Anyone smuggling Vegemite?

[oz_mark]

From News

There's no accounting for taste | NEWS.com.au

There's no accounting for taste


October 21, 2006 12:00am

THE US has banned Vegemite, even to the point of searching Australians for jars of the spread when they enter the country.

The bizarre crackdown was prompted because Vegemite has been deemed illegal under US food laws

 

[simongr]

This from the people that put cinnamon sugar on french toast and eat salad between courses....

 

[Dave Noble]

This from the people that put cinnamon sugar on french toast and eat salad between courses....

The traditional etiquette is that salad is a course on its own and should come after the meat course

Soup
Fish course
sorbet
meat course
salad
desert
cheese

Dave

 

[NM]

Australians should retaliate by banning the importation of Budweiser .

 

[Gazza]

Look

You have already tricked them into thinking Fosters is a beer, isn’t that enough

Gazza

 

[bigjobs]

they are a peculiar lot ...

i 'smuggled' some over recently during the liquids/gels/ointments etc ban ... my american friends were very grateful.

 

[beardoc]

I regularly took Vegemite to the USA.

I wonder exactly why, as they refer to in the news story, that only breads and cereals may be fortified with folic acid? Why not anything else?

 

[NM]

I regularly took Vegemite to the USA.

I wonder exactly why, as they refer to in the news story, that only breads and cereals may be fortified with folic acid? Why not anything else?

It probably has something to do with the strength of the lobby groups supporting the grain and bread industries. Folate is known to have positive health benefits for pregnant women (and their developing babies), so many women will specifically seek products that include Folic Acid. If the grain and bread industries can maintain a monopoly on the addition of Folate, then they benefit greatly from the sale of such products.

 

[Groundfeeder]

You have already tricked them into thinking Fosters is a beer, isn’t that enough

I thought Vegemite was the black stuff they scraped off the insole of blokes thongs. Is this ban going to extend to having to de-thong going thru security??

 

[simongr]

It probably has something to do with the strength of the lobby groups supporting the grain and bread industries. Folate is known to have positive health benefits for pregnant women (and their developing babies), so many women will specifically seek products that include Folic Acid. If the grain and bread industries can maintain a monopoly on the addition of Folate, then they benefit greatly from the sale of such products.

I am guessing therefore that they havent banned Vegemite per se - just anything that is folate enhanced?

 

[Dave Noble]

I am guessing therefore that they havent banned Vegemite per se - just anything that is folate enhanced?

Indeed. but for tabloid journalism, a non headline statement that food products containing Folic acid are banned wouldn't be the sort of article to write

Dave

 

[robertz]

they are a peculiar lot ...

i 'smuggled' some over recently during the liquids/gels/ointments etc ban ... my american friends were very grateful.

No need to smuggle this illicit item into the US. We could buy Vegemite in our local Farmers Market type of store. Althought they only had the 100g version, it was a nice taste of home everytime we saw it on the shelf.

Rob

 

[Mal]

And there is now even an online petition available:

We Are Not Happy Little Vegemites!


Hmmm. (I don't endorse that site of course ... no idea what/who is behind it).

I have a suspicion this has been blown out of proportion. Still investigating though.

 

[NM]

A few months ago for an activity for an event my kids were involved with, we put together a Mythbusters night. One of the myths were investigated was that Vegemite is not food - its axle grease or boot polish. We had kids testing which worked better as a lubricant for roller skates (sorry Cabbage74 - you would not have likes to watch that!), and polishing old boots with Vegemite.

So I wonder if I can get away with smuggling my Vegemite into the LOTFAP in a Kiwi Boot Polish tin?

In the end we found the axle grease theory was plausible, while the boot polish characteristic was confirmed. We found a whole new reason for kids to take Vegemite sandwiches to school - they can come in handy just before parade/assembly if your shoes do not have quite the shine they need to pass inspection :shock: .

 

[Tiki]

This from the people that put cinnamon sugar on french toast

Mmmmmmm, yummy! Not on my diet but still yummy!

 

[simongr]

You know as a side bar to this discussion for a while I couldnt figure out what LOTFAP meant - and I made up my own definition - Land Of The Fat American People - kind of works in this discussion.

@Tiki For me French toast is a savoury dish filled with herbs and pepper and salt with bacon - I just dont understand sweetening it.

 

[oz_mark]

I have a suspicion this has been blown out of proportion. Still investigating though.

I really am not up on US law, but would not be surprised if somewhere someone interpreted the law in new way. Sort of if the law says fortify grains/bread then that means you can't fortify anything else.

 

[NM]

@Tiki For me French toast is a savoury dish filled with herbs and pepper and salt with bacon - I just dont understand sweetening it.

In our house, french toast is usually covered with Golden Syrup.

 

[cabbage74]

A few months ago for an activity for an event my kids were involved with, we put together a Mythbusters night. One of the myths were investigated was that Vegemite is not food - its axle grease or boot polish. We had kids testing which worked better as a lubricant for roller skates (sorry Cabbage74 - you would not have likes to watch that!), and polishing old boots with Vegemite.

Hehe, sounds like a good night. I love Mythbusters. It really wouldn't worry me using vegemite on skates, unless of course they were mine.

Mal.

 

[NM]

Hehe, sounds like a good night. I love Mythbusters. It really wouldn't worry me using Vegemite on skates, unless of course they were mine.

Mal.

Well I was going to use mine, but they have fully enclosed bearings. So it just happened that Mrs NM's skates have the half-open bearings so they got the Vegemite treatment and mine were used as the "control" set for comparison purposes.

Now that reminds me, I really should clean them up :shock: .

We also did the Mentos and Coke experiment, which was a great hit with the kids. As well as testing myths about things that float and sink (like a can of Coke vs Diet Coke, frozen vs thawed oranges etc), and testing if you can stick a needle into an inflated balloon without it bursting. All great fun indeed.