Quorn Chicken Style Burgers

Having seen quite a number of prime time television advertisements I have decided to do a post on Quorn products. Although the advertisements would lead us to believe that Quorn is a healthy alternative to meat (meat & soy free;  good source of protein; No Cholesterol;  Heart Foundation Tick & No Artificial Colours or Flavours)  I have come to the conclusion that they win my award for 'ADVERTISING BY OMISSION!'
After studying the ingredient lists of a number of the Quorn products it's truly very disappointing to see from 1-3 forms of MSG in the products I studied. The Quorn mince has only 3 ingredients but the 3rd is Barley malt extract (i.e. a form of MSG).
The Chicken Style Burgers are exactly that- 'Chicken style'. No real chicken in sight! With only 48% actual mycoprotein the other 52% is a mixture of Textured Wheat protein (3rd on the list & a form of MSG), canola oil, natural flavour & yeast extract (both forms of MSG).
The Quorn Sausage rolls also have 2 forms of MSG listed on the ingredient list- i.e. textured wheat protein,  & barley malt extract.
Where did the 'real food go!' Certainly not in these industrial  novelties.

                                                             

Here is a brief description of the industrial process:
The mycoprotein used to produce Quorn is extracted from the fungus Fusarium venenatum, which is grown in large vats.The fungus is grown in continually oxygenated water in large, otherwise sterile fermentation tanks. Glucose is added as a food for the fungus, as are vitamins and minerals to improve the food value of the product. The resulting mycoprotein is then extracted and heat-treated to remove excess levels of RNA.

The product is then dried and mixed with chicken egg albumen, which acts as a binder. It is then textured, giving it some of the grained character of meat, and pressed either into a mince (resembling ground beef), forms resembling chicken breasts, meatballs, turkey roasts, or into chunks (resembling diced chicken breast). The different tastes and forms of Quorn are results of industrial processing of the raw fungus.

Actually, after looking up the type of fungus used, it might be worth taking a closer look at the products actual "food" value..." Fusarium graminearum, is a plant pathogen which causes fusarium head blight, a devastating disease on wheat and barley." Hmm...not an appetising thought!

The CSPI observed that while a mushroom is a fungus, Fusarium is not a mushroom, and stated, "Quorn's fungus is as closely related to mushrooms as humans are to jellyfish.".