Bread and animal enzymes

sweet-rasmus

Recently we heard about the use of animal enzymes in bread http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article.html?Most_bread_not_fit_for_vegetarians&in_article_id=636820&in_page_id=34
Part of the article:

Most bread 'not fit for vegetarians

Most bread sold in shops is not fit for vegetarians because it is baked using animal products, food campaigners say.
At least 90 per cent of loaves are made with additives which could include enzymes from the pancreas of pigs.
These are used to speed up the baking process.
But because they are destroyed during cooking, bakers are not required to list them as ingredients, according to the Real Bread Campaign group.

and it came up in our "Warning - may contain meat' thread, post no. 72 onwards http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055390632&highlight=bread&page=2


Anyhow, just bought some Hovis wholemeal medium bread yesterday and saw "suitable for vegetarians and vegans" on the packet. Irish Guitarist has already pointed us in the direction of this manufacturer in the above post. I had a look at their website earlier and was pleasantly surprised:

http://www.hovisbakery.co.uk/hovis-range/

Our Range

When you've been baking bread for over 120 years you learn a thing or two about how to make a great tasting loaf. We've always stuck to our principles, from selecting the finest quality ingredients and milling our own grain, to baking bread with no artificial flavours or preservatives. We do not use any animal enzymes in our products. The enzymes we use are synthetic or vegetable based. Where we state vegetarian we are vegetarian.

Click here for more information on enzymes.

And if you click to read about the enzymes...

A Note on Enzymes

Further to recent reports that bread brands may contain animal-based enzymes, we want to reassure you that Hovis does not use any animal-based enzymes in any of its loaves or rolls. Products marked ‘suitable for vegetarians’ are just that - suitable for vegetarians.

At Hovis, we pride ourselves on our 123 year history of providing natural, tasty and healthy bread, baked by real bakers.
We've always stuck to our principles, from selecting the finest quality ingredients and milling our own grain, to baking bread with no artificial flavours or preservatives. We never compromise on our recipes and we’re constantly working to ensure our bread is the tastiest and healthiest it can be."

I'm going to be buying Hovis bread from now on, whenever I can.

Washout

thats a shocker...its like the whole cheese thing in the 80s

I think ill invest in a bread maker

sweet-rasmus

Read about this in the Vegan Society's magazine.

The Real Bread Campaign is trying to get more supermarket bread to be made with just flour, water, yeast, salt and nothing else. If they are successful this is great news for vegans who can often find that whey and other animal products have been added to bread

www.realbreadcampaign.org
http://www.sustainweb.org/realbread/processing_aids/

Absurdum

From Brennan's Bread website

Most of our products are suitable for vegetarians. Those that are not suitable are clearly labelled on the packaging.

Has anyone noticed what the non-veggie bread says? Is it obvious? I would much prefer to buy Irish-made bread rather than imported stuff.

sweet-rasmus

Oh yes, I'd emailed Brennan's previously and they said that all bread bar their soda bread (anything with butter milk) was vegan I don't know how obvious their non-veggie bread is...

Thank you for your enquiry.

We do not use any animal derived enzymes in our sliced bread products.

Our Soda bread range, which includes the ‘Farmhouse’, ‘Buttermilk’ and ‘Wholewheat’ soda contain buttermilk so would not be suitable for Vegans.

Also all our emulsifiers used in our products are based on vegetable fats.

Ciaran500

Does it really matter?

These enzymes were taken from a pigs pancreas years ago, modified in a lab and fermented in tanks over and over. They're not killing pigs to get the enzymes out so I'd hardly call them an animal based product at this stage, same way I wouldn't call it plant based if it originally came from some plant.

sweet-rasmus

Yes it matters to me. The enzymes originated from that animal and I would rather not eat them.

Harrybelafonte

Brennans checked and it does say suitable for vegetarians on it. I think Irish Pride has it too, but Pat the Baker doesn't, but better check yourselves in case I got them mixed up