Today.

[kalibex]

Had a nice long wander this afternoon along the edge of the North End and into part of Charlestown then back across the Back Bay with redstarrobot. Tired feet, yeah, but that was a neat way to hang out - just walk and talk.

After we parted ways and I was headed home on the bus, I tried this 'Victorian style fermented' orange drink. The ingrediants didn't list yeast, but those were surely yeasty lumps creating that sediment on the bottom (a label doesn't say, in fine print, that there's less than 0.5% alcohol in the drink for no reason).

For that was, of course, how 'soda' was created originally - as in beer, the yeasty beasties made the carbon dioxide (and a wee bit of alcohol). That's the way me mum's family used to make root beer when she was growing up - Baker's root beer extract, water, sugar - and yeast. Wait a few days, and voila - root beer.

So, is it merely the 'squick' factor that they're allowed to get away with not being 100% truthful on their labeling - and neglecting to mention that leftover yeast?

Comments

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

That was a good walk! I'm just hovering on the right side of sunburnt, I think. I was good about sunscreen in Colorado, but I've been forgetting about it here. But, fortunately, I slapped on some aloe vera gel, and I should fade to a nice (and slightly less pink) bit o' color tomorrow. We should do that more often, especially since I need excuses to go for nice walks on the weekends, when I don't need to be on campus so much.

They might have been pulpy lumps, although it probably was yeast-fermented. If the yeast is dead (like if they pasteurize the drink after it's brewed, or something), they may not have to declare it on the label. I don't know, really, what the FDA rules for declaring ingredients on drinks are. But, hey, tomato sauce and ketchup labels aren't required to mention the worms. :)

[kalibex.livejournal.com]

"But, hey, tomato sauce and ketchup labels aren't required to mention the worms. :)"

WHAT!!!?

[redstarrobot.livejournal.com]

A certain number of plant pests are allowed in products on the shelf under FDA standards; there is a statistical number of tomato-eating-worms people eat in a lifetime due to their consumption of commercial tomato products. But nobody needs to label their ingredients to include the accidental-but-statistically-inevitable bits of worm-and-other-nice-things.

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

What? Even vegetarians eat their share of bugs... one of the hazards of mass-produced food.