Alarmist article on BMC with no listed evidence but possible interesting points

http://foodbabe.com/2013/07/17/the-shocking-ingredients-in-beer/

She takes issue with corn syrup, isinglass, aluminum can liners, GMO barley.... interesting but unproven bits on coloring, flavoring, MSG.....

It could have been a more decent article with better research, documented evidence, and severely less hype.

 

Irresponsible fear-mongering.

I'm sorry I gave her a click.

 

I second that.

 

A bad example of hippies talking out their a$$ about something they know nothing about.

 

Damn you for getting me to click on that utter POS article. I'd still do her though Break out the ol lamb skin because you know she has a problem with plastics and additives.

 

What's the problem with "GMO Corn" or "GMO Rice?" It's basically just corn and rice. What's the issue with GMO?

 

Sounds like I should stop eating everything sold in the grocery store.

 

I found nothing alarming in that article, it's a mass produced product. We can look at the same "crap" that's in every other mass produced food.

 

Hey guys and girls, put down your beers!! The GMO ingredients and the fish bladder are going to kill you! Listen to her! She's obviously a trained professional and knows plenty about beer, we should totally listen.

/sarcasm

 

Has any GMO food ever killed anyone, anywhere, ever? Has it even been definitively linked to making anyone sick? Nope.

And what's the problem with fish bladder? Is it because it's "gross?" Uhm... so what? Since when is someone's personal hangups enough to categorize a food item as "bad?"

 

If you call yourself "food babe" you know that 90% of the attention you get is from creepy guys that want in your pants. Sorry for the ad hominem...

 

J-E-L-L-O, you know?

 

Target just announced that they are dropping all GMO.

In the article, the plastic can liners were the only thing that caught my eye.

 

Gaahhh!! Beer also contains massive quantities of dihydrogen monoxide!! That's a compound that is found in excised cancerous tumors, it is used as an industrial coolant, and even small amounts in the lungs can be fatal!!!

 

GMO = dirty word for a subset of people. Some folks feel that organic is the only way to go, never mind the fact that we could not feed the world's population with them. Organic crop yields are simply too much smaller.

I'm not dissing anyone's personal choice to eat organic. More power to you. But please, spare me the preaching on how genetically modified crops are bad because they aren't natural. Somehow, increased yields, disease resistance, pest resistance - and, by the way, less reliance on pesticides - is a bad thing because nature didn't create it.

Give me a break.

The only thing in this article that bothered me was that Newcastle - and others - would actually use coloring in their beer. Why on earth would they do that? Set your color with the grain bill. Good grief. If it varies slightly from year to year, or from batch to batch, use that as a selling point. Tell me the beer is made "traditionally" or somesuch.

 

Working on my 'BAG O P (Beaver Anal Gland Oatmeal Porter)' recipe right now. Will post tasting notes when it is done. According to Wikipedia I should get a nice vanilla flavor.

 

I've only one issue with GMO. Mutation. Nature has a tendency to correct itself in ways we don't always expect.


IIUC, Shiner Bock is brewed as an Amber (or is it a Marzen) and colored with Sinimar to be more Bock like. Meh.

 

GMO means genetically Modified, not organic or inorganic.

 

Correct.

Organic is one of the most misused words out there.

The difference between organic and inorganic is carbon.

Diesel fuel is organic. Sounds delicious.

 

Well put.

 

The only thing that bothers me a little, is the carmel coloring. But nothing I already did not no.

 

Good looking girl just completely ignorant. The only thing that caught my eye was the caramel color additive that Newcastle (supposedly) uses. GMO is a dirty word passed around by a group of people that have their own agenda, aka ORGANIC food sellers/promoters.

 

I love how, in the comments on the article, she responds to the snarky comments with snarky comments of her own, and also responds to the gushing "thank you, oh you're so awesome, foodbabe!" comments.

She is strikingly silent when it comes to the science-y comments.

 

All corn is GMO. Corn has been selectively harvested for so long that it is incapable of reseeding itself.

High fructose corn syrup that goes into wort doesn't stay high fructose corn syrup. It's fully fermentable.

Who would put MSG in beer? There is a demand for salty beer?

Breweries are prohibited from making health claims about beer by law.

Finally, I like to mention that glass of wine she's holding in the picture at the bottom of the webpage: probably has sulfites.

EDIT: Also, German ales are allowed to use sugar (since 1993). However, as Germany isn't well known for its "corn belt", they tend to use beet sugar instead. I guess high fructose beet syrup doesn't sound as scary.

 

^^ Boom.

 

really?

 

Based on a short lunchtime Google search, it looks like autolyzed yeast can be a source of a component of MSG. Maybe she's misinterpreting that? I find it very hard to believe that beers, BMC or otherwise, would contain MSG - not because I take sides on the MSG controversy, but because it just doesn't sound like a beer ingredient.

 

totally agree on all of your points except the first one, GMO means something very specific; namely that the genome of said plant has been altered by the addition of chimeric genes(s) or genes from another organism. which is much different than the selective breeding that you referenced.

I think her only objection to the finnings is that they are not vegan.

 

I would bet so. She seems to just regurgitate things she's heard. Then spouts it like she's making some groundbreaking discovery and the "large and powerful" beer industry is gonna put a hit out on her. These people drive me nuts. Eat what you want , just don't preach to me why I need to join you because your gonna get a very unpleasant ear full.

 

Are you guys new to reading blogs? Lightly-researched shock-value articles that bash big-industry? Shocking!

We're brewers and thus can spot BS about brewing. Remember that when reading about topics on which you are less knowledgeable.

 

I laughed my ass off when she insinuated that Propylene Glycol is in the beer.


We're talking about the coolant that passes through the walls of a Brite Tank! LOL WTF. She calls herself a "scientist"? ROFL


Edit: She's now deleting comments and moving others. This guy had posted a thorough list that countered evert last point with hard evidence, and it conveniently disappeared. What's worse is that I replied thanking him for doing it, and my post got moved out of his, and placed into the general comments so it looks like I'm supporting her. What a crock of ****!

 

Hey!!!! I'm not creepy! Well.......

 

Time for a spam war I think!!!!!!!!!! GAME ON!

 

I noticed that too.

 

I'm really glad to see that so many of my fellow homebrewers aren't taken in by the hype against GMOs that has been perpetrated by so many dirty hippies. While it's completely possible for a specific transgene to result in the production of a dangerous product, the ones that are currently marketed have been thoroughly tested (vastly more testing than is done for "natural" or "organic" products).

 

Classic,

I put up a post correcting some of her more egregious inaccuracies, and she deleted it.

That's proof she's a fraud right there. A true investigative journalist would've either refuted me, or correct her errors. Not censored me.

 

All yeast is GMO too. GMO has been going on for centuries. But I will say, in the spirit of balance, there are probably some GMO practices today that I'm unfamiliar with that I might not approve of.

 

Against GMO grains? The shortage of dietary vitamin A is a deficiency which is estimated to kill 670,000 children under 5 each year. Golden Rice is a GMO rice to add beta caratone = less dead and less blind children. GMO has an upside.

 

Heh... http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/chemical-additives-commercial-beers-21378/

 

That was me Nick. Glad to contribute. I tried to be respectful, but factual. She's got some serious journalism ethical issues to censor anything I wrote in that post...IMO.