I have to confess, I’m not a beer drinker, but there’s someone in my household that loves it, so I had to figure out the truth. Is beer really healthy? Why are the ingredients not listed on the label? Which brands can we trust? Which brands are trying to slowly poison us with cheap and harmful ingredients? All of these questions were going through my head at once at lightning speed. So a year ago, I started to research what was really in beer and after questioning several beer companies, reading books about food science, and talking to experts, the information I discovered was downright shocking.
I see it all the time. Someone who eats organic, makes the right choices at the grocery store, is fit and lives an extraordinarily healthy lifestyle but then drinks beer like it is going out of style.
Caring about what you eat doesn’t necessarily translate into caring about what you drink and this is a HUGE MISTAKE.
Before we get into what exactly is in beer that you should be worried about, let’s talk about how body reacts to alcohol in general.
Alcohol is metabolized by the body differently than all other calories you consume. Alcohol is one of the only substances that you consume that can permeate your digestive system and go straight into your bloodstream. It bypasses normal digestion and is absorbed into the body intact, where it goes straight into the liver.
Your liver is your main fat-burning organ. If you are trying to lose weight or even maintain your ideal weight, drinking alcohol is one of your worst enemies. The liver is going to metabolize alcohol first vs. the fat you want to get rid of – making weight loss even harder. Additionally, one of the primary functions of the liver is to remove environmental toxins from your body – if it is overtaxed with alcohol, the normal removal of these toxins becomes extremely diminished and can result in rapid aging, loss of libido, and other diseases.
The one thing that has gotten me before and I’m sure many of you – is the health marketing claims on alcohol products making drinking them seem like a good idea and an added “benefit” to your health. The low alcohol content of beer makes it appear as an innocuous beverage and something people throw back without even thinking about it. Who hasn’t seen those studies that say a beer a day is great for you (I want to ask who ever stops at just one beer?)?
So, inherently, alcohol by itself is not a healthy person’s best friend – but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Beer, especially American beer, is made with all sorts of ingredients beyond the basic hops, malt and yeast. There are numerous other ingredients used to clarify, stabilize, preserve, enhance the color and flavor of beer.
When you drink beer, there is almost a 100% chance that you don’t know what you are drinking (unless you quizzed the beer companies like I did). The ingredients in beer are not required by law to be listed anywhere on the label and manufacturers have no legal obligation to disclose the ingredients. For regular beer, calorie levels and percent alcohol are optional and for light beer calories are mandatory but alcohol levels are optional.
Michele Simon, a public health lawyer, author of Appetite for Profit, and president of Eat Drink Politics told me the reason that beer companies don’t disclose ingredients is simple: they don’t have to.
“Ingredient labeling on food products and non-alcoholic beverages is required by the Food and Drug Administration. But a whole other federal agency regulates beer, and not very well. The Department of Treasury – the same folks who collect your taxes – oversees alcoholic beverages. That probably explains why we know more about what’s in a can of Coke than a can of Bud. You can also thank the alcohol industry, which has lobbied for years against efforts to require ingredient labeling.”
I figured if the beer companies aren’t required to tell us the exact list of ingredients, I needed to investigate this for myself and asked them the pointed questions until I got the truth.
First of all, I was able to obtain a baseline list of “legal” additives allowed in beer from the book “Chemicals Additives in Beer” by the Center of Science and Public Interest. This list allowed me to ask specific questions about each beer I investigated. For example – beer sold here in America can contain several of the following ingredients:
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Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) – alcohol is already addictive with some people, but with MSG?! Holy smokes.
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Propylene Glycol (an ingredient found in anti-freeze)
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Calcium Disodium EDTA (made from formaldehyde, sodium cayanide, and Ethylenediamine)
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Many different types of sulfites and anti-microbial preservatives (linked to allergies and asthma)
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Natural Flavors (can come from anything natural including a beavers anal gland)
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High Fructose Corn Syrup
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GMO Sugars – Dextrose, Corn Syrup
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Caramel Coloring (Class III or IV made from ammonia and classified as a carcinogen)
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FD&C Blue 1 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)
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FD&C Red 40 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)
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FD&C Yellow 5 (Made from petroleum, linked to allergies, asthma and hyperactivity)
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Insect-Based Dyes: carmine derived from cochineal insects to color their beer.
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Animal Based Clarifiers: Findings include isinglass (dried fish bladder), gelatin (from skin, connective tissue, and bones), and casein (found in milk)
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Foam Control: Used for head retention; (glyceryl monostearate and pepsin are both potentially derived from animals)
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BPA (Bisphenol A is a component in many can liners and it may leach into the beer. BPA can mimic the female hormone estrogen and may affect sperm count, and other organ functions.)
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Carrageenan (linked to inflammation in digestive system, IBS and considered a carcinogen in some circumstances)
During my investigation, I couldn’t get a single mainstream beer company to share the full list of ingredients contained in their beer. But I did get some of them to fess up to the use of these ingredients in writing so I’m going to share this information with you now.
Carcinogenic Caramel Coloring
Newcastle, a UK brand, confessed to using what I would consider one of the most controversial food additives. Toasted barley is usually what gives beer its golden or deep brown color, however in this case, Newcastle beer is also colored artificially with caramel color. This caramel coloring is manufactured by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure, which creating carcinogenic compounds. If beer companies were required by law to list the ingredients, Newcastle would likely have to have a cancer warning label under California law because it is a carcinogen proven to cause liver tumors, lung tumors, and thyroid tumors in rats and mice.
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Many of the beers I questioned contained one or more possible GMO ingredients.
- High Fructose Corn Syrup (Guinness – unable to provide an affidavit for non-GMO proof)
- Corn syrup (Miller Light, Coors, Corona, Fosters, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Red Stripe)
- Dextrose (Budweiser, Bud Light, Busch Light, Michelob Ultra)
- Corn (Red Stripe, Miller Coors Brand, Anheuser-Busch Brands)
Most beers brewed commercially are made with more GMO corn than barley. Many of the companies I contacted dodged the GMO question – however Miller Coors had a very forthcoming and honest response. They stated “Corn syrup gives beer a milder and lighter-bodied flavor” and “Corn syrups may be derived from a mixture of corn (conventional and biotech.)”, admitting their use of GMOs.
Pabst Blue Ribbon responded saying their corn syrup was “special” and “made of carbohydrates and some simple sugars like dextrose and maltose. The sugars are fermented into alcohol and CO2, and the carbohydrates, both from the corn syrup and the malt, remain in the beers as flavor, color and body components.”
Dextrose and maltose can come from a variety of substances that are sweet, but likely are derived from GMO corn because it is super cheap for a company to use corn instead of fruit or other non-GMO sources. With cheap beer – you are not just getting a cheap buzz, you are getting the worst of the worst. Just like with cheap fast food – if you don’t invest in your beer – you will be drinking a lower quality product like Pabst Blue Ribbon that is made from GMO Corn and Corn Syrup.
In 2007, Greenpeace found unapproved and experimental GMO Rice strain in Anheuser-Busch (Budweiser, Bud Light) beer. Anheuser-Busch responded saying their US-grown long-grained rice “may have micro levels” of a genetically engineered protein called Liberty Link, but added that the protein is “substantially removed or destroyed” during the brewing of beer sold domestically. Don’t you think it’s hard to trust any beer company that gets caught using experimental food made in a laboratory? GMOs have not been tested long term on human beings and one of the main pesticides (Roundup) they spray on GMO crops are linked to inflammation, cancer and other diseases.
High Fructose Corn Syrup & Fish Bladders
Speaking of trusting companies, let’s get one thing straight, Guinness beer is no longer owned by the Irish, they are now owned by a large beer conglomerate called Diageo and manufactured in over 50 different countries. No matter how many St. Patty’s Day celebrations you’ve had with this dark stout, it’s time to stop because they use high fructose corn syrup in their beer (4/2/14 Update: Guinness Beer claims they do not use high fructose corn syrup any longer, but refuses to disclose ingredient affidavits or full of list of ingredients.) But, Guinness beer also contains isinglass, a gelatin-like substance produced from the swim bladder of a fish. This ingredient helps remove any “haziness,” solids, or yeast byproducts from the beer. Mmmmm… fish bladder sounds delicious, doesn’t? The sneaky thing this beer company does like many of the companies mentioned here today is create an illusion of using the best ingredients when in actuality what they tell you publicly on their websites is a complete farce. On Guinness FAQ’s – they have a question that states: “What are the key ingredients in Guinness” and the answer doesn’t reveal the whole picture – it only states “Our key ingredients – other than inspiration – are roasted, malted barley, hops, yeast and water.” What BS, right? You have to call, email, question and know the right things to ask to even have a chance at getting the truth. This is insanity.
So What Beers Are Additive and GMO Free?
If you enjoy the occasional beer and wish to maintain your healthy lifestyle, choosing one without GMOs and additives is ideal. Unfortunately, most of the mainstream beers available have additives, but luckily, there are a few that don’t. For example, Sierra Nevada, Heineken, and Amstel Light (7/31/13 UPDATE: It has come to my attention that Heinken USA has changed their formula to use GMOs – I called their customer service line 1-914-681-4100 to confirm and asked for the list of ingredients – the man told me “water, yeast, malted barley and hops” – then I asked if their beer contained any genetically engineered material and he confirmed “YES,” but wouldn’t tell me what ingredients are genetically engineered. They recently changed their formula after my initial research that started in late 2012.) (8/1/13 Update: Heineken reached out to me personally to say their customer service department made an error in telling me and others who called their beer has GMOs. I met with a head brew master and have viewed affidavits from the company and confirmed Heinken and Amstel Light do not contain GMOs – they apologize for the confusion.) appear to be pretty clean (but these companies still wouldn’t disclose the full list of ingredients to me. They did say they use non-GMO grains, no artificial ingredients, stabilizers or preservatives).
German Beers are also a good bet. The Germans are very serious about the purity of their beers and enacted a purity law called “Reinheitsgebot” that requires all German beers to be only produced with a core ingredient list of water, hops, yeast, malted barley or wheat. Advocates of German beers insist that they taste cleaner and some even claim they don’t suffer from hangovers as a result.
An obvious choice to consider is also Certified Organic Beers. They are required by law to not include GMOs and other harmful additives. Organic beers also support environmental friendly practices and reduce the amount of pesticides and toxins in our air, support organic farmers – which is a huge plus. (To this day, the beer drinkers in my family haven’t found one they love so if you have suggestions, please let us know in the comments!)
Craft & Microbrews Beers – For certain local craft and micro beers, you can ask those companies for a list of ingredients and many of them will be up front with you. However, companies like Miller Coors are slowly closing in on craft beers and buying them up one by one… like they did when they created the unique popular variety called Blue Moon (the beer you drink with an orange) and Anhesuer-Busch did this with Rolling Rock and Goose Island Brewery. Make sure your favorite craft and microbrew is still independently owned and controlled before taking a sip.
In the end – if you decide to drink beer, you are definitely drinking at your own risk for more reasons than just the crazy ingredients that could be in them. The key point to remember is – if you like to drink beer and want to be healthy, drink it infrequently and quiz the beer companies for the truth. Find a beer that you can trust and stick with it.
For your reference, here are some important questions to ask your favorite beer company:
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What are the ingredients in your beer – all of them from start to finish?
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Are any of your ingredients GMO?
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Do you use any soy, corn, or rice processing ingredients? (Examples include: dextrose, corn syrup, etc.)
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Do you add any natural, artificial flavors or colors to the beer? (Examples include: yellow #5, caramel coloring, red #40, MSG, natural flavors)
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Are there any additional preservatives, stabilizers and/or clarifying agents added to your beer during processing? (Examples include: propylene glycol, Calcium Disodium EDTA, anything ending in “sulfite” like sodium metabisulfite, Heptylparaben, isinglass)
If you know someone who drinks beer – share this post with them.
These ingredients are no joke. We must inform and protect each other from these industrial chemicals, untested and potentially harmful ingredients and it starts by sharing your knowledge with the ones you love.
Bottoms up!
Food Babe
I notice this has generated a lot of other ‘suggestions for corrections’, but, from me just a couple of simple points.
‘I want to ask who ever stops at just one beer?’ – I do.
Please don’t generalise based on what I assume is what you do.
Newcastle beer – ‘This caramel coloring is manufactured by heating ammonia and sulfites under high pressure, which creating carcinogenic compounds’.
This is so basic. According to anyone who’s ever made this in their own kitchen and the OED, caramel is ‘sugar or syrup heated until it turns brown, used as a flavouring or colouring for food or drink’.
I don’t know if it’s you or the brewers who describe it thus, but what you’re describing is not caramel; please don’t frighten those who don’t know the difference.
There are a lot of useful things in here, if presented with a noticeably sensationalist and selective approach, so please don’t spoil the value of the whole by a little inattention to the detail.
CA
“Caramel coloring” has nothing to do with “caramel” made at home from heating sugar. “Caramel coloring” or “caramel color” as is, its an additive used in processed drinks and foods for, well, coloring purposes. You have to be pretty clueless to not know the difference or think they are somehow related. Inform yourself. http://www.cspinet.org/new/201102161.html
I apologise for not knowing that when you said ‘caramel color’ you meant it in the sense of a legal definition and not as a description, though to say that I would ‘have to be pretty clueless to not know the difference or think they are somehow related. Inform yourself.’ is insulting, or perhaps you expect the general reader to be aware you were not describing but defining when you wrote it. Regardless, we both agree that whatever it is called it is unlikely to be doing anyone any good, and, speaking personally of course, whoever allowed such an innocuous name to be applied to this product of an industrial lab could be said to be disingenuous at best.
I am not the person who wrote the article. Yes, it is unfortunate and terribly misleading that a somewhat innocent name is used for something not innocent at all. The best we can do is keep informed and spread the knowledge.
Would love to talk to you about draft beer hygiene and cleaning…. I believe it would make a great article….thanks
loved the article up to the point that you said: “However, companies like Miller Coors are slowly closing in on craft beers and buying them up one by one… like they did with the unique popular variety called Blue Moon ”
…technically not true. Bluemoon was an invention of Coors, they didn’t snatch them up, they were owned by the big guys from the start (wikipedia even says so). That being said, most people aren’t aware that the big guys do this in addition to snatching companies up like Goose Island.
You shouldn’t use Wikipedia as a scholarly source.
You and wikipedia are incorrect. I bought a six pack of Blue Moon, years ago, when it was still a microbrew, and it was delicious. Next time I drank it, I ordered it at a booth at an outdoor event, and it didn’t even taste like the same beer. Turns out it wasn’t: that was after the Coors company had bought out the original Blue Moon. To this day I won’t drink the Coors version of Blue Moon because it’s just too disappointing.
Denise, check your sources. Blue Moon is a creation of Coors.
This thread got me curious and it seems like you’re both kind of right. Blue Moon was always an invention of Coors, but it wasn’t always brewed by Coors. It seems, at the beginning, brewing of the beer was brewed under contract, presumably in smaller batches, until demand grew larger and Coors started brewing it:
“In 1994, Coors assigned [Mark] Villa and Jim Sabia, who worked in marketing, to launch a brand on a shoestring. They started without a name or a marketing budget and, among other things, had to find breweries to make Blue Moon under contract from 1995 through 1999, before the brand grew large enough to brew in a Coors facility.”
– http://draftmag.com/features/being-keith-villa/
Interesting. Thanks Mike
Denise,
I don’t know how long ago “years ago” is, but you could get blue moon on tap at the Coors Brewery in Golden, CO back in 2006.
A lot of things (besides the ingredients) affect the beer’s taste. Maybe the bad beer you had was skunked (if it was bottled) or if it was on tap they had dirty lines or the carbonation levels were off. You’d be surprised how significant the changes in flavor can be if the beer is mishandled after packaging. (That’s not to say Coors isn’t guilty of finding inferior ingredients and tweeking the recipes for their beers when the opportunity arises.)
“Years ago” is 1993, the year before I got married. The Coors owned Sandlot brewery must’ve gotten the idea from a smaller, local brewery.
Blue Moon has always been a product of Coors….
Cause Wikipedia even says so lol
Sandlot Brewery has always been a Coors subsidiary. Wikipedia actually has that one correct. You can go into Coors field’s brewer where blue moon was invented and ask them. You may be too busy being unreasonably terrified of gm products to bother though.
Agree with Bob. The beers represented in the article are like the McDonald’s of beer. I would think that those people that care about the ingredients of their food also care about the ingredients of their beer. A craft beer brewer is upfront and honest about the ingredients they use. It’s what makes them craft. If a craft brewer where to be dishonest about their beer they brew they wouldn’t be around long. Craft beer drinkers know their beer.
This is absurd. Are there really some people out there who think that beer isn’t just inherently a mild poison? CRAZY! I guess I just find it odd that people don’t assume that inexpensive beer is filled with all sorts of garbage. It’s like being surprised that your cigarettes are not organic. They’re not meant to be healthful, they are meant to get you sloppy drunk inexpensively. Also, it’s common knowledge that there are organic and “natural” beers. This information is simply by no means shocking…it’s not even mildly surprising.
Even the best of organic beers is still poison. You people are all delusional!
Life is slow poison!
Um, before there was widespread clean water, beer was consumed as a common beverage because it was safer to drink than water. Moderation and vigilance are what are called for, not name calling. Cheers!
Amber, you seem like you’d be a lot fun to hangout with! I’ll bring the carob chip gluten-free ‘cookies’ and you bring the tofu!
LOL….Carob! YUCK! I didn’t say don’t drink beer, I just said don’t complain that it’s unhealthy.
Better than bacteria ridden water is a far cry from healthy. Beer has never been, is not now, nor will it ever be a health drink.
Drinking too much water too quickly can be fatal. In that case, water is not a “health drink” either. Like I said before, moderation.
A real beer is a very healthy drink!
Yes, people who think beer is “healthy” as so mentioned in the article. Just because it was less lethal than drinking bacteria ridden or sea water doesn’t mean it has ever been a health drink.
do you consider wine in moderation to be healthy?
I plan to do a full investigation on wine soon.
That is why I drink organic beer with shots of vodka.
Organic Vodka you mean 🙂
Can’t wait to see what you uncover! (although I do love wine so it’s going to be tough)
Thank you for all your hard work!
I look forward to it. I don’t drink much beer anymore. I’m more of a wine-o.
Really? But you’ll go ahead and drink it in the mean time? Isinglass, and sulphites at the bare minimum otherwise you won’t have that beautiful white in your pic. If it’s sweet, once it’s sulphited to kill and residual yeast, it may be back sweetened to add to the consistence from batch to batch. This is quite the half cocked article!
Hi, you – and others – might find this website useful.
http://www.barnivore.com/
Warning that it is addressed to the vegan crowd (not organic crowd) and contains a stunning list of the drinks – beer, wine, liquor – that they have tested and concluded if they are vegan friendly or not.
Good luck!
Actually a good craft brew is packed with healthy vitamins and minerals….especially B vitamins. Even the residue (Brewers yeast) is considered a health food. Of course OVER indulging is not healthy when consuming any alcoholic drink.
Poison? Little melodramatic are we? Especially coming from someone who has the name of a BJCP recognized beer style!
*mind blown*
Oxygen (you know ~21% of the atmosphere) is oxidizing (rusting) your body from the inside out (and no, anti-oxidents won’t stop this process, although they may help with some of the acute issues associated with it, but the jury is still out). Thats why you age, and your organs give out and you die. Don’t breath oxygen, its a mild poison. CRAZY!
Very good points. The thing is…if I smoke a cigarette, I already know I am risking cancer/asthma/COPD etc. But if the cigarette is also laced with with other poisons, then I would like to know. It is absurd in a way…but we do make risk taking choices based on some type of reasoning. If you tell me my cigarette is laced with things that increase my chance of developing cancer 10,000% then I am at least going to go try to find some pure tobacco if and when I choose to partake. I think the main point is that we just deserve to know when that is happening without it being secret. It is evil not to give full disclosure of these types of things. The thing that is unfortunate is that tens of thousands of people put their trust in these large scale companies. Tens of thousands of people are asleep at the wheel for one reason or another. There are good reasons that people are asleep at the wheel…limited time, limited education, limited energy, limited interest. These tens of thousands don’t deserve to suffer and die prematurely just because they do not have the benefit of time or knowledge. Drinking alcohol is a calculated risk. But believing you are drinking alcohol when in fact you are also drinking 10 other poisons that exponentially increase your risk of dying prematurely is quite another thing. So when companies have preyed on these tens of thousands of peoples trust, and then poison them in 10 ways that they are not disclosing, this is the crime against humanity. And it isn’t just beer companies. Its lots and lots of companies. Its lots and lots of industries. The point is just getting people to a point in their awareness where they can actually start to mentally fend for themselves. This type of investigation helps that along. This is the only way to slowly raise awareness to the point that dollars, the only thing that has a voice. So great, there are things in the article to be debated. There are things to be criticized and picked apart. Who cares. Start adding to the discussion, start giving some useful information of your own that we can share with other people. Try to reflect on what it is that some of you are so pissed off about and why beer needs your friggin defending. Buy organic or stick with products with unknown pollutants that are not disclosed. The choice is yours. Its your life. But why spew negativity against an article which is clearly written to report some shocking findings about some MASSIVELY consumed products. I am not a completely stupid person and yet even with all the changes I have made to organic, was still stupid enough to believe that certain popular beers mentioned in this article were decent enough. Now I am more informed about those products. Great. Who knows how much longer I would have been “organic” in most of the rest of my life, but asleep at the wheel about beer. Now I’m not. Great. Personally, I wish everyone would “shut it,” go buy some organic beer, and chill the F out. Or some organic fresh pressed juice. Or some organic chocolate. Or whatever the freak does it for you. The point is, we deserve not to be SECRETLY poisoned by branding that has gained our collective trust over many many decades.
Thank you for being so brave and awesome, Food Babe!
Oh no! Anything but fish bladders! Wait, you mean isinglass? The stuff that we’ve been using to clarify beer safely for about the last 500 years? Oh ok…
Not to mention, you can’t have it both ways. Either you want natural ingredients, or you are okay with synthetic ones. Fish bladder is not going to harm anyone. A synthetic clarifier might not be so clear-cut.
Another quibble: a company doesn’t RULE OUT the chance of GMO corn in the corn syrup they buy (because the corn syrup companies are not required to declare it) so automatically they DO 100% used GMOs and are the devil. Hyperbole.
If you want to avoid GMO, you have to avoid the foods that are commonly GMO. Is the corn syrup 100% GMO? We don’t know but we don’t want to risk it, do we? Genetically altering something that is supposed to grow from the ground with out any chemical help just doesn’t sound right. That should be enough for us to avoid it. Lab rats aside.
That’s why I get headaches when I drink commercial beers! Make your own beer and wine and then you will know exactly what is in it! I use this information all the time in my shop Wine Art/Wine kitz as a reason to make your own wine and beer! Great article!
Yes, but even when you make your own beer (as we do at our house) you still buy dextrose and other ingredients. Many of them made from Corn. And you don’t know the source of all that corn. Home brew is better, but it isn’t a health food issue, just a flavor and fun issue. Unless you are growing your own grain and corn too.
You forgot to mention that the craft beer now sold in cans (Oskar Blues, 21st Amendment, Big Sky, and Maui Brewing to name a few) are lined with BPA. http://tablematters.com/2013/02/07/canned-answers/
I love Maui Brew Co
Could you do an article on wine and it’s ingredients. And could you site your sources at the end of the article to possibly do away with the long string of criticisms above? Wikipedia isn’t a source, FYI everyone.
Cru D’or seemed tasty but I cant seem to find it anymore ; make your own or buy german , Paulaner Hefe-weiss is one of my favorites for summer
Green Lakes Organic Ale from Deschutes Brewery (Oregon) is fabulous!! Anyone looking for a good gluten free beer should try Omission IPA from Widmer (Oregon)
Eel River Brewery also makes a great organic beer. Rouge in Oregon also has a line of organic beers which they grow all the barley and hops themselves. Delicious.
Samuel Smith has some organic beers that are really good!
Try Peak Organic Beer. It’s a winner!!
Just like the food industry, you can’t lump everything in one category. You have to do your research with whatever you are consuming and know where it is sourced from. It’s really not hard. I only drink craft beers and support local businesses. With that said, I can’t imagine drinking more than one craft beer a night. With a degree in health science, alcohol in moderation can help reduce heart disease and stroke. This is sourced from The Mayo Clinic. Factory farming, bad….locally produced and sustainable agg is good. Same with producers of alcohol. Its not that black or white. There is nothing like a cold beer at the end of a hard work day to enjoy with that delicious dinner you prepared. But yes, thanks for the info on corporate marketed beer and its creepy ingredients. We should all know by now that no good (health or environment wise) can come from mass produced things.
I enjoy my weekends out and having some beers, I’m glad I switched to German -Becks. I can’t drink domestic anymore like Bud lite, it gives me a terrible headache. And its true about German beer it doesn’t give you a hangover, but my husband does drink Bud, I kind of already knew there were chemicals in it. I’ll have to show him this and hope he’ll switch to something more healthier. Thanks again! Food Babe for keeping us informed!
Becks is mass produced in the deep south. Your about as informed as the person giving you this article. Appropriate. All beer will give you a headache if you drink too much. Any difference between what you experience with Budweiser and what you experience with Becks is the placebo effect. Hypochondriacs tend to be the most vulnerable to the placebo effect fwiw.
The brewer who said their “KEY” (key word) ingredients were hops, barley, water and yeast was telling the truth. That’s all the germans allow, but guess what, the german beer laws don’t prohibit the use of GMO grains…so there’s that as well….but beware even german brewers use the evil “Propylene Glycol”. Just like your fridge uses a similar refrigerant.
ie….to COOL things, not as an ingredient.
The beer Beck’s exports does not adhere to the German purity laws.
….you do know that Beck’s is owned by Anheuser Busch, right?
No, didn’t know Becks was owned by Anheuser Bush yuck! @jbaysurfer thanks for your input, I will do more research and find a clean German beer, but the placebo effect is also interesting, I don’t what to a say about that, just that I do see a big difference in waking with a Bud hangover than a Becks hangover if you want to call it that, maybe its just me because I feel pretty good the next day and not like sh#t lol, but that is something else I’ll read up on.
Beck’s is owned by AB InBev, same as bud. Also the hangover thing us BS. No science to support it and hangovers have existed longer than beer additives. Evidence as far back as Shakespeare
The only beer that is tolerable anymore is ShockTop allegedly a Belgin white but what I get in the Midwest is brewed in St. Louis. Uh oh? What do you know of this brand?
Shocktop is Anheiser InBev’s answer to MillerCoors’ Blue Moon.
You took the bait…
Shocktop is also owned by Anhauser-Busch, just some more junk, as an quick search on Google would have told you. Research your local breweries and try their beers, chances are one in your state or a state over brews a wit beer if that’s what you’re looking for. It’s incredibly easy on the internet, just make sure to research their ownership.
“Belgian” anything regarding beer in many cases just simply means in the style of Belgian beer. You can always use Ratebeer or BeerAdvocate to look up a beer and see what people are saying about the quality as well. A search for ShockTop for example garners you a Ratebeer page where it holds a pretty dismal 18 out of 100.
Putting aside for the moment the controversy over GMO grains, how is extracting sugars from malted and mashed GMO grains harmful? What is it in maltose extracted in that way that is harmful?
HFCS, fructose, and dextrose are fermentable. That is, the yeast fully consumes the sugar and converts it into ETOH and CO2. What’s the problem with using HFCS, fructose, and dextrose in that way?
Give me a list of beers that contain MSG. Is it possible that you’re misinterpreting the fact that MSG is derived from autolyzed yeast, and you’re assuming that, since there is yeast in beer, the yeast must be autolyzed and, therefore, there’s MSG in beer?
Does the wine in your hand contain potassium metabisulfate? Unless it’s undrinkably dry, I bet it does.
I had a go at homebrewing a while back and made some fejoa wine. Decided not to add the metasulphate and got a very dry but very drinkable wine. Its all a matter of taste but you are correct. Most wines are stop fermented and metasulphate is the most comon means to this end. I believe that is why we are supposed to let our wines ‘breath’ for about 20 minutes before we drink them.
I am a preventative medicine physician.
There is little debate in the medical community that moderate alcohol consumption decreases mortality. So 2-3 drinks per day makes you likely to live longer and healthier.
Also, there is no evidence that GMO has ever caused even a single adverse health consequence.
http://rt.com/news/monsanto-rats-tumor-france-531/ GMO studies are being done all over the world and the results are terrible. It’s also proven that GMO corn basically has no nutrients. America doesn’t really post articles/studies about things like that because of how much money the country makes off GMO corn and soybeans.
A voice of reason. You could do this with almost anything you eat or drink. And all of the non GMO products and food – well they might be fertilizing them with fish bladders and beavers anal glands. I mean really, this article is ridiculous. Thought provoking I guess, but so many people stop at just the tip of the other person’s thoughts. {sigh}
I do applaud any efforts to shed light on dishonesty in business, and as a homebrewer and craft beer lover, it’s a big plus to knock big bev down a peg.
However, some of the stuff in this article is overblown and smells of scare tactics. Yes, alcohol, when not used in moderation, is bad for you. Honestly, what isn’t? But when enjoyed sparingly, the health benefits of a beer have been widely documented. Just as a glass of red wine every now and then is full of antioxidants that promote heart health, a glass of beer now and then has similar benefits – from heart health to nutrition associated with brewer’s yeast.
“Who drinks just one beer?” you say? I do quite frequently, actually, when I just want one – say, after a long work day. Not everyone enjoys a beer to get hammered. A true beer lover knows beer is to be appreciated and savored, not abused. Doesn’t mean we don’t all abuse it from time to time, but for the most part, I’m a responsible drinker.
As for GMOs, unless you’re going for a Certified Organic beer (of which there are, sadly, not many), there’s always a chance you’ll have something genetically modified in there. Unfortunately, again, if you want to be 100% sure to avoid GMOs, your choices are limited. You could say this about any food out there. Just because the ingredients are on the label doesn’t guarantee you’re avoiding GMOs.
Finally, the “fish bladder” thing got to me. Isinglass (the swim bladders of certain species of fish) is a traditional fining agent that has been used by brewers since the 18th century. It’s a critical ingredient in the ale culture of the British Isles. Heck, I’ve used isinglass before, and I only brew in my kitchen. They look like translucent white pills. They don’t taste like anything. They’re certainly as harmless as hops, barley, water, and yeast.
I agree, support local brews! I love the trend I’m seeing of more and more craft and local beers in the hands of bar patrons around the country. This is the golden age of beer, and America is its epicenter. But there’s a pretty decent chance that even that craft beer you’re drinking has one or two of the aforementioned ingredients in it. It doesn’t hurt to be mindful of what you’re putting in your body, but as long as you’re mindful, drink up! You’ll be OK.
I was coming here to say much the same thing. I home brew, and except for a few days a year, I don’t drink more than 1 beer. I tend to make a beer (and @ 3 gallons, not a full 5) and drink it for a long, long time. I don’t need it to get wasted. I like that the yeasts used are good for us, and that a beer is good for us.
I know the distrust of GMO foods, but ultimately, a lot of those items are converted to alcohol by the yeast. The adverse affects would be on the yeast, not the alcohol they produce.
This article is full of it. Yeah, those beers contain that stuff, sure. But to paint a broad stroke and say “OMG, beer has nasty ingredients in it!” is pure FUD. There are PLENTY (read: more than ever) breweries out there that aren’t owned by multinationals, aren’t using adjuncts, creating simple, wonderful, flavorful beer….some probably right in your backyard. What about your wine? Do you know about the sulfites, additives, and clarifiers they use?
Many craft brewers, those who actually care about beer, not shareholders, freely list ingredients on their websites.
At best, this article is incomplete, ignorant, and under-researched.
At worst, it’s BS.
Agreed. The fact that she said that craft breweries are getting eaten up is pure ignorance. Craft beer has seen gains of up and above 100% market share over the years while Domestic has seen year over year losses. Definitely frustrating to see someone begin to address the issue of big production beer and then almost dismiss the alternatives as a rare breed. Go for a beer in Portland, Seattle or Victoria (BC) on the west coast and you would find yourself faced with more craft beer choices than not at many pubs.
I enjoy my weekends and having a some beers, yay! I’m glad I switched to German beer. I can’t drink Bud lite anymore it gives me a terrible headache and its true about German beer it doesn’t give you a hangover. But my husband drinks Bud, and knowing now there are these chemicals in it, I’m going to show him this and I hope he will find a beer that’s healthier. Thanks again! Food Babe for keeping us informed.
You obviously haven’t had enough of German beer for it to give you a hangover!
You are partly wrong about the Reinheitsgebot. They have since changed it slightly ( Biergesetz- Provisional German Beer Law) in which they can add a sugar of some sort. However, many German beers stick to the Reinheitgebot, but you need to look at the label. If you get a Bier from Bayern (Bavaria), you are pretty much in the clear. You need to look at the bottle. It will say something such as, “Gebraut nach dem Bayerischen Reinheitsgebot…” or something like that. If it doesn’t say that, then it isn’t after the Reinheitsgebot.
And you most certainly can get a hangover from German beers.
It’s imperative that you give people correct information, or else they will be buying Beck’s or some piss like that. If you get a true beer fan, they wouldn’t drink any of the beers you mentioned anyway. How about a piece on some real beers?
Good article and most of the beers that you lay out are not even real beer! By the way, just so you know, the glass of wine you are holding is full of toxic pesticides and herbacides, throw in some other nice things to retain its nice color, yum!
That’s really interesting… Bud and Corona always give me a blinding headache 15 minutes after drinking them. I wonder if its the additives. Beers brewed according to the Bavarian Purity Law (only barley, yeast, hops, and water) never give me a headache (at least not until the next day).
Thank you! I was always a little weirded out when I turned a bottle over and couldn’t find any ingredients. And I had no idea Guinness wasn’t from Ireland anymore! This has been one of my favorite beers but I had no idea it had HFCS 🙁
MSG in beer? Can you cite your source of this info?
It is one of the approved additives allowed in beer. The Center for Science in the Public Interest published a book called “chemical additives in booze” and it is listed in there. I highly recommend checking out the book if you can find it. It’s not available in new printing.
Msg is the umami flavor, ever drink beer thats salty or savory. How many brewer’s say this is in thier beer? Also I see you holding a nice sulfate filled glass of wine? and your worried about GMO ? Lady gasoline is organic.
Unita Brewing makes organic beers, like Wlyd (pale ale) and Baba (black lager). Very tasty
I think further research is needed. For one thing caramel coloring are in many products, including Pepsi – which doesn’t have a cancer warning in California. There are many processes for making it – you can even make it yourself by boiling down sugar on a stove top to create maillard reactions. I am also always entertained by the furor over genetic modifications – if you drink any beer made with barley, or wine made from grapes, or eat anything made with wheat like bread, etc, etc- it has all been genetically modified over thousands of years of selective breeding. I doubt there is much we do consume that hasn’t been altered in some way over time by people trying to make it “better” or easier to cultivate etc. As to clarifiers like isinglass they are used traditionally in the UK for cask ale, but not as much in the US, and when used they create a charge that attracts proteins causing them to drop out of solution, so even when used you are not consuming much if any of the clarifying agent.
Cheers!
Here’s the deal with Pepsi yo – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/11/pepsi-4-mei_n_3581486.html?utm_hp_ref=@food123
Plant breeding and genetically modifying crops are two different things.
Great post Vani. I assumed that beer makers had to list indredients. Will definitely shy away from bigger brews, and probably ask my local brewery what they put in their beer, before buying it. Really appreciate you.
Awesome piece foodbabe! I just sent this to my hubbie and it really freaked him out. Thank you for working so tirelessly to get the message of knowing.what.is.in.your.food OUT in different “genres” – This is the one that finally got through to my man:) Or should I say, finally tipped the scale!! xoxo
Hi, I’m curious about the exact information you received from Guinness? For example, which beers contain high fructose corn syrup and from which locations?
I only ask because Guinness produces several types of beers produced all over the world: Draught, Guinness Original Extra Stout, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Guinness Special Export, Guinness Bitter, Guinness Red, etc. I assume they wouldn’t use the same additives in all recipes across the world because it isn’t cost effective. Manufacturing locations produce with what their regional agricultural provider gives them, whether GMO or not (i.e. Girl Scout Cookies produces in one location are vegan, and elsewhere are not.)
In your article you only write about the fish bladder, yet label Guinness as having high fructose corn syrup in the picture. I’m scouring the internet and can’t find any reference to the HFCS.
Lots of lousy additives in wine, too. Cut back significantly on drinking to lose weight, and when occasionally cheated on diet, noticed the nights I had alcohol also had hot flashes & insomnia. Never have this problem sticking to a non-alcoholic and plant-based diet.
Wow. Just wow.
So many misrepresentations and downright misinformation in this piece I don’t really know what to say.
Except possibly that you are an idiot.
If the blog offends you, don’t read it. If you don’t want to know what’s in your beer, go ahead and drink away ignorantly. The lack of an ingredient label allows you to anyhow!!
Just as an FYI – hops from craft breweries can be sold to farmers as feed for cows or pigs. The hops from the major breweries can not be fed to life stock as it is poisonous from all the additives. This is what turned me from major brewery beers. I live in Ontario and enjoy mill street organic or steam whistle beer.
livestock usually eat the spent grain (barley & wheat, primarily)…not hops. And no, cows dont get drunk from eating barley & wheat used in the brewing process. : )
Actually spent hops is quite poisonous, at least to our canine friends. It causes a condition know as malignant hyperthermia syndrome, and is usually fatal if the animal ingests even a small quantity of hops that has been used in the brewing process. You probably meant to say that brewers’ spent grain can be used as livestock feed.
Just curious, if a beer uses fish bladders to clarify their beer, is it then on the list of no-no’s for vegans.
There are many alternatives that can be used as clarifying agents other than animal biproducts (gelatin, fish bladder, etc). The most commonly used is agar agar, similar to gelatin and produced from marine algae.
There are 4 ingredients in most beer: yeast, hops, water, barley and nothing else. Perhaps you should take a tour of a brewery to gain some insight. Honestly, sometimes I wish there wasn’t a such thing as freedom of speech so these articles wouldn’t be circulating.
Companies like Goose Island & Widmer arent “snatched up” exactly…it’s more like they sell stock to take advantage of the big beer companies distribution network. This sometimes helps smaller craft breweries, but does in many cases hurt their ability to distribute all their brands (ex: ABusch “cherry picks” which varieties
Ok. Don’t criticize me on my spelling or my english. I just have an observation. The amount of emotion, anger and tension I feel in these posts about beer have me a bit confused. If everyone
used this amount of passion when GMO’s were first being used or the petrolium their putting in my kids favorite mac and cheese was brought to light, imagine what we could have achieved!
If you don’t like what the FoodBabe has to say, don’t read her blogs. It’s that simple.
I love you FoodBabe! Keep up the good work. It is appreciated.
The issue we have is that there are parts of the article that are untrue, misinformed, or plain misleading. She talking about an important subject and has a large audience, and she knows only a portion of what she’s writing about, especially in regards to craft and import beers. I’m here reading because this issue is important to me, and we all have a right to weigh in on the problems with the article. That said, name-calling, shaming, etc. are completely uncalled for and not in the least bit constructive.
People are simply angry for the same reason they would be if she had came out and said that almost all Japanese food in America is bad and it’s nearly impossible to find any made with natural ingredients, citing Mr. Noodles and Noodle Time as an example, which is, of course, as untrue as what she’s stated here about beer.
I hope you don’t drink wine, because isinglass (fish parts) is used to clarify most wine/beer.
British Real Ale is best. Micro-brewed with love. 3000 types. Yummy!
the problem is that you call the stuff you’re talking about beer. as a beer lover, i drink beer, actual beer, made locally (usually) in small batches with no need of these corn based fillers to make things “milder” (i don’t want my beer milder). the problem really is that the brands you’re talking about are allowed to even call themselves ‘beer’. it should fall into another category entirely, somewhere between, let’s say, soda pop and beer. then there would be no confusing what miller, coors, corona, bud, etc. produce and what real brewers are making. delicious beer, made the same way for centuries, with no need for MSG, corn syrup and colouring.
I strongly recommend that everyone reads Jason Vale’s wonderful, powerful book (with terrible title) Kick the Drink Easily. I have been an alcohol addict for my whole life, Jason’s clear logical thesis at the poison that is alcohol transformed my whole view of it and set me free from it forever. Well worth a read!
Can you post/link to the documentation you found for this article?
Not even the German beers are safe. Look at the labeling of Becks sold in America since Inbev, which owns them, took over Budweiser. Becks sold in America now originates from the Bud brewery in St. Louis.
Good water is still the basic ingredient in beer and boy can you taste the difference between beer using bavarian waters compared to the Mississippi River water used here.
Natural? How is that better? Arsenic is natural. Want that in your craft brew?
Thank you for shedding light on these additives that are present in the large brewing companies. I am very much and advocate for (legitimate)craft beer and I applaud you for bringing this to light. I am confident that most if not all true craft breweries do not subscribe to using such harmful additives. They take more pride in what they produce and the ingredients they use. I do have to correct you on one instance. You lump in all “American” Beer as being pretty harmful. You must keep in mind that most of the beers you named are not actually owned by American Companies and are more interested in selling mass quantities rather than a quality product. American Craft Beer is truly American made and not in the same category. Beer is in fact healthy for you, in moderation, as with anything. Believe it or not, with craft beer, there are some of us out there that can enjoy just one and be completely satisfied with just that amount. Better quality= better satisfaction, especially among the craft beer crowd where the objective is not to simply become intoxicated. There is a huge culture and movement behind it. I invite you, as a non-beer drinker to simply sample some true American Beer. You’d be surprised. When people tell me they don’t like beer, I tell them, “You just haven’t had the right beer yet.” I invite you and everyone else on here to take a look at my FB page “95X Beer Mike” and Twitter @95xbeermike
Amazingly good article! We have a phenomenal organic beer here in Toronto – Mill Street Organic. Maybe you can find someone to smuggle some to your family?
SteamWhistle here follows Reinheitsgebot – only four ingredients and only one type of beer. No special brews or multiple flavors – one beer and verrrrrrrrrrrry popular at that.
Maybe someday your research will bring you here 🙂 you know, to verify your sources.
Cheers!
Eel river makes great organic beer.
Very good points. The thing is…if I smoke a cigarette, I already know I am risking cancer/asthma/COPD etc. But if the cigarette is also laced with with other poisons, then I would like to know. It is absurd in a way…but we do make risk taking choices based on some type of reasoning. If you tell me my cigarette is laced with things that increase my chance of developing cancer 10,000% then I am at least going to go try to find some pure tobacco if and when I choose to partake. I think the main point is that we just deserve to know when that is happening without it being secret. It is evil not to give full disclosure of these types of things. The thing that is unfortunate is that tens of thousands of people put their trust in these large scale companies. Tens of thousands of people are asleep at the wheel for one reason or another. There are good reasons that people are asleep at the wheel…limited time, limited education, limited energy, limited interest. These tens of thousands don’t deserve to suffer and die prematurely just because they do not have the benefit of time or knowledge. Drinking alcohol is a calculated risk. But believing you are drinking alcohol when in fact you are also drinking 10 other poisons that exponentially increase your risk of dying prematurely is quite another thing. So when companies have preyed on these tens of thousands of peoples trust, and then poison them in 10 ways that they are not disclosing, this is the crime against humanity. And it isn’t just beer companies. Its lots and lots of companies. Its lots and lots of industries. The point is just getting people to a point in their awareness where they can actually start to mentally fend for themselves. This type of investigation helps that along. This is the only way to slowly raise awareness to the point that dollars are spent elsewhere, …the only thing that has a voice in the majority of consumerism. So great, there are things in the article to be debated. There are things to be criticized and picked apart. Who cares. Start adding to the discussion, start giving some useful information of your own that we can share with other people. Try to reflect on what it is that some of you are so pissed off about and why beer needs your friggin defending. Buy organic or stick with products with unknown pollutants that are not disclosed. The choice is yours. Its your life. But why spew negativity against an article which is clearly written to report some shocking findings about some MASSIVELY consumed products. I am not a completely stupid person and yet even with all the changes I have made to organic, was still stupid enough to believe that certain popular beers mentioned in this article were decent enough. Now I am more informed about those products. Great. Who knows how much longer I would have been “organic” in most of the rest of my life, but asleep at the wheel about beer. Now I’m not. Great. Personally, I wish everyone would “shut it,” go buy some organic beer, and chill the F out. Or some organic fresh pressed juice. Or some organic chocolate. Or whatever the freak does it for you. The point is, we deserve not to be SECRETLY poisoned by branding that has gained our collective trust over many many decades.
Well,as a home brewer going on 3 years now,I can tell you that there are a lot of glittering genralities & misconceptions here. Isinglass is used a a clarifying agent,like simple gelatin also is used for. It gets the excess yeast,trub,etc to settle out of the beer,leaving it clear. It doesn’t remain in the beer. And dextrose is just a fancy name for corn sugar & doesn’t have to come from GMO’s. It’s mainly used in small amounts to naturally bottle carbonate the beer. And flaked rice,corn,wheat,& oats are natural grains & used as adjuncts in making certain styles of beer. Like the BMC’s we all know. But by some good craft beer (no,not blue moon),like Sam Adams,New Glarious,Osacar Blues,Stone,Great lakes,& numerous others,& you don’t get all those cheaper adjuncts. That’s wyt they cost more. Sodium metabisulfite is a Cleaner/sanitizer for the equipment that is completely rinsed off everything before it touches the beer. And there are tons of different brewing grains out there with various levels of roast for various flavors & colors. All the flavors in good beer comes from these. I know,I do it myself. While the big boys use a lot of adjuncts etc to get their light cheap guzzlers,a lot of the things mentioned here are not in the finished product. Things used for processing or cleaning & sanitizing the equipment are not what you’re drinking. Why do you think beer kept people alive in the middle ages when they knew water could be fatal? One reason is they didn’t know anything about microbiology till Louie Pasteur came along centuries later. And he first studied beer-not milk. He wanted to know what made beer go bad. Microbial activity. And beers today are def better than some back in victorian times. Certain drugs were added to make them seem better aged than they really were,for one example. All the colors,flavors,& aromas can be had via the brewers’ art…not all this other garbage. Yet another reason craft breweries are so popular now & are steadilly gaining market share over BMC’s. the big boys mostly came up with craft-y sounding beers to gain back market share that aren’t real craft beers at all. A lil more food for thought.
A note on the “fish bladder” clarifiers (usually called “finings”). If you’re a full Vegan, okay, you might have some cause to complain. However, the entire point of using isinglass or irish moss (oh, horrors! seaweed!) is to help coagulate proteins at the end of the boil and during cooling before fermentation. The proteins, hop particles, etc. in the boil bond to the finings, increasing their weight and forcing them to precipitate out. The wort (the soon-to-be beer liquid) is then separated from the trub (the precipitated solids than have fallen out of solution in the boil kettle) and transferred to the fermenter. During fermentation, the yeast also bonds with remaining solids and further precipitate out. Sometimes the beer is transferred once or twice to further remove any precipitates. Then another separation transfer before packaging (and many commercial breweries run it through filters to remove the last of it). None remains in the finished product. Since the author clearly does not understand the process of brewing beer, let me put it this way: you should be more concerned about what the hoses are made of that the beer travels through than what was used for a fining.
You know your beer and I respect that. However, I want to point out that neither vegetarians nor vegans use animal products that result in the animal being killed. Whether or not the finings remain in the finished product is irrelevant, since an animal was still killed in the process.
Actually in the definition on veganism is true, not in vegetarianism. Every food including even clean or purified water results in animal life killed.
Oops, I should have said “my definition and the definition of every vegetarian I have ever known”. Of course you can have your own definition if you wish.
Your definition doesn’t mesh up with reality, though. Many vegetarians refrain from mammalian meat (red meat & pork), but still get their proteins from fish, sometimes chicken, and dairy. Vegetarians many times aren’t anti-animal product like Vegans.
no, vegetarians do not, by definition, eat chicken and fish. for heaven’s sake, do you not have a dictionary? is it really not OBVIOUS that vegetarians would not eat animals?
Dark Brood Homebrewery with this comment of yours, and in context to your next comment below you set to discredit the whole article. Regardless of fishbladder, veganism, vegetianism or canabalism for that matter, the principal upsets with GMO anywhere in anything apply – and fishbladder here are redherrings.
The Dark Brood Homebrewery with this comment of yours, and in context to your next comment below you set to discredit the whole article. Regardless of fishbladder, veganism, vegetianism or canabalism for that matter, the principal upsets with GMO anywhere in anything apply – and fish-bladder here are red-herrings.
The worst hypocrites and anti-life experts can be found at the very top of U.S.A. EPA, U.S.A. FDA and U.S.A. Dept of Ag. I consider them universal trolls. Maybe you join them here.
You an expert it seems in beer making, but, I want to ask how you know that their is no trace element of GMO poison or GMO anything felt in final brew?
That’s my first imortant question. But its not my MORE IMPORTANT question: Please explain how it is you able to dismiss the geo-political and health issues associated with the production and use of GMOs from the get-go regardless of whether the elements disappear in, say, the final glass of Fosters?
I guess other GMO protestors like myself, reasonably educated in the security of all ag and all industry worldwide want to know professor. worst hypocrites and anti-life experts can be found in th U.S.A. EPA, U.S.A. FDA and U.S.A. Dept of Ag. I consider them universal trolls. Maybe you join them here.
You an expert it seems in beer making, but, I want to ask how you know that their is no trace element of GMO poison or GMO anything felt in final brew?
That’s my first imortant question. But its not my MORE IMPORTANT question: Please explain how it is you able to dismiss the geo-political and health issues associated with the production and use of GMOs from the get-go regardless of whether the elements disappear in, say, the final glass of Fosters?
I guess other GMO protestors like myself, reasonably educated in the security of all ag and all industry worldwide want to know professor.
Sorry for repeated sections in my comment – I’m going to blame the awkward handheld device. Can’t find the remove or edit to fix either! Anyway message is clear enough even NSA can understand.
I’m just sorry about your comment. The repetition was the only cohesive part.
I still ask is it it any living thing? Where are we drawing the line. Why can living plant be ok to lill to eat but not other living things. I’m not “on anyone’s side here” I just want to why living does not mean living across the board?
Where do you stop? How small is the living organism before you say it’s not an animal anymore (mammal/poultry/fish/shellfish (molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms). Just because you can’t see it don’t mean it’s not a living thing. bacteria is alive, yeast, that last breath of air and the mouthwash you just had killed (and you ingested) once living things.
Some plants prey on their dinner, (http://www.ecorazzi.com/2012/06/12/7-strange-and-beautiful-carnivorous-plants/) there are all sorts of insect eating plants out there that your teacher forgot to inform you about. (Go to this site and check it out)Sit back, relax and get ready for your lesson on carnivorous plants that have a hard time saying no to trapping insects, or sometimes rats, to stay alive. Proxy!
These dried see weeds and isinglass used for fining are used in winemaking also.
I don’t know about today but the make-up industry would use about anything for color and texture. eye liners,make-up, rouge, lipstick, Fish scales/fish parts, whale sperm, whale sperm in lipstick, there has to be a joke in there somewhere! “No! Do not kiss me! Keep your whale sperm on your own lips’! Hahaha! Do we really have a clue of all the disguting crap that these companies throw at us. At least we are getting smarter, the younger generation is picking up the flag and running with better than my generation did.
You know what words are missing! I just can type as fast as I think!
I think you are confusing the idea of Veganism and/or Vegetarianism with the issues brought up by the article. Genetically Modified Organisms are living organisms whose DNA has been spliced (by humans) with the DNA of other species and/or chemicals. For instance, many GMO vegetables are spliced in a laboratory with pesticides, in order to create a greater defense for the plant, and lower the costs that farmers would pay for added pesticides. The problem with this is:
1)companies, like Monsanto, have a terrible track record of creating severe fatalities & medical problems in human populations(Agent Orange for example, which they still deny responsibility for brain cancers in Vets several years later);
2)insects and other biological pests adapt to the new plants and become resistant “super bugs”
3)this system promotes genetic monocultures susceptible to large scale disasters (Irish Famine, for example)
4)Monsanto owns the rights to the seeds of future crops, so farmers have to buy more each year, terribly inefficient way of farming.