There are a few hidden traps for vegetarians who may not be aware that animal products may have been used in the production of certain foods and drinks.

Wine is one such example, which many people just assume is vegetarian. But it may or may NOT be vegetarian. It depends on how the wine was produced and what finings were used in the production process.

The only way you could be sure of it being vegetarian is if you could find wine specifically labelled as being vegetarian wine.

According to Wikipedia: “Finings are substances that are usually added at or near the completion of the processing of wine, beer and various non-alcoholic juice beverages.” So even fruit juice isn’t necessarily “safe” – yet another trap for the unwary vegetarian.

Wiki also says: “Historically, various substances such as egg whites, blood, milk, and Irish moss have been used as finings. These are still used by some producers, but more modern substances have also been introduced and are more widely used, including isinglass, bentonite, gelatin, casein, carrageenan…

“…In the absence of ‘animal products used here’ labels, vegetarians may be unaware that the processing of a commercially produced beverage may have utilized animal based finings: either gelatin, casein, albumen, or isinglass.”

Given the rise in interest in vegetarianism and the strictness of accurate labelling these days, perhaps there’s a strong case to be made for introducing “animal products used here” labels.

For more information about finings see:
Wikipedia: Finings

The BBC also have a good article about the increasing availability of vegetarian and vegan wines and other drinks in supermarkets:
BBC - Food - Vegetarian and vegan wine and drinks

We’ve already looked at the question of food safety in eggs, and the advances that have been made in the last decade in making them salmonella-free. Now it’s time to look at the related question of the conditions that eggs are produced in. Does it make any difference where an egg comes from?

There are several different types of egg farming, defined primarily in terms of how the hens are housed:

• the laying cage or “battery” system, in which hens are kept in tiers of cages with a floorspace per hen of 530cm², or less than the size of an A4 sheet of paper (although since 2003, new cages in the UK have to have a minimum floorspace of 750cm², which is nearly half as big again). The eggs roll down a chute away from the bird;
• the barn or “perchery” system, where the birds are able to move around inside a barn (prior to 2002, barns could house 25 birds per square metre; builds since then are allowed only nine birds per square metre) and perch (there must be 15cm of perching space per bird);
• the free-range system, where henhouses must comply with the barn standard and the birds must have continuous daytime access to runs covered mainly with vegetation, with no more than 2,500 birds per hectare (which equates to four per square metre);
• Organic eggs must come from hens kept to free-range standards on organic land and fed only organic feed.

You’d think that the free-range and organic birds would be healthier than the others, wouldn’t you? Surprising though it may seem, birds kept in barren cages may in fact have some health advantages over free-range birds. According to a 1997 study by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (a UK Government body), disease control and protection from predators is at its highest in the cage system. (Free-range hens are able to walk through their droppings, and to come into contact with wild birds.) It’s also easier to provide caged hens with a stable environment.

On the other hand, some of the findings of that study may be flawed. Although the FAWC study found that the confined space per hen suppressed aggression, campaign group Compassion in World Farming suggests that the massive feather loss seen in caged birds is due partly to birds in neighbouring cages pecking each other’s feathers out.

A visit to a battery farm by a team from the Independent on Sunday and CIWF in April 2008 found that the birds in Britain’s biggest egg farm were being kept – perfectly legally – in cages stacked five tiers high, five birds to a cage, in the midst of overwhelming smell and noise. Many of the birds had suffered feather loss and wing damage, in scenes reminiscent of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Channel 4 series, Hugh’s Chicken Run, about the miserable conditions in which broiler chickens were kept.

Small wonder, then, that free-range eggs are becoming increasingly popular. In early 2008 retail sales of eggs in the UK exceeded 50% for the first time. However, eggs used in catering and in preparation of other foods are still mostly battery-produced – so free-range production in the UK is still only about a third of the total.

An EU directive is due to come into force in January 2012 banning barren cages (although slightly bigger “enriched” cages with perches will still be allowed). But despite the strong scientific evidence that the welfare of egg-laying hens suffers in barren cages, many European countries are calling for the directive’s enforcement to be delayed by 10 years – and some producers want it to be abandoned altogether. Currently, of the 300 million egg-laying hens in the EU, more than three-quarters of them are kept in battery farms.

The British Egg Information Service is apparently neutral on the question of whether free-range or battery is “better” - perhaps understandably, in view of its mixed membership. The British government, on the other hand, has come down strongly in favour of the EU directive being implemented as planned.

An increasing number of retailers and food manufacturers seem to be shifting their weight in favour of free-range eggs. CIWF have instituted an award scheme, the Good Egg Awards, to encourage businesses to stop sourcing their eggs from battery farms. Sainsbury’s and Waitrose have already won awards, and Morrisons look set to follow (although Tesco and Asda have yet to make any similar commitment). Hellman’s UK, noted for their mayonnaise, and Cadbury - who use egg in their Creme Eggs - recently joined them.

Back to the original question: does it make any difference where an egg comes from? It depends on your point of view.

As things stand, there doesn’t seem to be anything to suggest that free-range eggs are any more likely to be salmonella-free than battery-produced ones. And the jury’s still out on whether organic produce really brings health benefits to the consumer. On the other hand, the ethical aspect seems pretty clear. Birds kept in free-range or even barn conditions are better off than battery hens.

So next time you’re buying eggs, think about whether the few extra pence for free-range might not be a price worth paying.

With the news of a salmonella outbreak across the UK and Ireland, my thoughts were jerked back to the late 1980s and the furore about salmonella in British eggs. Remember the then junior Health Minister “Eggwina” Currie saying that most British egg production was infected – and then being forced to resign because officials in the Department of Health were unable to substantiate her claim?

The latest outbreak doesn’t appear to be egg-related. All the same, the outbreaks of the late 1980s have led many people to associate salmonella with eggs. Even today, people often wonder whether it’s safe to eat raw or lightly cooked eggs because of fear of salmonella poisoning.

We’ll be looking at the closely related question of how eggs are produced soon. For now, let’s concentrate on the health issues surrounding the eggs themselves.

You’ll have noticed that a little red lion with a crown started to appear on British eggs a decade or so ago. This isn’t the first time that the lion mark has been used; the last time was for 15 years from 1956 to 1971, when the Egg Marketing Board used the symbol to boost flagging sales of eggs.

The British Egg Information Service revived the Lion Quality Mark in 1998. The new Lion Mark shows that the eggs meet certain strict standards. Crucially, all pullets destined for egg-laying flocks have to have been vaccinated against salmonella if their eggs are to bear the Lion Quality Mark. The farms also have to be independently audited for food hygiene standards, and the eggs have to bear “Best before” dates and identifying marks to enable their farm of origin to be traced.

All the evidence seems to show that the scheme’s been a remarkable success. Incidences of salmonella in the UK’s laying flocks were down to just eight per cent in 2007, against an figure of more than 50% in several EU countries. As for eggs themselves, a test of 28,000 UK-produced eggs by the Food Standards Agency in 2004 showed that not one of the eggs contained salmonella.

Nevertheless, it’s still worth taking precautions when handling eggs. A few key points to remember:

• The salmonella bacteria can live on the shell as well as inside the egg (both the white and the yolk) - so wash your hands after they’ve come into contact with any part of the egg
• Salmonella can pass to and contaminate surfaces that eggs come into contact with - so keep eggs separate from other foods in the fridge, and clean any working surfaces, containers and utensils that come into contact with eggs or their packaging
• Cooking will kill the bacteria, but only if it’s done for long enough!
• If you’re cooking eggs by themselves - by whatever method - both the white and the yolk must be cooked until they’re solid to eliminate any risk of infection
• If you’re using eggs as an ingredient in another dish, the dish should be cooked until it’s piping hot throughout

The Food Standards Agency recommends that raw or lightly cooked egg shouldn’t be eaten by the elderly, very young children, the sick, or pregnant women. (You can find out more details of their advice from the FSA website.)

This still leaves the question of what to do when you’re making something that requires raw or partly-cooked eggs, such as mayonnaise, hollandaise and béarnaise sauces, or even soft-boiled eggs. FSA advice is that this is a personal choice, but that you should be aware of the risk of food poisoning.

So if there’s a risk, how are professional caterers able to make their own mayonnaise and egg-based sauces? Answer: they use pasteurised egg. Like pasteurised milk, pasteurised egg has been heated to a very high temperature for a very short period of time, killing bacteria without cooking (and thus without altering the taste of) the foodstuff. Pasteurised egg is almost identical to raw egg, although the white is slightly opaque.

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy to find pasteurised egg in retail outlets. A BBC News story back in 2000 reported that scientists had discovered a way to pasteurise eggs in the shell, and enthusiastically predicted that the eggs could be on supermarket shelves the following year. But, according to the BEIS website, pasteurised egg is still only available in commercial quantities and not through supermarkets - although the FSA says that it’s available in some supermarkets.

So if you fancy dipping soldiers into your egg yolk at breakfast, be aware that they might launch a surprise attack on you later…