Popcorn Maker To Drop Flavoring Chemical

ConAgra Says It Will Replace Popcorn Chemical Linked To Lung Ailment

(AP)  The nation's largest microwave popcorn maker, ConAgra Foods Inc., said Wednesday it will change the recipe for its Orville Redenbacher and Act II brands over the next year to remove a flavoring chemical linked to a lung ailment in popcorn plant workers.

The announcement comes a day after a doctor at a leading lung research hospital said in a warning letter to federal regulators that consumers, not just factory workers, may be in danger from fumes from buttery flavoring in microwave popcorn.

ConAgra spokeswoman Stephanie Childs said the company decided in the past few months to remove the butter flavoring diacetyl from its popcorn because of the risk the chemical presents to workers who handle large quantities.

The chemical diacetyl has been linked to cases of bronchiolitis obliterans, a rare life-threatening disease often called popcorn lung.

ConAgra's announcement comes a week after another popcorn manufacturer, Weaver Popcorn Co. of Indianapolis, said it would replace the butter flavoring ingredient because of consumer concern.

ConAgra doesn't know how soon it will be able to replace diacetyl with a different butter flavoring, Childs said, but the change will be made sometime over the next year.

"We've made that decision based on the knowledge for the potential risk to our employees," Childs said.

The Omaha-based company has already been making changes at its popcorn plants over the past few years to reduce employee exposure to diacetyl, she said.

But the company doesn't believe diacetyl in popcorn represents a safety risk to consumers, Childs said.

"We're fully confident that microwave popcorn is safe for consumers in the home," she said.

It was reported Tuesday that a pulmonary specialist at Denver's National Jewish Medical and Research Center had written to federal agencies to say doctors there believe they have the first case of a consumer who developed lung disease from the fumes of microwaving popcorn several times a day for years.

Dr. Cecile Rose sent the letter to federal health officials in July.

The first government study to look at what fumes are produced by microwaving popcorn at home is due to be published as soon as this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday.

The two-year study by EPA researchers was completed in late 2005 and has been under wraps since then, prompting critics to charge that the agency was protecting industry interests. But an EPA spokeswoman said the delay was due to a string of requirements including scientific review, submitting the report to industry and the time it took to get into a scientific journal.

EPA spokeswoman Suzanne Ackerman said the paper was recently accepted for publication as early as this month in a major scientific journal that she would not name.

The EPA denied a Freedom of Information request last fall from The Associated Press for the report, arguing it was a draft still under review. The agency has not yet answered an AP appeal of that rejection.

Ackerman confirmed that the study had been submitted to popcorn manufacturers ahead of its release. She said that was done to let companies make sure there were no competitive secrets in the report. EPA scientists signed nondisclosure agreements with industry in return for lists of ingredients the makers use in the popcorn and the packaging.

The report, titled "Emissions from Cooking Microwave Popcorn," is not a study of the health effects of diacetyl or any other fumes on consumers. Instead, it looks at exactly what gases including diacetyl are produced in what amount when consumers make microwave popcorn at home.

The Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association said that Rose's finding does not suggest a risk from eating microwave popcorn. The concern instead focuses on workers inhaling it in manufacturing settings, either in making the flavoring or adding it to food products ranging from popcorn to pound cakes.

The Washington, D.C.-based association has said several flavor manufacturers are either researching alternatives to diacetyl or are already marketing butter flavors free of the chemical.

The trade group said the FDA has approved the use of diacetyl as a flavor ingredient, and diacetyl occurs naturally in foods such as butter, cheese and fruits.

[juwboy]

I just woke up.

Now, I get it.

A molecule of "natural" diacetyl i.e. CH3.C:O.C:O.CH3, in butter, is completely different from a molecule of "chemical" diacetyl, i.e. CH3.C:O.C:O.CH3, produced by fermentation in a manufacturing plant.

toldyouso21, this is the first day of the rest of your mentally-retarded life!!!

[juwboy]

SNORE

[toldyouso21]

..a mixture of carbon and oxygen is different from carbon monoxide. Posted by juwboy at 10:26 AM : Sep 06, 2007

LOL. I KNOW you are trying to be facetious, but actually it is different (though I did not write that) what compound is actually produced is determined by the number of atoms from each element. Therefore CO is NOT the same as CO2, etc and each will net a different biochemical response from living things and from the environment.

but we digress, you tout ''natural'' as if the fact that a synthesized version of a ''natural'' chemical that is manipulated industrially by a process that ''simulates'' the natural slow process of fermentation (yet must accelerate, control and stabilize that process) THEN is combined with other chemicals and placed on popcorn is a good thing and not to be worried about. The fact is, the minute any natural product is isolated and reproduced in a lab, it ceases to be a ''natural'' product and is instead a simulant of that chemical. Man made versions rarely contain the exact composition of the natural substance as we tend to create not what exists but to ''borrow'' and recreate to use a different way. This practice is often what gets us in trouble as we may be able to isolate various chemicals and recreate them, but we have neither the laws or the patience to conduct test trials to determine the long term effects of some of these manipulations.

[toldyouso21]

When companies claim to use natural products to give something a ''natural'' taste--what they are actually doing is engaging in semantics. If the butter flavor is ''natural'' why not use real butter? Because it is cheaper to synthesize something that will taste natural than to use the actual product. The same is true for beef flavoring, sugar substitutes, etc. virtually all ''real" (as opposed to ''natural'') flavorings are enhanced with chemicals and when humans synthesize a chemical to simulate a natural substance--the fact is the product is unnatural--also if anyone has ever worked in industry and been in a fermentation facility, you would know that the fermentation process as done in a mfg scale up is not natural, nor are the other various chemicals used to stabilize and standardize that process. Juwboy has an agenda--why? Only he and ConAgra and others know for sure.

Stop eating products with fake ingredients---the way the industry uses the word ''natural'' does not mean it comes from nature, it means that they make a fake simulation of it based on it''s chemical composition--but as was found out with margarine--they often negate the other ingredients or the reaction of the simulant in the human body.

[juwboy]

YAWN

[toldyouso21]

The same is true for flavor enhancers that occur naturally. One of the components of Carbon Monoxide is Oxygen. Now. Oxygen is good for you, we NEED oxygen. Oxygen is a naturally occuring substance--so it must be okay? It is when combined with a Hydrogen atom (H2O) it makes water. It is when it is simply Oxygen. BUT when combined with the wrong ingredients--like Carbon and it becomes deadly.

So the simplistic idea that something "natural" recreated by Scientist must be good in manipulated popping corn, because it occurs naturally in butter is stupid. The reactions of any chemical is conducive to the chemical environment and the physiology it is found in.What is good in the stomach can be deadly in the lungs and what is good in the lungs will kill you if in the blood stream. NIX this product. If you can, NIX all fake or enhanced foods. They are not nearly tested enough--they readjust the harm of these products as people later get sick and die. WAnt to be a guinea pig? Juwboy seems to want you to be one. LOL

[toldyouso21]

The fact is, things that are butter "naturally" don''t need to have the "natural" flavor given to them. and it does not stop being a chemical simply because it occurs naturally. Some of our most potent drugs that are deadly--occur naturally (like Vincristine and Vinblastine). Natural only means the chemical occurs in nature, but the fact is, the way diacetyl works in real butter has to do with the other components of butter not just the flavoring. Once that chemical is isolated, it may like the stability of its activity in butter. This may produce totally different results in the human body. We have recently found this to be true of margarine, sachharine and aspartame. For years, for instance, margarine was thought to be a better and safer alternative to butter as was any other hydrolyzed oil. Now, after many deaths and heart disease cases later--we have learned that the man made version of butter is BAAAAAAD for us --full of trans fats and actually increase bad cholesterol. It took years to find that out (and for people like Juwboy to accept the new evidence) in the meantime, people were exposed to the deleterious aspects of margarine--a man made product--because producers and consumers looked no further than the simplistic idea, that the product was not saturated fat--and did not really address how fats are used in the body.

see next post

[juwboy]

snixchance:

There''s a virtually zero probability that you''re going to read this but.....

.....diacetyl, although it''s called a "chemical" throughout this report is the substance that gives butter its characteristic NATURAL taste.

You only have to read the last sentence of the report to verify that this is the case.

The diacetyl used to flavor popcorn is produced on an industrial scale by the NATURAL process of fermentation of material obtained from NATURAL sources.

There is nothing "chemical" about it in the sense that you are using the word.

[samsel3]

Juboy I was laughing about the previous message that toldyouso left not you...please lighten up

[snixchance]

Haven''t any of you out there heard of real butter? I''m from Wisconsin and that is all I will ever use on my popcorn. In fact, before I even go to the movie theatre, I melt my own butter and pour it over my popcorn once I am seated. I don''t understand why so many chemicals are used to make something that tastes like butter. Use the real thing. It''s much better for you in moderation and I know you will really enjoy your popcorn then. I would even be willing to have the stores charge me 50 cents extra just to use real butter. Wake us to the real thing!