Pure craziness

Love it or Hate it?

Well in the Crazy world that we live in the Danish authorities have taken the choice away from the Danish people & have taken it upon themselves to ban Marmite. 
And why have they banned it?
Supposedly because it has too many vitamins !! See I told you it was crazy.


Here's the article I read.

Marmite has been a divisive product since its invention in 1902. It was a German scientist who discovered that the waste product from beer production – brewer’s yeast cells – could be concentrated, bottled and eaten. But the dark paste was truly embraced and adopted by the Brits who have loved it, hated it, and confused foreigners with it for more than 100 years.

News broke earlier this week that the spread had been banned in Denmarkbecause it breaks food laws passed in 2004, governing the sale of products fortified with added vitamins. Marmite is enriched with Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin (Vitamin B3), Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid. But the Danes believe that it is better for us to get our vitamins from fruit and veg. So Marmite now joins Vegemite, Horlicks, Ovaltine and Farley’s Rusks – all relegated to contraband in Denmark.

So widespread was the breakfast-spread furor that the Deputy Head of the Nutrition Division in the Danish Embassy in London felt obliged to step forth and issue a statement on the matter. The statement explained that “Neither Marmite nor Vegemite and similar products have been banned by the Danish Food And Veterinary Administration.” However, “fortified foods with added vitamins, minerals or other substances can not be marketed in Denmark unless approved by Danish food authorities.” So while the statement clarified that Marmite had not been banned, as such, it by no means silenced the debate.

• It ‘defies common sense.’ One of the many good things about Marmite is that it “instils the virtues of thrift,” mused columnist Tom Clark, in the Guardian. Not only is it made from a waste-product, but its taste is so strong that we use the spread sparingly. “And whereas Bovril, the closest thing to a rival, is gut-wrenchingly rendered from cow carcasses, Marmite is and always has been vegetarian.” Clark wanted to know — What’s not to like? Ok, so perhaps it might be better to get your vitamins through a carefully balanced mix of fruit and veg, “but no sane regulator of diets for pasty, podgy Europeans ought to make the best the enemy of the good.”

• Ex-pats fearful for culinary future. The Daily Mail reported on the Britons living in Denmark who are now “fearful for their culinary future.” “What am I supposed to put on my toast now?” asked British advertising executive Colin Smith, who has lived there for six years. “I still have a bit left in the cupboard, but it’s not going to last long.” As the Mail reported, he and others fear they will have to subscribe to “a black-market trade in the sticky brown stuff, smuggled in from nearby Sweden or Germany where it is still legal.” According to the paper, the ban highlights “the absurdity of the EU” which states that it is a legal product, but which has no authority over nation states about what can and cannot be sold.

• ‘They don’t like it because it’s foreign.’ Lyndsay Jensen, a Yorkshire-born graphic designer in Copenhagen, told the Guardian: “They don’t like it because it’s foreign. But if they want to take my Marmite off me, they’ll have to wrench it from my cold dead hands.”

• Why aren’t cigarettes illegal too? “How the Marmite-y have fallen,” quipped Moata on Blog Idle at New Zealand’s Stuff magazine. Moata went on to point out the interesting fact that cigarettes are not illegal in Denmark, but Marmite is. “You have to be 18 to buy them, but smokes are legal in Denmark. Oh, but that’s right, nicotine and arsenic aren’t vitamins, are they?” Moata suggested that the Danish authorities should allow a special dispensation for those people, “like me, who are committed to a diet completely devoid of vitamins, to each vitamin-fortified food. For if I live on bottles of Coke Zero and potato chips then surely this might balance out the dangerously high levels of vitamins present in Marmite?”

• Denmark’s hypocrisy. As the Telegraph reported, Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne, who represents Burton-upon-Trent, said that she had urged Marmite manufacturer Unilever to submit an application for Marmite to be approved in Denmark, adding: “Marmite lovers should be able to enjoy their favourite spread wherever they are in the EU.” The temporary ban has triggered calls by Marmite fans for a boycott of Danish goods. On a more serious note, it has also prompted Reprieve, a charity defending the human rights of death row prisoners, to urge the Danish authorities to shift its focus from the savoury spread to the actions of a Danish pharmaceutical company, which provides lethal injection drugs to America. Reprieve investigator Maya Foa said: “It seems incredible that the Danish government is capable of banning a harmless spread, but not of taking real action to stop a Danish firm’s drugs being used to deliberately kill people.” Although, as the Embassy’s statement explained, Marmite has not been banned in Denmark, it has not been authorised, whereas the production of lethal injection drugs has.

Personally I Love it