Vegetarians beware: bread made from chickens

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A chicken sandwich is one thing, but for many people eating bread made with a food additive derived from chickens is another.

Food additive L-cysteine is a processing aid used in baking, which acts as a reducing agent by breaking up dough's protein network to reduce mixing time, elasticity and proofing time.

The only thing is, L-cysteine is obtained industrially from poultry feathers (bad news for vegetarians) or human hair.

A 2011 news article claimed that in China most of the L-cysteine used in commercial baking is extracted from hair collected from the floors of barbershops and hairdressers.

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A spokesperson for Food Standards Australia and New Zealand told media that the bi-national body was aware that L-cysteine is used in commercial baking.

"We are aware [it is] chemically synthesised or extracted from poultry feathers," she said. "We're not aware of it being sourced from human hair."

The requirements of Kosher and Halal diets has led to the development of a process to create a synthetic form of L-cysteine, however this method is more expensive than deriving the food additive from organic sources.

Those who want to skip the poultry feathers in their bread should keep a look out for E920 or E921 in ingredients lists, or stick to products that are marked safe for vegetarians and vegans.

Hidden ingredients in food have been hitting headlines around the world in recent times. This month it was revealed that beef burgers sold by UK supermarket retailer Tesco contained horse DNA, now believed to have been traced to Polish suppliers.

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