I was recently reading an article in the Central Penn
Business Journal titled, "Making it Kosher. Firm Changes Oil in
Plastic," by John R. Finger. According to the article, plastic
containers contain an ingredient, which is added in the manufacturing
process, called tallow. This ingredient is an animal fat-based
by-product, which keeps the hot plastic from sticking to the machinery.
As if this weren't bad enough, there is evidence that these ingredients
"leach out" or rise to the surface of these plastic containers and then
mix into the food contained within. For this reason, the FDA currently
regulates these additives in much the same manner in which it oversees
all ingredients added to our foods.
Apparently, according to this article, steel food
containers used to be lined by this animal-based tallow ingredient.
However, with pressure from the kosher food-certification authorities
and Muslim certifiers, this ingredient was removed from the
manufacturing process and replaced with a vegetable-based coating.
Currently, there is only one company manufacturing
"kosher" plastic bowls, lids, and cookware: Premier Classic Container.
They plan to launch their products, which range in cost from $1.39 to
$2.99 a piece, in April of this year. Currently, the Giant Food Stores
Inc., in Carlisle, Pennsylvania will be the only ones stocking the
product, but this is only the beginning. Giant plans to release the
product slowly and build momentum before a mass distribution.
Premier claims that there is such an overwhelming demand
for their product that they are in the process of making business
decisions and implementations that will enable them to produce enough of
this product to meet these demands. In fact, Del Riley, co-owner of
Premier Classic Container, foresees the entire plastic industry
switching over to the vegetable-based containers within the next three
to five years. Tupperware Corporation and Rubbermaid Incorporated did
not return calls for comment in this article. Wonder why?
Go on to 59 Different
Hormones Naturally In Cow's Milk
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