# Japanese turn cow crap into vanilla



## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

*Japanese Researchers Extract Vanilla From Cow Dung*
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Mar 06, 2006

Japanese researchers have succeeded in making the sweet smell of vanilla come out of the last thing people could imagine -- cow dung. In a world-first recycling project, a one-hour heating and pressuring process allows cow feces to produce vanillin, the main component of the vanilla-bean extract, according to researcher Mayu Yamamoto.

The vanillin extracted from the feces could be used in products such as shampoo and aromatic candles but not in food, said Yamamoto, who works for the Research Institute of the state-run International Medical Center of Japan.

Compared with usual vanilla, "this component is exactly the same but it would be difficult for people to accept it in food, given the recent rules of disclosing the origins of ingredients," she said. The production cost using dung is less than a half of making vanillin out of vanilla beans, she added.

The feces of grass-eating animals is abundant with lignin, the chemical compound that exists in plants and trees and is used to produce vanilla aroma, Yamamoto said. "Lignin is difficult to decompose," she said. "Farmers are troubled by how to dispose properly of animal excrement. We tried to solve this from a recycling viewpoint," she said.

After taking the vanillin, the processed feces could be returned to the soil, she said. The research has been done in cooperation with major Japanese chemicals firm Sekisui Chemical. The research team aims to develop a machine to handle several tons of feces a day and put it in practical use in two-to-three years.

Source: Agence France-Presse


----------



## skullboy (Sep 21, 2006)

I would have guessed it would have been easier to get chocolate from it.


----------



## Hellrazor (Jun 18, 2006)

So what happens when you get shampoo in your mouth.. eeewwwuuu


----------



## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

If you go to Japan, just say no to ice cream, you never know.


----------



## Sinister (Apr 18, 2004)

Ahhhh, those wacky Japanese...what will they think of next?


----------

