7/27/2019 Ten Foods That Have Been Banned

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Ten foods that have been banned

By Tamara Hinson | Yahoo LifestyleFri, Jun 15, 2012 11:20 BST

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On 1 July foie gras will be banned in California. Its a ban that has sparked a veritable feeding

frenzy, with the price of foie gras doubling as Californians scramble for one last taste of the

controversial delicacy.

However, its not the only food to have fallen foul of the law.

Shark fin

Chef serving up shark fin soup, Bangkok. RexSharks may not be the cutest of creatures but this is one ban that certainly makes sense.

Although actual consumption of the fins isn't illegal, California recently passed a law banning

the possession, sale or trade of shark fins and the EU, the U.S, Canada, Brazil and South Africa

all have shark finning laws too.

"Shark finning is an extremely cruel practice," says Professor Duncan, an animal welfare expert

based at the department of Animal and Poultry Science at Ontario's University of Guelph.

"When caught, their fins are cut off, and theyre thrown back into the sea alive. It's all the more

reprehensible because shark fins don't have any special propertiestheyre just pieces ofcartilage."

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Tomato ketchup

When HJ Heinz created his first batch of ketchup in 1876 by boiling up tomatoes and adding

vinegar and sugar, we're pretty sure he'd never have imagined that the resulting product would

end up being banned in France.

Admittedly, the ban only applies to schools, and children will still be allowed their ketchup fix

once a week, but only with French fries.

The ban was introduced to help preserve traditional French cuisine. "We have to ensure that

children become familiar with French recipes so that they can hand them down to the following

generations," declared Christophe Hebert, chairman of the National Association of Directors of

Collective Restaurants.

Japanese puffer fish Fugu a type of

puffer fish at a Japanese restaurant. Rex

"The Japanese puffer fish is one of the most famous dishes in Japanese cuisine," says Professor

Charles Brennan, a professor in food chemistry and nutrition at New Zealand's Lincoln

University.

"Its notoriety comes from the poison tetrodotocin which is found in its liver, ovaries and skin."

Both the sale and consumption of Japanese puffer fish, or Fugu, is banned in the EU, and the

catching and selling of puffer fish was banned in Vietnam between 2002 and 2010 after a spateof fatal poisonings.

Elsewhere, only licensed restaurants can serve the dish, and chefs must undertake a two or three

year apprenticeship. It's not an easy skill to master either - the apprenticeships only have a 35 per

cent success rate.

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Horse meat

The consumption of horse meat was first banned in 732 when a then Europe-wide papal ban was

introduced, while Iceland also introduced a separate ban in the year 1000.

In more recent years, the slaughter of horses for meat was banned in the US for five years butObama lifted this ban in November 2011.

To this day the Italians and French have a particular fondness for horse meat. In order to meetthe high demand in Italy, around 20,000 horses are imported from Eastern Europe every year,

while France's love affair with horse meat goes back at least 100 years - records show that in

1911, 62,000 horses were slaughtered for their meat.

Raw milk

Yes, you read that correctly. Milk, the stuff that we pour over our cereal and add to our morningcaffeine fix is banned in several places, including 22 American states and the whole of Canada.

However, the ban only applies to the unpasteurised variety, and was introduced to protect

consumers from bacteria found in raw milk.

Critics argue that raw milk contains beneficial enzymes which are destroyed by the

pasteurisation process, while also pointing out that higher standards relating to farm sanitation

mean that it's high time this law was revoked.

"Pasteurisation does effectively control the majority of pathogens if used properly," saysProfessor Brennan. "However it also affects the beneficial microbes within milk. Indeed, recentresearch suggests some health benefits in drinking raw milk over pasteurised milk.

[Related feature:Food of the future]

Pecorino cheese in an Italian market

RexMaggot cheese

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You might want to skip this next item if youre eating. Casu Marzu, meaning rotting cheese in

Sardinian, is a white runny cheese made by injecting Pecorino Sardo cheese with cheese-eating

larvae which then hatch into wormshalf-inch-long worms at that.

Tradition dictates that the cheese should be eaten with the worms still inside. However the

current EU ban on the cheese was introduced because this particular larvae, Piophila Casei, isresistant to stomach acid and can cause gastric lesions. Nevertheless, cheese aficionados haveevaded the ban by registering the cheese as a traditional food, which means it's exempt from EU

rulings.

Ortolan

In France it's illegal to hunt or sell this tiny French songbird: restaurant owners face a hefty fine

if caught serving them, although they are still often sold illegally to restaurants for around 150 apiece.

Those who eat the birds traditionally place a napkin over their head, partly because the processof eating ortolan is somewhat messy (the birds are consumed whole - beak, bones and all) and

partly because tradition dictates that those who consume Ortolan must hide their greed from

God.

Stevia plants RexStevia

Whoever came up with the expression "eat your greens" had obviously never heard of Stevia.

Stevia is a herb related to the sunflower family and is grown for its leaves, which can be used as

a sweetener.

However, in 1985 a study linked the herb to fertility (and other health) problems, resulting inStevia being banned.

However, the ban is controversial, with many people suspecting the real reason behind it was to

stop the herb becoming a viable low-cost alternative to aspartame.

Whatever the reason, in America Stevia was banned by the Food and Drug administration but in

1994, the ban was changed to allow it to be used as a dietary supplement but not a food additive.

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In 2005, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India introduced a Stevia ban, while in the

UK Stevia was banned until November 2011 when the European Commission ruled that it couldbe used as a sweetener.

Blackened redfish

In the early 1980s, New Orleans chef Paul Prudhomme came up with a recipe for blackened

redfish which proved so popular that the US Commerce Department was forced to step in and

protect redfish stock by closing down fisheries and introducing an emergency temporary banmaking it illegal to keep or catch redfish.

Today there are still strict regulations in place regarding the size of redfish that can be caught

but Prudhommes recipe remains one of Louisianas most popular dishes.

Haggis

Haggis is banned in the US due to a law against the use of sheeps lungs in food products. The

ban has been a source of contention between the Scottish Rural Affairs Department and the US

Department of Agriculture for over 22 years.

Despite rumours in January 2010 that the ban was about to be lifted, haggis remains illegal in the

USA, although Americans can satisfy their cravings with whats known as American haggis,

which lacks the one authentic ingredientsheeps lungs. But on the plus side, it probably comeswith a double helping of fries.