Monday, October 23, 2006
The outrageous ban on Vegemite
Is this any way treat one of our best friends in the world? Apparently the United States Food and Drug Administration is so in a twist about the admittedly yucky Aussie spread that it is searching tourists who might be smuggling in a jar. Why does the FDA care? The usual brilliant reason:
The great Aussie icon - faithfully carried around the world by travellers from downunder - contains folate, which under a technicality, America allows to be added only to breads and cereals.
Judging from the comments sections on the newspaper web sites, this has not helped our standing Down Under:
What morons the Americans can be - Vegemite, a well known product for 70+ years and tested on Australian humans for that long. This is a healthy product fools! Americans dont eat it anyway, right?
Just ridiculous.
Now, I have had Vegemite. We had an Australian nanny for a year who was kind enough to alert me to this outrage. I happen to think it is foul, but then again, she thinks peanut butter is foul. But searching Australian tourists for Vegemite? How is it we can profile Aussies for Vegemite and not young Muslim men for box cutters? Free the Vegemite now!
8 Comments:
By 
Fausta, at
Mon Oct 23, 10:45:00 AM:
I like Vegemite. For people who have soy allergies like myself, it's a good substitute for flavoring stir-fry.
You can get Vegemite and Marmite at Wegman's. I better go and get some.
By 
, at
Mon Oct 23, 10:56:00 AM:
When vegemite is outlawed, only outlaws will have vegimite.
By GreenmanTim, at
Mon Oct 23, 11:35:00 AM:
Will we also see imported copies of Men at Work's "Down Under" expurgated to remove the offending line: "He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite Sandwich?"
"The horror, the horror..."
By Charlottesvillain, at
Mon Oct 23, 03:10:00 PM:
GMT, I was just thinking the very same thing!
By , at
Wed Oct 25, 04:39:00 AM:
Vegemite is made from the by product of the production of beer. We Aussies are so tough that we not only enjoy gallons of beer, in alcoholic strengths far greater than you Yanks, but we can also stomach the foul black sludge left behind in the process of making it.
By , at
Wed Oct 25, 12:08:00 PM:
The ironic think is that Vegemite is manufactured by Kraft, a American company. BTW, I like vegemite. It is the anti-jelly.
By , at
Thu Oct 26, 10:50:00 AM:
Like what i read in the book SHAKEDOWN HOW THE GOVERMENT SCREWS YOU FROM A to Z by JAMES BOVARD i mentioned how the FDA held up delveries of the defibulator becuase of paperwork delays i mean FDA stands for FEDERAL DEATH ADMINISTERS
By aem, at
Thu Oct 26, 01:03:00 PM:
www.Snopes.com
Claim: The U.S. has banned all imports of Vegemite due to the presence of folate.
Status: False.
