Hungry? How About Some Cow Stomach?

Some of the UK's favourite chocolate bars (or candy, if you're American) have, since 1st May last year, been manufactured using rennet. As you all know, rennet is a chemical found in calve's stomachs, and is used to make whey.

What's all the fuss about, you might ask? How many of us knew what was in our confectionary before this news broke anyway? Well, I don't know what's in most chocolate bars; in fact, I doubt many chocolate products contain much in the way of cocoa. But what I didn't expect to hear was that something as wholesome and innocent (ha ha) as a Twix or Snickers bar was pumped full of something out of a baby animal's guts.

Masterfoods, who make Twix and Bounty - as well as Mars bars, Maltesers and Bounty - say the new constituent is due to a change in sourcing ingredients. The Vegetarian Society has branded the decision "incomprehensible".

Incomprehensible indeed. At a time when consumers are increasingly concerned about what's in their food, you have to wonder: why?