Did you really avoid eating food with possible blood in it?

by JH 18 Replies latest jw friends

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  JH

  When I joined in the mid 80's, many JW's really read the label to make sure there were no blood by products in the food.

  Then a few years later, they didn't make a fuss about that anymore.

  I guess that today, JW's eat just about anything.
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  JH

  Back then, I remember brothers going to eat pizza only in restaurants where they were sure the chef used a certain kind of pepperoni without blood by products.

  A few years later, it seemed as if we could eat pizza anywhere.
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  mrsjones5

  Between 1979 and 1985 my family would go out to our favorite Prime Rib resturant after the memorial. My mother always ordered her prime rib medium rare. Yeah you could see the meat juice was laced with blood. She ate it anyway cuz that's how she liked it. I guess it was OK cuz we never went with any other jw families so there was no one there it rat her out.

  I like my steaks medium rare too.
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  done4good

  Aside from avoiding the obvious stuff, (like who would eat head cheese anyway???), I don't remember any witnesses ever concerning themselves with the issue.

  j
• 

  mrsjones5

  (like who would eat head cheese anyway???)

  My grandma (a jw until she died) used to make the stuff, she and my grandpa ate it. I wouldn't touch it. Is there blood in it?
• 

  cabasilas

  I remember eating Fish Fillet sandwiches at McDonalds because the rumor was their burgers had blood in them. This was back in the mid-60s.
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  done4good

  My grandma (a jw until she died) used to make the stuff, she and my grandpa ate it. I wouldn't touch it. Is there blood in it?

  I could be wrong, but I remember hearing this was something to avoid because it could not be bled properly.

  j
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  jaguarbass

  I remember when I was a youth in the 60's. I couldnt eat Mars candy bar products, Milkyways, 3 muskateers Mars bars. They said those candy bars had blood in them, I remember sneaking them from time to time.
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  undercover

  In my area, back in the 70s, it was the "Great Peanut Butter Scare". It got around that certain brands of peanut butter had blood in them. I remember that JIF was one brand singled out. All the JW moms threw out their JIF peanut butter and started buying off brands.

  I don't remember a large scale aversion to pepperoni pizza but I do remember, vaguely, that a couple of people who moved into our hall would not eat pepperoni pizza...they always got plain cheese pizza. I only remember because they were somewhat taken aback by our ordering and eating it. I don't remember any confrontations, discussions or questions about it, only they were a little upset that we had no qualms about eating pepperoni. One of those long lost memories that was lodged deep in the recesses of my brain that resurfaced after reading this thread.
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  blondie

  The lethithin scare was supposed to be cleared up by this info:

  *** w63 2/15 pp. 123-124 Carry Your Own Load of Responsibility ***

  MISUSE OF BLOOD

  Another field in which decisions must be made involves the misuse of blood. Today the world misuses blood in so many ways that it is not always easy to discern what products contain it. The Christian may feel that it would be fine if the Watch Tower Society would make up a list of all the food products and medical preparations that contain blood. But the Society has not done so for good reasons. There are many substances found in blood that are also found elsewhere. This is to be expected, since human and animal bodies are not the only creations produced from the earth. For example, while lecithin is found in blood, it is also derived from soybeans, which happen to be the common commercial source of most lecithin. If there is doubt about a product, it is up to the individual to investigate by inquiring of the manufacturer. He cannot expect a brother in the congregation to rule on the matter for him; the brother did not make the product and neither did the Society. The substance may have been derived from blood or it may not. He must bear his own load of responsibility.

  *** w79 3/15 p. 31 Questions from Readers ***

  Lecithin is found in blood. And many processed foods have lecithin as an ingredient. Is such lecithin obtained from blood?

  No, there is no reason for thinking so.

  Lecithin is a natural substance that has many industrial uses because of its affinity for both oil and water in an emulsion. It is often used commercially in ice cream, candies and baking products, as well as in some cosmetics and chemical products. But what is the source of this lecithin?

  Lecithin is a phospholipid present in all living cells. The 1977 EncyclopediaAmericana points out: "The highest concentrations of lecithins are found in brain and nervous tissue and in red blood cells. They are also present in large quantities in egg yolk and in some types of plant seeds."—Vol. 17, p. 147.

  The fact that blood contains lecithin has been of concern to some Christians who have seen lecithin listed as an ingredient on food labels. The Bible commands Christians to ‘abstain from blood.’ (Acts 15:28, 29) They should thus avoid eating unbled meat and foods made with blood, such as blood sausage or blood pudding. Since red blood cells, though, contain concentrations of lecithin, some Christians have refused to eat any product having lecithin listed as an ingredient. Others have felt compelled to write to manufacturers to check on the source of the lecithin used in certain foods.

  However, TheEncyclopediaAmericana continues: "Commercially, lecithin is used as an emulsifier in the food industry, particularly in the manufacture of margarine and chocolate. Lecithinforindustrialusesisobtainedfromeggsorasaby-productinthemanufactureofsoybeanoil." (Italics added.)

  Because commercial quantities of relatively inexpensive lecithin can be obtained from eggs or soybean oil, there is no reason for any manufacturer to seek to have lecithin extracted from blood. By way of illustration: Red blood cells also contain molecules of iron. Yet how senseless it would be for a manufacturer to consider extracting iron from blood so he could make cooking pots or other iron products when the same substance (iron) can be obtained from iron ore at a fraction of the cost.

  The fact is, then, that commercial lecithin does not come from blood. So Christians need not be concerned about blood when they see "lecithin" listed on the label of some food product.