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sweet*things
June 24th, 2010, 08:05 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8753698.stm



The thought may be an appetite killer, but human hair can be used to make an additive that is found in foods such as the dough for pizza crusts and bagels.
Your mop top is a rich source of L-cysteine, an amino acid that can be extracted from hair and used as a flavour enhancer or flour improver. It is sometimes listed as E920 on food packaging. As well as being found in dough it can be used to give food a meat-like flavour, especially in dog food.


I had no idea. :confused:

Long_hair_guy
June 24th, 2010, 08:17 AM
And there was me thinking this was going to be about random hairs that have fallen on fast food.

I'm sure they are better ways to get amino acid then removing it from human hair

sweet*things
June 24th, 2010, 09:17 AM
The part about flavoring dog food is what really blew me away.

Anyway, it's a good article, lots of other hair related stuff in it, not just the gross bit about food additives. ;)

Lilacs
June 24th, 2010, 09:27 AM
I never would have thought of human hair as being a potential derivative of an ingredient in food products, it kind of grosses me out...

Sort of neat though since we can grow it at home ;)

SurprisingWoman
June 24th, 2010, 10:23 AM
I think I will still continue to put my hair up when I am in the kitchen. Good to know in case of a stray being found though! ;)

heidihug
June 24th, 2010, 10:36 AM
L-Cysteine was once obtained industrially by hydrolysis of hair and keratin. The main contemporary route involves fermentation utilizing a mutant of E. coli.
Link to Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cysteine). Very unlikely that human hair is used to make modern equivalents of L-Cysteine (also known as E920 in food labeling). It can also be manufactured using pork fat.

Juneii
June 24th, 2010, 10:57 AM
Well, since they're extracting the protein from the hair it's not like they're throwing in chunks of chopped hair into our food. I guess I am okay with that? Still kinda grody, I freak out whenever I see my hair in my food.

Loreley
June 24th, 2010, 11:12 AM
Ugh... Yuck! I wonder how they found out that they should put "hair extract" into dog food. :confused:

marzipanthecat
June 24th, 2010, 11:37 AM
Scroll down the page on that BBC article - I just LOVE that golden hair dress! (I have now instantly decided I want to grow enough of my own hair to be able to just tie it around myself like that!).

LittleOrca
June 24th, 2010, 11:53 AM
The part about flavoring dog food is what really blew me away.


No wonder my dog likes my hair!

BunnyBee
June 24th, 2010, 12:10 PM
I guess most of you would prefer to eat something made from pig fat than hair? Even though the hair and the provider (!) of the hair would be unharmed, but the pig would have to die...

LittleOrca
June 24th, 2010, 12:40 PM
I guess most of you would prefer to eat something made from pig fat than hair? Even though the hair and the provider (!) of the hair would be unharmed, but the pig would have to die...

Why assume that because someone does not like the idea of hair in their food they would be more accepting of pig fat? It was a comment that the same effects from the hair is found in pig fat, not a "Mmm, I'd rather slaughter me a piggie than ingest some dead cells." comment, just information.

Hiriel
June 24th, 2010, 01:05 PM
Well, since they're extracting the protein from the hair it's not like they're throwing in chunks of chopped hair into our food. I guess I am okay with that? Still kinda grody, I freak out whenever I see my hair in my food.

In other news: Vanillin (vanilla flavouring) can be produced from cow dung. It's still vanillin ;)

Yozhik
June 24th, 2010, 01:49 PM
Hiriel -- interesting (and disturbing) to find out about the potential sources of vanillin.

Is this what "vanilla flavoring" is, rather than vanilla extract? :hmm:

Toadstool
June 24th, 2010, 01:52 PM
I guess most of you would prefer to eat something made from pig fat than hair? Even though the hair and the provider (!) of the hair would be unharmed, but the pig would have to die...

I'd much rather eat human hair than pig fat but I'm weird.

Toadstool
June 24th, 2010, 01:54 PM
It says "Hair clothes are becoming more popular" Uhuh. Hands up who has seen anyone wearing clothes made of her walking down the street?

jasper
June 24th, 2010, 06:09 PM
Soylent Green, anyone?

Nae
June 24th, 2010, 08:17 PM
P.S. Almost everything ends up in dogfood. (WARNING: Grossness Ahead!!)

When I was a kid my family used to run a rendering company (they sold it about 10-15 years ago) and I am here to tell you that EVERYTHING ends up in dog food. Elephants, snakes, iguanas, cows, pigs, rabbits, maggots, turkeys, chicken feathers, you name it.....up to and including dogs and cats. Many dogfood companies buy directly from rendering companies and they fill the dog food with things with generic names like by-products, bonemeal, or bloodmeal which is a horrible combination of whatever recently died in the area that was put through the rendering plant. Rendering companies do provide a service to farmers or places like the humane society, zoos, and universities that need to get rid of deadstock, I mean what else are they going to do with it?

On an off note, some people claim that is what happened to Jimmy Hoffa. I've heard it said amonger renderers that his body went through the Darling rendering plant in Detroit. So who knows? As awful as it sounds, it would be an easy way to dump a body and no one would ever know.

Okay, sorry, that brings us to the end of the creepiest post I may have ever written. I would rather not think about the whole thing too hard. I do buy my dog his food from more expensive companies where I know the meat isn't processed in that way. *shudder*

Hiriel
June 25th, 2010, 04:15 AM
Hiriel -- interesting (and disturbing) to find out about the potential sources of vanillin.

Is this what "vanilla flavoring" is, rather than vanilla extract? :hmm:

Vanilla contains vanillin, but it's only one of several things that give vanilla its flavour. I'd guess 'vanilla flavour' usually means vanillin. And it's not normally produced from cow dung, but it can be ;)
It's usually made from wood--from byproducts of making paper.

deko
June 25th, 2010, 02:57 PM
Soylent Green, anyone?
sure... :D I just thought of that (got to see the movie again soon).

Hairs on the food is gross. If you use leftover hair to do some flavoring stuff then that's ok by me. And I would love to have a human hair sweater or some other outfit. I am thinking of saving my own loose hair to make some braided jewellery, I'm sure some of you got the link to that. (please? I'm too lazy to search the whole forum)

If I ever get a big cut I rather have my hair used preventing oil spillages than donate them to one of those "charity" programmes (locks of love etc).