020812 Consumer Group Slams Imitation Meat Product

Washington (Reuters Health) - A consumer group is calling on the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to have the makers of Quorn, an imitation chicken- and meat-substitute, recall the product because some people may get sick from eating it.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a nonprofit consumer group, said more than 90 American and European consumers contacted the group to report their adverse reactions to eating Quorn products. Two-thirds reported vomiting, sometimes with diarrhea. Others reported suffering from stomach pains or nausea while others said they passed out after eating Quorn.

"To knowingly let people get sick is a perfectly sick policy," said Michael F. Jacobson, CSPI executive Director. "It wasn't appropriate for Olestra, and it isn't appropriate for Quorn."

Quorn products, which are made from a fungus, include imitation chicken nuggets, patties, and cutlets and imitation ground beef.

After eating a Quorn chicken patty, Victor Stanwick, 42, of Staten Island said he experienced severe nausea and vomiting three hours later.

"My ribs were hurting like I was boxing and I missed two days of work. It was miserable," said Stanwick, who is a diabetic but has not suffered any other illnesses and hadn't vomited in more than a decade. "The government has to do something about this. Warning: you will get sick after eating this."

Last January, the FDA allowed the manufacturer to sell the ingredient as a Generally Regarded As Safe (GRAS) substance, and the agency is reviewing whether to approve it as a food additive. Quorn has been commercially available in Britain and in other European countries since 1994.

According to its producers, Marlow Foods, a division of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, Quorn is described as a healthy alternative to meat that is derived from an edible fungi, such as mushrooms and truffles, which the company states is a "mycoprotein."

The CSPI claims that the producers of Quorn have falsely labeled the products, identifying mycoprotein as "mushroom in origin" and as an "unassuming member of the mushroom family."

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