Passing this right along, as it may be of interst... ;)~

--- In ShadowLore@yahoogroups.com, StrawDead@a... wrote:
Eat your heart out, Dracula - scientists turn blood into biscuits
and
chocolate

By Karyn Miller, Chris Stephen and Michael Mainville
(Filed: 01/08/2004)


It has always been the staple and highly nutritious food of vampires
even if a diet consisting entirely of blood could hardly be
considered balanced. But now scientists have found a way of turning
it into biscuits, yoghurts and drinks.

The scientists, from the Voronezh State Technological Academy in
Russia, say that mass production could begin in six months. They
also
say that their blood-based foods taste as good as the real thing.

Dr Ludmila Antipova, the head of the academy's Department of Meat
and
Meat Products, said: 'When we were first working on the project we
had 16 students involved, and the main problem was that they would
keep eating the experiments.

'People should not be apprehensive. When you eat meat, there is
blood
in that.'

Dr Antipova and her team decided to find a way to use blood 12 years
ago after learning that a local meat plant discarded up to seven
tons
of it daily.

This week, The Telegraph visited their laboratories. There, staff
presented a snack - 'chocolate'-filled biscuits and a vanilla-
flavoured 'yoghurt' drink.

The 'chocolate' filling was made from cow blood cells, sugar and
chocolate flavouring. The 'yoghurt' drink contained no dairy
products, but was plasma extracted from cow blood and treated with
bacteria to give a creamy appearance, with sugar, preservatives and
flavourings.

The products looked and tasted like chocolate biscuits and vanilla
milkshake, it was impossible to tell that either contained blood.
They were delicious.

Blood has long been used to make black pudding, but for this new
range of foods it is separated into its components: red cells, white
cells, platelets and plasma.

The plasma is used to make yoghurt and fermented drinks.

The recipe for dairy yoghurt is followed: plasma is substituted for
the milk and heated. Bacterial cultures are added to it, and a
yoghurt-type substance forms.

To make chocolate, a paste of red blood cells is exposed to oxygen
to
turn it brown. It is then substituted for the cocoa butter or
vegetable fats with which chocolate is usually made. Coffee drinks
are made using a similar method.

The processed food industry has been identified as a potential
market
because the blood products are up to five times less expensive to
manufacture than their dairy equivalents.

The products contain virtually no fat, and red blood cells are a
rich
source of iron. Yoghurt made with plasma contains up to twice as
much
protein as dairy yoghurt.

It is not yet clear whether the food products will go on sale in
Britain.

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency said: 'It is quite
difficult to say anything at present without knowing a lot more
about
these products. This is a whole new territory for us.'

She said that the foods would be tested and assessed before they
were
allowed to go on sale in Britain.

Eric Dickinson, a professor of food colloids at the University of
Leeds, said: 'It doesn't sound implausible. Blood is a cheap, under-
used source of protein.'

Representatives from the British food and drink industry expressed
doubts about the popularity of food made from blood, however.

Maurice Walton, the executive director of the Society of Dairy
Technology, which represents dairy workers, said: 'I don't think
that
these products would take off here in the UK. Consumers would be
fearful and distrustful. There would be worries about BSE and other
diseases.'

Dr Antipova accepted that consumer reaction could pose a
challenge: 'You don't have to say that it is a blood product - you
can say that the product contains blood materials.'

Austen Davies, a black pudding producer from Cumbria, was bemused by
all the fuss. 'I wouldn't be put off in the slightest,' he said.

'Blood is a life force - of course it's good for you. 'No part of an
animal's body is a less valid source of nutrition than another.'


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?
xml=/news/2004/08/01/wblood01.xml


Damien
FL Branch Head of ShadowLore
Aim: Strawdead Yahoo: Balderloge
_http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShadowLore _
(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShadowLore/)



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