Saturday, March 31, 2007

Rhubarb Crumble Cannibalism Terror

While shuffling round the supermarket, checking ingredients in products in an obsessive compulsive manner - which I do, obsessive compulsively - I noticed that the microwavable rhubarb crumble contained something called L-cysteine.

Immediately suspicious of this, I checked on the internet and was staggered to find out that this food additive is made from human hair. I would have thought that food additives made from human parts were the stuff of wild urban legends, but really, it is. What's more, this seems to have been widely reported already. It's an old story in fact. So does everyone else think this is fine? Because really, there is absolutely no chance of me eating anything containing an additive made from human hair. I feel quite ill at the thought. But I feel quite ill at the thought of a lot of foods, really. I have many problems with food.

If you're looking for an online magazine to which you can submit your fiction, I recommend taking a look at Neonbeam, which is edited by my friend Sammi.

And when you've done that, go to my Lonely Werewolf Girl myspace page and add it as a friend. And buy the book from my website. These are gentle reminders just now, but as the date of publication approaches I'll become more insistent about it, probably ending up outside your house shouting up at the windows, and throwing stones.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:05 am

    Thanks Martin. :o)

    I'm surprised they are allowed to put an additive containing human hair in food. I mean, where do they get it from? Do they have hair donation centres? Do they sweep it up from hairdresser's floors? Is it taken from dead people or stolen in the night from men who, on falling asleep, have hair but then mysteriously wake up bald? Personally I live on a diet of tomato soup and Belgian beer. While not exactly healthy it keeps the weight down and, to my knowledge, I'm not consuming human hair.

    So what are you going to eat instead of crumble now? We don’t want you wasting away.

    Sammi x

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  2. Hmmm, it could be a problem. I might just fade away completely. But as far as I can see, it's only the microwave crumble which contains this deadly substance. The ones you bake in the oven seem OK. (And if they're not, I don't think I want to know about it.)

    Tomato soup is a big component of my diet too.

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  3. Some so called foods contain PEG - Polyethylene glycol. The stuff used to preserve the Mary Rose and other archaeological finds.

    Hair seems more horrible though.

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