3.8% of vegetarian festival dishes contain meat

Meat-free dishes served at Thailand's annual vegetarian festival may not always be as healthy—or vegetarian—as they seem, according to new findings.

Dr. Supakit Sirilak, acting head of the Public Health Ministry's Department of Medical Sciences, said vegetarian foods are imported or produced locally, but not all products were labeled.

Some also contained dairy products or were even contaminated with meat because producers did not properly clean the machinery usually used to make meat products, he added.

The Ministry of Public Health has been testing food offered at the annual festival since 2013.

This year, the ministry's Department of Medical Sciences and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) visited factories and distributors to test samples of four popular vegetarian foods: imitation meat, pickles, noodles, vegetables, and fruits.

The test results were as follows:

1. Imitation meat:

3.8% of the samples were contaminated with meat.

2. Pickled vegetables (mustard, radish):

Benzoic acid levels exceeded safety standards but were down from last year.

3. Noodles (rice noodles, vermicelli, etc.):

34.5% of the samples contained sorbic acid and 20% contained synthetic organic dyes – additives banned by the Ministry of Public Health because they can cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

4. Vegetables and fruits (bok choy, kale, long beans, celery, peppers, radishes, white cabbage, cabbage, oranges and rose apple):

20.8% of samples exceeded safe chemical residue levels.

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Dr. Supakit urged people to buy labeled vegetarian products and to carefully examine vegetables and fruits before consuming them.

The vegetarian festival runs until Sunday (October 25).

See also:

Company makes fortune turning jackfruit into pork

Vegetarianism in Thailand

Source: nationthailand.com