In 1998, the Japanese asked the Codex Alimentarius Commission, whose committees have "harmonized" hundreds of food standards since the 1960s, to set a standard for soy sauce that would mirror the Japanese one. They wanted to make what they thought were important distinctions between traditional soy sauce, which is brewed and fermented from soybeans, and a popular American knock-off that contains an extract of soybean or some other protein, flavor enhancers, and artificial coloring.

This is my favorite part of the article, where our friends at Hogan and Hartson, who incidentially are paid by the American creators of fake soy sauce, prove a negative:

The Japanese labeling proposal has not gone down smoothly with the International Hydrolyzed Protein Council, whose members make and supply the basic ingredient for the U.S.-made competitor. "These products have been manufactured here and around the world for decades and sold as soy sauce, and there have been no complaints from consumers," said Martin J. Hahn, executive director of the trade group and a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP.

Well, I am complaining, and I suggest that you do too. This problem of fake-ass products has existed in the marketplace for too long.

In 1906, the U.S. Pure Food and Drugs Act passed--that law prohibited adulterated or misbranded food. But it did not allow the government to set standards for food products. It also allowed "distinctive name" products, such as "Bred-Spred." There remained no labeling requirement for these distinctive name products, so individuals had no way to know the true contents. The quality of food actually declined. Egg noodles were sold in deceptive ways--one product was just normal noodles placed in a yellow bag so that they would appear to be yellow. There were also meat products that were deceptive. The packers would actually put chicken in a glass jar with a thin veneer of white meat on the outside with dark meat on the inside. Bizarro tonics were marketed, such as "Warner's Safe Cure for Diabetes" and Hamlin's Wizard Oil.

The distinctive name exemption also created bad practices. One of the best examples was "Staley's Maple Syrup," a product that actually only contained 1.7% maple syrup. Simply adding "Staley's" made this okay.

In many ways, we're in the same situation again. If you go to the supermarket and buy syrup or jam, chances are it is mostly corn syrup. If the makers of these products were forced to actually label their crap correctly, it wouldn't be able to compete. Would you buy "Maple-Flavored Corn Syrup?" We'd have higher quality products.

So, here's my complaint letter:

Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:19:39 -0400 (GMT-04:00) To: mjhahn@hhlaw.com Subject: Soy Sauce Complaint [u] Cc: skrzyckic@washpost.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Earthlink Zoo Mail 1.0 X-ELNK-AV: 0

Dear Mr. Hahn,

I am writing to complain. I do not like the idea that La Choy and other companies can label their products as soy sauce when they are not brewed, especially when the product appears to have the same ingredients as Pepsi. That doesn't fit with consumer expectations, and including a small label that it is not brewed will not help. Ultimately, it will force the real producers of this product to water down their products to compete with cheaper brands that really are mislabeled.

If you look at the history of low-quality food, you'll see that many misbranded products tend to drag down the practices of legitimate companies. Look at maple syrup, jam, etc. Many of the products on the market are just corn syrup because they've beaten out the real products as a result of being mislabeled. If they were clearly labeled what they were--maple flavored sugar--they wouldn't be able to compete.

Ms. Skrzycki, I love your column and I read it regularly. But I am also writing to complain about reporters who quote lobbyists and trade groups for the proposition that "there have been no complaints from consumers." First of all, this is a negative proposition...unless one has been sitting at the dinner table of every consumer, how could one state that this is true? Second of all, it is highly unlikely that no one has complained. And now, I have complained. So there.

Sincerely,
Chris Hoofnagle

Ya know, when I first read this I thought it was kinda silly. But it stuck with me, and here it is a month later and the other night the conversation at dinner somehow turned to soy sauce and I ended up talking about this with my kids and I have to say: I agree with you 100% and it pisses me off and I'm going to complain, too, believe it or not.