Garth Rattray
"I almost broke a tooth on a piece of chicken bone while eating a vegetarian dish called 'curried vegetables' that was supposed to only contain 'vegetable stock'."
OF SIGNIFICANT concern to me is our right to an upfront and full disclosure of the ingredients in prepared food products. Most Jamaicans don't ask about the details of what goes into the foods that they consume.
However, people of various religious faiths, moral beliefs and lifestyle choices (especially for health reasons) have a right to know precisely what they are eating.
We have people of the Jewish faith that eat kosher food, some Seventh-day Adventists are total or partial vegetarians, some Rastafarians eat mainly plant products and avoid salt while others will eat meat, but not pork.
And then there are people who choose a variant of vegetarianism for one reason or another.
THE INGREDIENTS
Whether you operate under some special religious restrictions, are vegetarian or have simply chosen to omit certain items from your diet, you have a right to be explicitly informed about the ingredients that make up whatever you are eating or drinking.
In that same Associated Press report about the McDonald's French fries lawsuit mentioned in last week's column, Los Angeles resident, Nadia Sugish, is suing the fast food giant because she eats no animal products and would not have eaten the fries if she had known that they also contained dairy ingredients.
However, here in Jamaica we are denied the 'luxury' of suing for these particular violations of our rights and assaults upon our sensibilities.
I happen to be vegetarian and have been the victim of the inaccurate listing of ingredients stated for 'vegetarian dishes' on two separate occasions while dining on the north coast.
I almost broke a tooth on a piece of chicken bone while eating a vegetarian dish called 'curried vegetables' that was supposed to only contain 'vegetable stock'.
I had absolutely no legal recourse so I resorted to plaintive correspondences.
PATTY ADS
My hyper vigilance in such matters led me to inquire about the Mother's 'ready to eat' without the meat' power patty ads.
They said that the filling only has seasoned soy but they omitted the crucial fact that the crust has beef fat.
A Mother's representative fervently explained that the newspaper ads neglected to mention the beef fat ingredient because the press releases and launch information for the power patty both state that the crust contains beef fat.
She said that anyone who inquires about the ingredients will be informed of this. She further claimed that 'everyone' knows that all flaky crusts are meat-based (I didn't).
Another thing about their 'wholesome meal for a healthy lifestyle' advertising slogan bothers me.
The statement 'without the meat' suggests that the entire patty is meat-free, but the company played with the semantics of the word 'meat' by defining it as flesh.
So, technically, the power patty is meat-free. However, it is not free of meat products because it contains beef fat. In other words, they are not vegetarian patties.
But Mother's is not unique. Save for perhaps one place, all non-meat patties use meat products in the crust. Why feign 'the vegetable alternative', use soy filling and then beef fat in the fried crust envelope?
And, what about vegetarians, don't they deserve a wider choice of places and things to eat? Unfortunately, there are no stringent mechanisms for the accurate labelling of unpackaged and/or restaurant foods and products.
If you are any kind of a vegetarian or if you are avoiding certain products for moral, spiritual or health reasons, you have the right to know (upfront) what goes into things like fast foods, restaurant foods, baked products, cakes, icings, various patties and all food products. You shouldn't have to inquire or speculate.
Dr. Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
