Danish embassy issues MARMITE WAFFLE Following yesterday's news that the Danish authorities had deprived Brit expats of their favourite yeast-based nourishment, the country's London embassy has seen fit to clarify the position vis-à-vis Marmite. According to this official statement, neither Marmite nor its Oz rival Vegemite are banned in Denmark, because they've …
All they are saying is that Marmite is claiming that it has added vitamins. It is claiming to have health benefits. Anything that says it has health benefits is claiming to be medicinal, therefore it has to be approved by their department that deals with medicines.
Since Marmite has not applied for approval, the sale of Marmite has not been approved. Therefore, it is not allowed to sell Marmite.
That was not so difficult, was it?
Health food shops flipped their wigs when the EU implemented a food supplements directive. The reason for their ire? That supplements had to scientifically prove they were safe in order to be approved products.
It's better than nothing but doesn't go anywhere close to far enough IMO. Stuff like homeopathy may be safe but it's also utterly useless. And it seems that chinese medicine stores are setting up shop in virtually every shopping centre these days with signs promoting various bogus treatments. Where is the regulation for this?
Well, the health food shops flipped their wigs because of the cost of testing - what did you expect, they are businesses after all. By many measures fashion and homoeopathy are both useless, are you going to call for fashion to be made illegal? Chinese medicine stores are exactly that and I'll bet you they could rustle up a heck of a lot of first class research to show that their medicines work. All you would have to argue with is percentages.
Phooey - laws are for real problems.
It's quite simple, if you manufacture a product that claims medicinal properties then the burden of proof should be on you to prove your claims and to prove the product works. Given that Holland and Barrett is packed with supplements, herbs and vitamins which didn't fall foul of this regulation, I'd say it was a fuss about nothing.
I don't even know where to start with your comparison between fashion and chinese medicine and homeopathy. The consequences of wearing flares are slightly less dire than eschewing a proper evidence based medical treatment for quackery. The rules that require supplements prove themselves safe should also be required to prove themselves efficacious beyond placebo and those rules should apply whether we're talking chinese medicine, herbal supplements, vitamins or anything else of that nature.
Holland & Barrett campaigned against the EU directive -"They're perfectly safe and they've been on sale for decades" -Peter Aldiss, managing director of Holland and Barrett - but didn't succeed in stopping it . So, business is business, I presume they had to comply.
That doesn't make it a particularly useful law though.
....I don't care what people say about them. If an entire government can come together in perfect, simple, logical harmony to rid its country from a disgusting product like this, it's alright by me.
My girlfriend on the other hand was genuinely quite shocked, I tried to help ease her consternation by explaining, thus, "It smells like sh*t, it looks like sh*t and I can only imagine it's trying its best to taste like sh*t."
Her, quite defiantely: "Actually, it looks like it's because of the fortification."
Me, "Then it's fortified with sh*t as well."
She gave me the finger and not in any good way...
I expect Denmark like most countries has regulations with regard to food supplements, i.e. things which are not foods in the traditional sense but supplement food with nutrients like vitamins, iron and so on. Is marmite a food? Well you eat it for sure, but it also claims to be good for you, to be fortified with vitamins and so on. Therefore perhaps it falls on the wrong side of the fence as far as Danish law is concerned.
The simple answer would be to submit the product for approval and see for certain if it is approved and if not on what grounds it was denied. In the absence of that, we get the usual hysteria from the likes of the Daily Mail who never let facts, reason or mitigating circumstances get in the way of a good story.
If ever Marmite did apply for sale in Denmark and was refused, the problem has an easy solution - don't fortify the stuff with vitamins. Marmite's alleged health giving properties are somewhat moot anyway when the stuff is yeast sludge mixed with salt. I enjoy marmite on toast with a cup of tea but I don't do it for my health.
Besides how many expats are there in Denmark who wouldn't be flying home to the UK at least once a year. A jar of Marmite lasts for so long that it's not hard to carry a jar over.
If you don't fortify Marmite then vegans and vegetarians in particular (or anyone with an inability to absorb vitamin B12 such as the elderly) could suffer problems because of a lack of vitamin B12. The effects of a deficiancy of B12, if not treated include permanent damage to your nervous system.
Vitamin B12 has low levels of toxicity even when taken in high doses.
So how do vegetarians in Denmark survive without marmite? Is there a blackmarket in this life giving substance? Or could it be that there are other sources of vitamins? I bet most vegetarians are taking supplements anyway.
It's all academic of course since the story is puffery. I expect if marmite were submitted it would get a rubber stamp and that would be that.
and extend this display of ofermod to banning McDonalds, KFC and other foul concoctions that pass as food, sorry, that are thrust upon us as food, here in the EU.
Ofermod? Tolkien fans will know what I'm talking about. As will (ironically in view of the Tolkien connection) any Danes reading this.
...but until Marmite is approved by the relevant Danish ministry.......
......it is "banned" from sale in Denmark.
You are better off being a sheep sh•gging expat in Denmark, than a Marmite eating expat in Denmark, as bestiality has already been approved by the Danish authorities, as have sheep.
I'm on my way out.....
a) We are continually told we can't stop this or that because its against european laws, but every other european country does manage to ban things (especially British things)
b) While vitamins seem to have to prove they are ok the poisons used to sweeten various products (squashes etc) seem to be imune - despite several studies linking them to brain cancer.
c) I don't have a nice big van to deliver marmite bought from me on the internet.... sure this would allow a swift trip around the danish ban (and it is effectively a ban)
***a) We are continually told we can't stop this or that because its against european laws, but every other european country does manage to ban things (especially British things)***
That is because many of those "European laws" that we "cannot do anything about" are the very same laws which have been pushed through in Europe by British representatives (while being unsuccesfully worked against by representatives of many other european countries)!
***b) While vitamins seem to have to prove they are ok the poisons used to sweeten various products (squashes etc) seem to be imune - despite several studies linking them to brain cancer.***
You will probably find that those poisons popular in the Uk are not on the market in many European countries. In a related matter you will find Formaldehyde in most Schampo sold in the UK while the very same products on the continent does not include it (as it has not been allowed for decades abroad). Typically in the UK factory workers are not allowed to get in contact with the schampo etc as it is cancerogenic.
***c) I don't have a nice big van to deliver marmite bought from me on the internet.... sure this would allow a swift trip around the danish ban (and it is effectively a ban)***
No it is not a ban. It is a requirement that products which contain certain substances must be following proper procedure for sale. In the UK similar legislation means that some products need a particular description and perhaps even warning on them for being allowed to be on the market. Furthermore many products in the UK must also be sold only by specifically ratified sellers. For example pharmacies etc. The only real difference is that in the UK we do not necessarily have exactly the same substances that our government agencies worry about as in the rest of the world. Another example of this was a few years ago when "snus" (which was perfectly legal in many north european countries) was not allowed to be sold in the UK? Reason given - it was tobacco. A bit inconsistent to apply a ban specifically only for the reason that it contains tobacco - when most other tobacco products are still not banned in the UK?
"...I don't even know where to start with your comparison between fashion and chinese medicine and homeopathy. The consequences of wearing flares are slightly less dire than eschewing a proper evidence based medical treatment for quackery..."
Not in my street!
I'll get my Ozwald Boateng...
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