Guanylate-is this vegan? No way!

[Beth B]

I personally do not eat guanylate, also know as disodium Guanylate, it is bat feces collected in caves. I know the bats are well cared for and not mistreated to get the feces, but I have a very delicate stomach for anything gross in my food. I have notices this ingridient in so many products, including Zatarains rice and all flavored chips (I do not eat any packages foods at all) and my friend insists guanylate is vegan. Please settle this argument!
It is not on the Peta list of animal products. Maybe we should add it. I wont eat it for religious reasons(eating feces goes agaist Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, all three major religions. Its unclean! Even if it doesnt hurt the bats, its feces. What next What if dog turds tasted good? Would people eat them? Yuck!

[Erin Pavlina]

That's pretty gross. I've never seen that ingredient listed on anything. Wow. That's a new one. Plech!

[Beth B]

I an so sorry I forgot Judaism!
Bat Guano is certainly not kosher!

[Beth B]

Its in Libbys "vegan" canned chick pattys, vegan gravys, doritos(yuck) all barbeque potato chips (with or without natural flovarings) its in almost all soups. I think I have seen it in veggie burgers too. Zatarains rice dishes, The Original Top Ramon Oriental Flavor- I have written them and they insist the Oriental Flavor is 100% vegan, yet they wrote it is NOT Kosher. Hows that for an answer, and if you ask them why bat guano is Top Ramon they will say because it is tasty. I guess so, it is a main flovoring in Doritos.

[Vanessa]

that is just disturbing! Talk about fate, I was just on the website to check out the ingredients of this vegetable soup I had bought and low and behold it contains disodium guanylate. Bleh. I'm so glad I looked first before I ate it.

But are you sure about what it being bat feces? What are your sources?

[Beth B]

Unfortuatly I am possitive. I found out at a make-up party. I cant remember the brand because I dont wear much makeup, but they explained that it is in lipstick and mascara and food, and this perticular compnay doesnt use any animal products.
And here at in Tucson AZ we have Colossal, the tour guide regularly have tours and they explain all about "The Honey Of Bats" and all the many uses for it. They sell tons of it every year.
If you smell mascara, then smell Doritos, you can smell it! I cant even smell it without gagging.
It has several names but all contain guanylate, it is easily confused with glutimate, so watch out, and please call and writ all those companies who use it and lets all educate our friends.
The funny thing is, to most people it is so tasty, that after you tell then they make a face and still munch away!

Technically speaking, it this vegan? I would say not, but it does not harm the bats, but I dont want that on my lips eyes or food!

[Erin Pavlina]

I think it's not vegan because it's an animal product, it comes from an animal. But, yeah, you're right, either way who wants to eat that!

Since we were just talking about this and I had never seen the word guanalyte before, I DID notice it on a product in the supermarket the other day. Can't remember which one. But as soon as I saw it I said, "Oh man, there it is!! Bat poo poo!" Yuck.

Obviusly no one knows they're eating bat poop. I can't wait to tell my family. Muhahahahahaha. ;)

[liana]

Wow, I've really found out a lot about this stuff. It's like that chapter in Fast Food Nation about how they do artificial flavors.

Here's the company take on disodium guanylate (http://www.mratcliffe.com/tusa/ribotide.html).

A very interesting article about MSG, which is apparently related to disodium guanylate: (http://www.moscowfoodcoop.com/archive/msg.html)

And the big question? The Vegetarian Resource group says it's vegan. (http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm#tvp) This site says it might come from sardines or yeast. (http://www.lactose.co.uk/milkallergy/foodadditives600.html)

At this point, if it came from guano, I'd have been able to find something on it, I think. :) So it sounds more like an urban legend to me.

[alexis]

i noticed disodium Guanylate on a pack of chicken stock cubes sitting on my aunt's kitchen shelf...i didn't try to tell her anything...my uncle was around and i could have gotten myself embroiled in a heated argument ending with me stalking home and wishing i had thrown something at him...LOL! :rolleyes:

[Christa]

I asked "askjeeves.com" this & the response that I got was:

"disodium inodinate is a flavor enhancer derived from dried fish or dried seaweed. A by-product when processed in disodium guanylate, another food enhancer."

Either way, it sounds like it may not be vegan, but at this point, dried fish almost sounds better than bat dung!

[alexis]

well, it may be dried fish or something else...but i think it's a great way to scare people off eating Doritos or something... whatever...it's still GROSS!

[Christa]

Another thing that I found was a company called "AJINOMOTO" based in Japan, I believe. Their web site states that they produce 1/3 of the world's supply of disodium guanylate and that the source of their guanylate is glutamic acid, which is derived from kelp. They state that glutamic acid is the flavor source of kelp.

I'm a little leary at this point b/c of the other reference to fish - who knows whether it came from fish or kelp in each product.

[veganerd]

i used to live just a vew miles from colossal cave .... not that that makes me an authority on this but i do know that guano is gathered and sold for use as indoor plant fertalizer. a quick search on google will verify that......but if you type in bat guano food that is all you will find. if you type in disodium guanylate you will find no reference to bats at all. so im thinkin this is a vegan myth. kinda like hogs blood in ketchup...cigarettes being vegan.....beef comming from cows...etc...

[VOW]

I've just done an extensive web search on "guanylate." In various forms (including disodium guanylate) it is a protein derivative that appears to be present in most living cells. It is related to MSG, monosodium glutamate.

The confusion is in this word's similarity to the word "guano," which is indeed bat feces.

I question the source of information, and would insist upon definitive references from scientific sources before taking the word of "somebody at a makeup party" before I'd make a wholesale dismissal of all food products showing this as an ingredient.


~VOW