I'm assuming a lot of companies, esp UK ones, reformulated away from tallow because of Mad Cow concerns. Is this correct or is there another explanation for the move?
Reformulations?
- Thread starter Neurotopia
- Start date
$$$$$$
The government decided to regulate tallow and the soap manufacturers had to decide if continuing to use tallow was going to be worth all the extra grief, as well as cost, of regulation. Some will continue to use it if it is essential to their product (e.g., Mitchell's Wool Fat) and others won't.
The wool fat referenced in the soap's name isn't tallow - it's lanolin. Lanolin is not a part of the soap base like tallow is; it's added in as an emollient. Mitchell's could easily reformulate to a vegetable base, add in lanolin, and still call it "wool fat" soap. There are a number of goat milk bath soaps on the market that do just that. Let's hope Mitchell's doesn't, though.
Someone with a better understanding of medicine can correct me, but I doubt one could get mad cow simply from shaving, I think it must be ingested; if you're eating shaving soap, you've got some bigger things to worry about than mad cow IMO.
More like angry PETA than Mad Cow. It's all about the bottom line. They think they can make a higher profit with a vegetable base. I wish they had asked my opinion first.
If he's eating shaving soap, he probably already has mad cow.
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- #8
Technically prion proteins are present in nervous tissue and in very scant quantities in muscle, so no it shouldn't be a problem. However, other prion diseases are known to pass through small cuts in the skin (see kuru) so I can see where it might be a concern, especially for a UK that is sensitive to this issue.
I am pretty sure even mad cow cant live through the boiling process it takes to render cow fat into tallow. 
Prions are proteins which are succeptible to be degraded into totally harmless amino acids under the alkaline conditions (sodium hydroxide/potassium hydroxide) used in the conversion of fatty acids to soaps. I am therefore quite sure that it is very unlikely that you should catch Creuzfeldt-Jackobs disease (human variant of Mad Cow disease) when shaving with a tallow soap even if you were to cut yourself and some residual sopa were to seep into the wound.
Now THAT would be a huge disaster that would leave many disappointed the world over!!!
I'm not implying that any reformulation is in the offing; honestly, I wouldn't know if one is, anyway. Mitchell's seems pretty proud of the fact their shaving soap has been made from the same formula for over 100 years, so hopefully they'll just keep on keeping on. I'm just pointing out that people who assume the label "Wool Fat" means the soap is perforce tallow-based - and use that assumption as a basis for believing that Mitchell's cannot reformulate to a non-tallow base and still call it "Wool Fat" soap - are relying on an erroneous interpretation of the term, and are giving themselves a false sense of security.
I am pretty sure even mad cow cant live through the boiling process it takes to render cow fat into tallow.
Pretty sure boiling doesn't harm prions (which is why you're not supposed to eat calves' brains now even if cooked), but alkaline substances will denature (uncoil) the proteins and "kill" them.
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- #16
This. You have to autoclave the everloving **** out of them to kill them, a normal boiling won't even phase 'em. But just because they don't do well in an alkaline environment doesn't mean a wary government wouldn't put restrictions on it, hence the question.
