Tobacco as a Protein?

Londy3

It must come as no small surprise that tobacco, whose current worldwide use as a smoking material kills some three million people every year, "may in time become one of the world's principal sources of protein for human consumption and livestock feed." So stated no less an authority than the World Health Organization's Farm and Agriculture Organization in 1981. Nevertheless, tobacco as a protein source has received so little publicity over the years that most of us are still largely unaware of it's potential to feed a hungry world.

To read more 
https://www.acsh.org/news/1992/01/01/food-from-tobacco-a-well-kept-secret

Everything has to be political.

mfresa

I'd be curious to see how they extract it and what the amino acid profile is... Just curous, mind you.  Not sure I would eat the stuff.

PappyJoe

Interesting. Maybe cook it like mustard greens or kale?

qmechanics

Or shred it into a canned pipe salad sold as a protein supplement? Guys I think we might have come across a way around the FDA.....

AnantaAndroscoggin

Maybe not  . . . the "F" in FDA stands for "Food" after all.

Bloodhound61

I had a completely different “F” in mind.....

ghostsofpompeii

I've got a couple blends that's I'm not too happy with, so maybe I'll mix them up with ground beef and see what kind of burger they make.

Londy3

Y'all are funny

Londy3

Seriously, there could be something to this. The leaf in its natural crop state before processing is considered an agricultural product. It is a raw agricultural commodity with stem and whole leaf in-tact, and is therefore not taxable either. It's treated differently. Folks, this could be a way around the deeming regulations.

Bloodhound61

@Londy3, you could be on to something there. If the taxation/regulation issue comes down to how the tobacco is marketed for use, it could be sold in tins of ‘premium, flavored mulch” and avoid the smoking issue altogether.

Londy3

Exactly. So, I am starting to see places that sell the whole tobacco leaf. You have to do some prep work but it's an agricultural product your buying. This is getting interesting.