Bad news on beans and lentils

stuff.co.nz

Agricultural practices down under are having unexpected and unfair consequences for vegetarians:

When lentils, chickpeas, beans and other pulses are a vital part of your everyday diet, going without is a problem.

This is the situation Dr Guy Hatchard and his family have found themselves in, due, he says, to stringent regulations, introduced last year by Biosecurity New Zealand, a division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, regarding the importation of dried "seeds" for consumption.

"We are vegetarians," says Hatchard. "We eat a lot of pulses because they are full of protein, but these regulations mean that many of the beans or lentils you buy now are as hard as bullets. They can't be cooked."

Hatchard, a doctor of economics, former director of the Natural Food Commission and former market-analysis director for global company Genetics ID, says heat treatment to prevent the possible spread of exotic pests is rendering the products inedible and, in the case of beans such as mung beans, unsproutable.

He believes this discriminates against vegetarians and other groups for whom beans, lentils and other pulses are an important part of the daily diet. And lack of labelling by some retailers means people may be unknowingly buying heat-treated products then having to throw them away, without knowing why they won't cook.

Biosecurity NZ has requested funding to look at alternatives to heat treating but that has yet to be finalized.

Categories: legumes | agriculture