Fake aloe gel

[Obsidian]

I know most of you who use aloe, use fresh stuff but this is info that needs to get circulated.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...e-vera-found-in-the-aloe-vera-at-wal-mart-cvs

 

[Arimara]

Not surpised, especially since many of what those stores sell are more gel-like than what AVG truly is.

 

[doriettefarm]

Makes me wonder if the jugs of aloe vera juice I buy from CVS actually contain aloe

 

[snappyllama]

Good to know and thanks for posting! I've switched to powdered aloe since it's so easy to store/use, and I kill plants.

 

[KristaY]

I just bought a jug yesterday at Wal-Mart and it's the brand they were talking about in the article. So am I adding colored water now instead of aloe? Do I take "aloe vera juice" off my soap labels? This kind of stuff makes me SO angry!:evil:

 

[Obsidian]

I buy jugs of aloe juice from walmart, the kind made for drinking. I too hope it actually contains aloe though I'm sure its mostly water. It does taste icky, like real aloe does.

Krista, I would remove aloe from your labels since it contains none. Its terrible when things like this happen, really make you rethink additives and where they come from.

I had a bottle of gel, a different brand then these mentioned but it just didn't seem right. It was too plasticy feeling. I tossed it out the other day, now I'm glad I did.

 

[CaraBou]

My perception of aloe gel is that it should noticeably and instantly cool burned skin on contact. I wonder if the "fake" products do that? I am talking about an instantaneous calming reaction rather than a long-term healing one, but I still have no way to test or measure it. I also can't speak to aloe juice. I'm sure that is typically much more diluted.

 

[CTAnton]

I guess myself and a lot of other people will be switching to the powder....makes you start to question even that....

 

[Obsidian]

I just bought a jug yesterday at Wal-Mart and it's the brand they were talking about in the article. So am I adding colored water now instead of aloe? Do I take "aloe vera juice" off my soap labels? This kind of stuff makes me SO angry!:evil:

Wait, did you buy the juice or the gel? This article was only about the gel.
Since the juice is made for drinking, I would hope it has higher manufacturing standards.

 

[HowieRoll]

Obsidian, looks like we posted this article at almost exactly the same time last night! I was reading it (incredulously, mind you) and kept thinking, I've got to share this on SMF. Looks like you had the same thought. Great minds...

I'm pretty fed up with misleading packaging. If aloe costs $240/kg, then it should be used, priced and sold accordingly. Instead, people find these shortcuts (or outright lies) which cheapens the ingredient across the board and creates unrealistic consumer expectations for the rest of the market. I think there are a lot of ingredients/products like that out there, and would be interested if this independent lab would start testing their hearts out.

 

[Soapmaker145]

I have fond memories of the Aloe plant. My grandmother kept few plants and she used the fresh gel directly on burns or irritated skin. As much as I like the idea of aloe, the use of processed material internally or externally isn't well studied. There are compound in aloe that are toxic in the ppm range. Anything that would concentrate them can cause unpredictable delayed problems. In animal studies, they caused reproductive problems. In many ways, the fake aloe may have saved people from their own (well-meaning) mistakes.

It doesn't make the practice of mislabeling products right. I'm pretty sure the aloe powders that are sold are also adulterated. Even when pure, they are unlikely to reconstitute into the original gel since many of the components breakdown during processing. We as consumers need better definition and regulation of natural products requiring at least some safety studies before allowing sales as opposed of the free for all we have now. We need better laws. But I still like the idea of aloe.

 

[earlene]

I used the aloe juice that Walmart sells in gallon jugs, but like mentioned before it was not addressed in this report. I never tasted it, only used it in soap. In fact I still have some frozen cubes of it in my freezer. I can't say I actually noticed any real difference with it, as opposed to water, but then again, maybe I wouldn't even notice a difference if I used fresh aloe in soap. In any case, I've pretty much moved on from aloe in soap anyway.

But it certainly is disheartening to read that lawsuits need to be filed in order to make manufacturers honest. Very disheartening, indeed.