FW: The source of silver foil on sweets (fwd)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

Venkatraman Chandrasekaran sent me this a while ago to post to the list
but I didn't get around to it.  My apologies to him.

My take on this is you have to ask and make sure if it is a problem with
whoever supplies you with sweets.  I asked a local shopkeeper about it and
he said Jain Munis (he is a Jain himself) had campaigned against this
practice a long time ago and that the people he knew used a machine like a
press to make it.  It is more efficient and he assured me more hygienic.

But ask and make sure.

--
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
> The Source Of Silver Foil In Sweets FROM "TARANGA" MAGAZINE

USA, Aug 23 (VNN) - A couple of years ago, Indian Airlines, the domestic
air-carrier of India had issued instructions to its suppliers to supply
sweet without silver foil called VARAKH. Do you know why?  Silver is widely
used for various purposes in the market today. Silver is considered precious
and its utility is enormous.
The reason behind this is that silver reflects back 95% of the light energy
that falls on it. The silver foils used for edible purposes is called VARAKH
So what's so special about VARAKH?  This is what I would like to bring to
your notice.  If you keenly observe this VARAKH under a microscope don be
perturbed if you happen to see traces of blood, stools and saliva of a
cattle or ox.
VARAKH is a silver foil and we have no 2nd questions on this, but to prepare
this VARAKH important parts of the CATTLE/OX is made use of.  Intestines of
Cattle/OX are obtained from the slaughterhouse. This is obtained after
butchering to death the cattle/ox for beef and the part, which cannot be
consumed: the intestines are pulled out of the animal and handed over to the
manufacturers of VARAKH.  Before handing over the intestines, they are
washed in the slaughterhouse to get rid of the blood and other remains on
these intestines in the limited facility that is present in the
slaughterhouse.  We are not sure how neatly this job is carried out.
Intestines are cut into small pieces and then are bound together as pages in
a notebook.  A silver block is placed in the middle of these bound
intestines, and the whole thing is placed in a leather bag and sealed.
Experts, who know how to make VARAKH, pound the bag with wooden sticks, till
the entire bag flattens out. The silver block would by this time be turned
into silver foil.
This Silver foil would now be separated from the intestine pack and will be
placed on paper.
This is VARAKH, which reaches the market ready for use.  Even staunch
vegetarians, who shy away from egg, unknowingly consume this as a part of
sweet, pan and areca nut. Some unknowingly consume this because of the
additional taste that VARAKH provides.  Now the question is "Why the
intestines of the cattle/ox?
Why not something else?"
The reason behind using the intestines of the cattle/ox for preparing the
VARAKH is because of the elasticity of the intestines. They do not get cut
even after a severe pounding.
This aspect is brought out in the magazine "Beauty without cruelty" and the
Television show of Maneka Gandhi, "Heads and Tails". In India, on an average
an estimate indicates that 2,75,000 kilos of "VARAKH" is consumed. Can you
estimate how many cattle/ox are sacrificed for just a bit of taste?  If you
are surprised as I am, after reading this article please inform as many as
possible so as to ensure that we unknowingly don't consume beef.  I would
like to thank the authors of this article in Taranga, a weekly magazine in
Kannada, for enlightening us.
Hope u stop eating beef now !!