Does Marmite contain "folate" ? Alas I only have Vegemite in stock, so can't check if there is a business to be had, running vitiman B substitute to starved Aussies in the Bay Area...

Does Vegemite survive heat well? It appears from the story that if you baked it into the bread it would be legal.

Does Marmite contain "folate"

Oh yes, folate is another term for folic acid which is listed on the jar of marmite in front of me. The perverse thing is that supplementary folic acid is something you will not be able to avoid in the UK as there are plans to add it by law to flour (the subject of a Samizdata post a while back if I remember).....

Just a guess... I think that the law in question is Title 21 Part 172.345(Link). FDA background can be here(Link).

First Prohibition. Then the War on Drugs. Then no Brie de Meaux, then no Vegemite. The Americans really can be tiresome at times.

What is the difference between vegimite and marmite

Kevin - Marmite is a delicious, smooth spread. Vegemite is more solid than Marmite. Basically, Vegemite is similar in taste, but vile in texture.

Heh. The health Nazis in Oz won't shut up with their demands for the compulsory addition of folate to various foodstuffs. Despite the contradictory positions, they and the American bureaucrats imposing and enforcing regulation to ensure folate is supplemented only in certain kinds of foodstuffs constitute exactly the same beast - it's just excited by different stimuli.

I should mention that I've ever been a fan of Vegemite.

Folate - the flouride of the 21st Century.

Still...marmite. A mystery, no longer.

Bloody expensive, though.

Scramaseax - unless you eat your Marmite/Vegemite by the spoonful, the differing densities of texture are irrelevant. Most spread less Vegemite on their toast than butter - perhaps you need to slap a little more Marmite on to get the same (not particularly pleasant) effect.

Do we mind the USA banning Vegemite? I thought this forum liked countries making their own rules rather than depending on what everyone else thought. I assume the EU approves of Vegemite, which means that Germany, the UK or Poland are not capable of banning Vegemite unilaterally.

P'raps for your uneducated palate it's the same :P

And as it's only me who eats marmite in the house, it's by the fingerful when the knife can't reach anymore. That little tub is transparent once I'm finished with it :D

The dumbest thing about this is that Vegemite's main competitor - Peanut Butter - kills about 100 Americans a year and is perfectly legal...

I thought this forum liked countries making their own rules rather than depending on what everyone else thought.

Savlon was a major issue a few years ago for Myers of Keswick on Hudson Street in the Village. Now vegemite is to be smited by the mighty statist mice of the trivia troops of law enforcement. Osma will be heartsick.

Perhaps I should hurl an expensive pack of PG Tips into New York harbour or better still a pack of Typhoo into Boston harbour when I get to NH. Doubtless I would be cited for a violation of the street code. Wearing a native american set of feathers and nought else wouldn't cut it either.

I will now go and make a marmite sandwich asap. May they all go forth, conjugate and be fertile.

Given two options, do something stupid or leave it alone, you can always count on government to choose the former.

Another bit of governmental stupidity. Vegemite is not contagious, and no known life form other than an Aussie can eat the stuff anyway, so why we did this escapes me. I suspect it may be a government plot to subjugate the American people since it is likely that Vegemite is at least partially responsible for Australian feistiness.

The other possibility is that the American food industry is concerned that Australian Vegemite will cut into the vast market for strange tasting consumer disliked food spreads --- Cheez Whiz comes to mind.

Sorry mates.

I may not agree with what you eat, but I will defend to the death your right to eat it.

P'raps for your uneducated palate it's the same :P

Wait, wait...you could buy Vegemite here in the States?

Why was I not informed?!?!?!

It's an outrage. Please consider signing my petition at www.savevegemite.com and help save our Aussie icon. WE ARE NOT HAPPY LITTLE VEGEMITES

I like Marmite but Vegemite is brown heaven. I feel war should be declared forthwith.

Ych yr fie ! I hate all three-

Vegimite Marmite and their big beefy brother Bovril.

I have a friend whose favorite sandwich is peanut butter, followed by a layer of thin sliced garlic sausage, then smeared in marmite.
We dont invite him over for dinner very often, for obvious reasons.

I support the ban, but don't think we've taken it quite far enough. We need to use the stuff against the Guantanamo inmates.

James, if USA government bans Vegemite it means the US people have banned it. They can make this an election issue if they want. In this country the EU stops us from deciding important issues like banning vegetable spreads for ourselves. We have to do what Brussels tells us on such matters.

Pete, the point is that no one has the right to tell you what you can and cannot consume. A dictatorship of the majority is not freedom.

James: There's a slight difference there; AU evidently wants to require its addition, while the US wants to prohibit it.

It seems pretty daft to me to do either, but at least with the prohibition regulation, one can add it if one desires more folic acid in one's diet, whereas when it's required to be added, there's no taking it out.

(The fact of regulating it is daft enough, but not having an exemption for imported luxury goods - and yes, a specialty foodstuff should count - or even clearly-labeled individually-imported foods is bad drafting. If they're going to regulate, it should be done competently, is my position.)

Doesn't anybody else see the massive irony in the Australians whinging about another country banning a food product.

I had to have a secondary cutoms screening over a jar of Marmite and a packet of Cough Mixture once.

Utterly off topic, but I can now disclose pictures of Perry's last vacation:

http://www.glumbert.com/media/carshoot

Okay, so in the US, folate can only be added to "breads and cereals".

So take the bureaucrats solution. Vegemite is a yeast product, right?

Re-label it as "grain free bread".

I believe that Marmite (the original yeast extract) is pure yeast extract whereas Vegemite contains 'vegetable extracts' whatever those may be. Marmite is smooth and shiny whereas Vegemite is dull and almost gritty.

Marmite is clearly the superior product. Before any aussies compalin I should point out that the version of Marmite sold in Oz differs significantly from the pure UK product.

For my amusement, I always used to give my American colleages a pot of Marmite and tell them to put in on toast. I never advised them how much, which meant they invariably applied it like peanut butter, with a predictable result.

Well, I know that they ask people crossing the border if they have it, because it counts as an animal or vegetable product. The States have always been a bit tricky about importation of that. So it's no shock that tourists are being asked about it.

Preventing importers from bringing it in via other channels is a different issue. I've certainly seen it for sale in all sorts of supermarkets before, and continue to have seen it the past few months.

It wouldn't totally surprise me if this story is mistaken, and mostly about tourists being stopped at the border because Customs realized that Australians often carry yeast extract with them.

Vegemite contains live yeast and some vegetable extracts, yes? So of course tourists are going to be asked about it and you can't take it over the border. Just see what they do about fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, or fungus if you try to take that in too.

I'd really like some real confirmation of this.

Vegemite contains live yeast and some vegetable extracts, yes?

If it is anything like marmite which is about 11% pure salt, I would be suprised if anything in it is living.......

If it is anything like marmite which is about 11% pure salt, I would be suprised if anything in it is living.......

Right. In any case, it comes in sealed containers just like peanut butter, no? So why do the border nazis care?

I'll add this to my already copious list of reasons we need to dismantle the FDA (as Gingrich reportedly once suggested).

I've had Vegemite. I've had Marmite. I've even had Promite (whatever the hell that is). They all taste like simple, salty bleargh.

For all those Marmite Smooth-o-Philes : no doubt one could feed a turd through a fine mincer to give it a "smooth" texture. Despite its attractive textural characteristics, I still wouldn't spread it on my toast. What's your point?

In any case, it comes in sealed containers just like peanut butter, no? So why do the border nazis care?

Good question. Peanut Butter is banned on carry-on baggage at the border, too, for that matter.

You really have to suspect the details on a story written up in Australia based on some Australian tourists who tried to carry on some Vegemite. I really don't believe that it's banned in general. I do believe that it's banned in carry-ons (just like peanut butter), and possibly in checked luggage, and that that started these stories.

I think we have a bit of a myth here. I brought five tubes of Vegemite in through LAX last week. Nothing said. Also, I can buy is at the local health food shop here in Fort Collins.

It's a total urban legend. See snopes: http://www.snopes.com/food/warnings/vegemite.asp

You need to check your own link, Annie. Kraft has indeed stopped importing Vegemite into the USA until the issue is resolved with the US FDA but individuals can bring it in for themselves. Snopes is wrong, or at least quite misleading.