is my boca making me loca?

oh, gaze upon the beauty of that veggie burger! it looks so healthy and fresh and flavorful…but what if lurking beneath all that soy goodness were neurotoxins? what? neurotoxins? in a veggie burger?!? well, so says this article in mother jones and a study that was conducted by the cornucopia institute. they found that most non-organic veggie burgers currently on the market are made with the chemical hexane, an EPA-registered air pollutant and neurotoxin.

from mother jones:

In order to meet the demands of health-conscious consumers, manufacturers of soy-based fake meat like to make their products have as little fat as possible. The cheapest way to do this is by submerging soybeans in a bath of hexane to separate the oil from the protein. Says Cornucopia Institute senior researcher Charlotte Vallaeys, “If a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane.”

If you’ve heard about hexane before, it was likely in the context of gasoline—the air pollutant is also a byproduct of gas refining. But in 2007, grain processors were responsible for two-thirds of our national hexane emissions. Hexane is hazardous in the factory, too: Workers who have been exposed to it have developed both skin and nervous system disorders.

this is some scary stuff!

here is the list of veggie burgers found to contain hexane:

Amy’s Kitchen
Boca Burger, conventional
Franklin Farms
Garden Burger
It’s All Good Lightlife
Morningstar Farms
President’s Choice
Taste Above
Trader Joe’s
Yves Veggie Cuisine

and the ones which are safe:

Boca Burgers “Made with organic soy”
Helen’s Kitchen
Morningstar “Made with organic”
Superburgers by Turtle Island
Tofurky
Wildwood

basically, i will only buy organic or even better, throw a portabello mushroom on the grill at our next get together! seriously, i don’t mean to make light of this. i always have boca and morningstar items in the freezer and i find this information very disturbing.

the full report from cornucopia is available on the mother jones website (towards the bottom, in a pdf). i suggest we all read it!