why not dip some of that 'bestos in guac? Should solve all issues tbh.

    • @[email protected]OP
      3•2 months ago

      Here are more details (and more context is in the article):

      "Someone had tipped off the foundation on something that disqualified Climax, Good Food Foundation Executive Director Sarah Weiner told the Washington Post. The complaint potentially arose from Climax’s use of the ingredient kokum butter, which has not been designated as GRAS (generally regarded as safe) by the Food and Drug Administration. However, Zahn told the Washington Post that the company has replaced the ingredient with cocoa butter, which was the version he said he submitted for the awards (although Weiner contests this).

      The Good Food Awards also didn’t require GRAS certification for all ingredients back when contestants submitted their products — rather, the foundation added this to the rules later on. Zahn claims the Good Food Foundation never reached out to Climax to inform the company of the new requirement, although Weiner told the Washington Post it attempted to. SFGATE could not reach the Good Food Foundation for comment in time for publication.

      “It would have been very easy for them to reach out to us and tell us about the new requirements,” Zahn told SFGATE. “… The thing that’s upsetting to me is that they were kind of unprofessional by changing the rules a week before the event.”"

      https://www.sfgate.com/food/article/berkeley-vegan-cheese-good-food-awards-19431532.php

    • @[email protected]
      -2•2 months ago

      Not true. It’s considered safe by WebMD, and it’s been studied as a food for a long time. It is chemically similar to cocoa butter.

      So it’s been approved by more reputable organizations than the FDA.