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Posts Tagged ‘Nutrition Bar’

Is There Hexane in Your Veggie Burger?

Some veggie burgers found to contain harmful substance, hexane, used to process soy.

Hexane in veggie burgers

BY Tracy Miller
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, April 14th 2010, 10:25 AM
Yasukawa for NewsMany brands of frozen soy
veggie burgers that are not 100 percent organic
may have been produced using a harmful
substance, according to a report.
Think you’re being healthy by choosing a veggie
burger instead of red meat? Think again.
In an effort to make their products as low-fat as
possible, many veggie burger manufacturers are
turning to a potentially harmful chemical, according
to an investigation by the non-profit Cornucopia
Institute.
Most non-organic veggie burgers contain hexane, a
neurotoxin that’s also a petroleum by-product of
gasoline refining. Hexane is listed as a hazardous
air pollutant with the Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), according to the report, which called
hexane the “dirty little secret of the ‘natural’ soy
foods industry.”
To keep down the fat content of energy bars, veggie
burgers and other products, food manufacturers
submerge soybeans in a bath of hexane to separate
them into soy oil, protein and fiber.
Products labeled “organic” aren’t allowed to contain
any hexane – but foods that are less than 100%
organic, such as those labeled “made with organic
ingredients,” may contain the chemical.
Veggie burgers that are likely to contain hexaneextracted
soy ingredients, according to the
research, include popular brands such as Amy’s
Kitchen, Boca Burger (conventional), Garden Burger
and Morningstar Farms, along with others.
Boca Burger and Morningstar burgers labeled “made
with organic soy” are not produced using hexane.
The full list of veggie burger and nutrition bar
brands researched can be found on page 37-38 of
the report. Click here to read.