{"id":39026,"date":"2017-06-22T03:00:51","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=39026"},"modified":"2017-06-21T08:53:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T12:53:28","slug":"the-eu-regulators-want-to-get-rid-of-a-belgian-food-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2017\/06\/22\/the-eu-regulators-want-to-get-rid-of-a-belgian-food-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"The EU regulators want to get rid of a Belgian food tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Carol Off<\/a> reports for CBC Radio’s As It Happens<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Belgian Fries, traditionally served with mayonnaise
(photo by vokimberly at Flickr)<\/p><\/div>\n

Belgium’s government says a new proposal by the European Union could spell disaster for the country’s world-famous fries. <\/p>\n

“We adore our fries the way we make them, so just let us do so for the next 100 years, because the last hundred years it wasn’t a problem, so why should it be a problem now?” Flemish Tourism Minister Ben Weyts told Carol Off, host of CBC Radio’s As It Happens.<\/p>\n

Traditionally, Belgian fries, are twice fried in fat. First, they go in raw to generate a soft, fluffy interior. Then they are refried at a higher temperature to create a crispy, golden exterior.<\/p>\n

This process sets Belgian fries apart from soft and chunky British chips, or the sleek and thin fries preferred by the French.<\/p>\n

But the European Commission is proposing that all potatoes be blanched \u2014 briefly cooked in boiling water \u2014 before they hit the fat.<\/p>\n

It’s part of an EU effort to curb exposure to acrylamide, a chemical that can form in foods cooked at high temperatures, and has been linked to cancer in animal tests<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

On the heels of the Belgian backlash, the European Commission has insisted the proposal is a suggestion, not a ban.<\/p>\n

“The commission has no intention whatsoever to ban Belgian frites \u2014 or any other frites, for that matter,” spokesperson Margaritis Schinas said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“Instead, the commission is preparing a new regulatory measure to oblige food business operators to apply a code of practice to reduce acrylamide in food, as it is carcinogenic.<\/p>\n

“We are all very attached to the rich culinary heritage we find in our member states.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more information on Belgian Fries, see The One and Only Original Belgian Fries Website<\/em><\/a> (which hadn’t been updated with this latest existential threat when I checked it).<\/p>\n

H\/T to Chris Myrick for the link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carol Off reports for CBC Radio’s As It Happens: Belgium’s government says a new proposal by the European Union could spell disaster for the country’s world-famous fries. “We adore our fries the way we make them, so just let us do so for the next 100 years, because the last hundred years it wasn’t a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35193,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,62,74,66],"tags":[523,337,661],"class_list":["post-39026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bureaucracy","category-europe","category-food","category-health-science","tag-belgium","tag-eu","tag-regulation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/favicon.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hpV6-a9s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39026"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39031,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39026\/revisions\/39031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}