• ZMoney@lemmy.world
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    9 days ago

    The necessity of this substance is far from proven, and it uses a palladium as a catalyst which introduces potential heavy metal contamination. This is a venture capital-backed startup. We simply have stricter standards in the EU.

    • stray@pawb.social
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      8 days ago

      Do you have a source for their use of palladium? Wikipedia says it as well, but I can’t find where that information is coming from. I’m mostly interested in what they’re using it for, and whether other manufacturers of E471 are doing the same or using another method. Livsmedelsverket says it can be an animal product, but Apeel says they make theirs from plants. It’s apparently also possible to make from palm oil, so that’s neat. :|

      • ZMoney@lemmy.world
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        8 days ago

        So E471 is a whole class of hydrocarbons. I was using Wikipedia as a source too. Broadly speaking, catalysts containing heavy metals are often used for synthesizing organic molecules, regardless of the feedstock which can be deeived from plants or animals or whatever. Ideally, the catalyst does not get incorporated into the product, but generally quality control has to be enforced by regulations because corporations love cutting costs by glossing over safety standards.