I was reading this article about Cargill and Glucosamine and I had a couple of thoughts…or more about the EU farce concerning legislation.
Supply chain concerns become No.1 draw for vegetarian glucosamine, Cargill says ..published in Nutraingredients
Glucosamine has become a commodity market, but concerns about quality and sourcing makes increasing room for a top-shelf niche product like Cargill’s Regenasure vegetarian glucosamine, the company said at the recent SupplySide West trade show in Las Vegas, NV.
What got me was the reference to GMO and wondered why Cargill would raise the question of GMO corn producing GMO Glucosamine! We all know in the EU that Vitamin C must come from non GMO corn/Sorbitol and that Fructose and Glucose from the USA had this issue. So why flag it up and have the Glucosamine treated the same way as Vitamin C? Now Cargill is documented in saying
“Cargill, Incorporated produces REGENASURE® Glucosamine HCl through a
unique process that utilizes a non-GMO, non-toxic and non-pathogenic strain of
Aspergillus niger, produced through a dextrose based fermentation; whereas all
other known commercial glucosamine products are derived from shellfish waste.”
So I assume they are going to state that the corn used is non-GMO too ?
The next thing that I poicked up on was the reference to China and the old Melamine Scare…Fear is the key to marketing ( Currie Blog..fear is the key) . A bit weak I thought trying to scare us about those Chinese and their tricks. many of us know that in joint care that USA Chondroitin has been one of the biggest fakes !
I do agree with the fact that shells come from all over Asia ( Currie Blog ..Glucosamine Questions) and this is missed by the EU legislation who insist on Glucosamine shell sources being registered with the EU. We said this was impossible and would lead to Glucosamine smuggling . Cargill say that the shellfish glucosamine needs extar chemical processing and we wish that the EU, DEFRA and the FSA would recognise that Glucosamine is NOT a fishery product but a speciality chemical made from animal sources. If they did this then we would have a better supply chain and no Glucosamine in Europe that comes in despite the regulations in place.