What is Torula?

I think the issue here is people knowing what they can and can't eat. Torula Yeast is not a bad thing like some are trying to paint it as. Some people have allergies and are allergic to molds and such. But do more digging on Torula and you'll see it has been around a long time - way before people started to add it to chips! Unfortunately, it's getting a bad rap. I'm sure the yeast isn't the problem - but all the GMO foods being used in chips!

I purchased a bag of UTZ Red Hot Potato Chips. I rarely eat chips, but when I do, it's UTZ. Well, my tongue started to swell and I had a rash up and down my right arm.

I went to the ER and the attending physician confirmed I had an allergic reaction to something I ate. Funny thing is, I am not allergic to anything edible. Fungus and mold, yes.

All the food items I had for lunch were items I have had before. So I proceeded to eat each item separately. Sure enough, the potato chips caused the allergy. Well, last night, completely by accident (and without thinking) I took a handful of potato chips while watching a movie with family. My whole face began to swell. This time it was the UTZ BBQ Chips. Both flavors of chips have torula yeast. I called UTZ's customer service to try to find out when the yeast was added as I have never had a problem before the two incidents. The rep was a little too defensive. I am guessing this is a new additive.

Torula will also appear anywhere where spirits are distilled. Visit any bourbon distillery in Kentucky, whiskey or scotch distillery in Ireland or Scotland or even a rum distillery in Puerto Rico and you will see it on just about every thing that doesn't move - and a few things that do.

Where I work as a tour bus driver in Kentucky, it appears on the aging warehouses, the fences, even the tree trunks, not to mention on all of the vehicles. It can be power washed off buildings and vehicles.

As for mold allergies, we had a summer employee who had severe mold allergies and yet she was unaffected being around it.

When asked about it, our guides reply that it is a harmless (as far as they know) yeast that forms when it feeds on the sugars that coat the buildings when aging alcohol (bourbon in this case) meets humidity. It turns black when it dies and covered again by another coat of sugar and yeast.

While the information here is news to me, I will certainly pass it on to my coworkers.

I recently bought some of the Cape Cod potato chips and was really relieved to see that they don't have MSG's. Before eating them, I also checked their website and was happy to see that they are "Allergy Free". This is because I'm severely allergic to MSG's.

I ate some of the chips and immediately suffered a severe allergic reaction!

I found out the Cape Cod chips contain torula yeast, which I now know is just another flavor enhancer/ neurotoxin that has the same effect as MSG's and affects the body in the same way as MSG's.

I'm very disappointed. I feel the labeling is obviously and intentionally misleading. Worse than that, I've missed work and was miserable for two days due to their cryptic labeling!

I just bought a RNA/DNA supplement that is touted as reversing/preventing wrinkles. I've heard about it for at least 20 years, people swearing by it. I just got mine in the mail: it has brewer's yeast and Torula yeast but no "extract". Is this safe for me? I have had gut candida infections and am still prone to ringworm. Can someone please reply?

With all the allergies that so many people suffer from these days, is it any wonder that food additives are to blame? This never was an issue when I was growing up in the late sixties. Peanut allergies were unheard of back in the day.

Profit now drives production and at whatever cost to keep the formulas as cheap to produce as possible,

including adding cheap flavoring agents. Do we have to ingest this crap? Not likely.

I bought a well known brand of chips and started having breathing issues. I thought I had severe asthma or pneumonia. I looked at the ingredient list and found one not known to me: torula yeast. After some research, I found it bothers people allergic to mold. Aha! I am highly allergic to all mold. I got so bad I thought I would pass out just walking. The FDA needs to make companies be real.

I am confused. Is the term "yeast" or "Torula yeast", or any kind of yeast, containing MSG, or just in the "yeast extract"? What else would be in the extract and why use extract, not real yeast?

if it has yeast extract, it has msg. They hide it under this name.

I am very sensitive to MSG, and get very ill. Of course, I am careful not to get any in my system. Recently, I bought a bag of a well known brand of potato chips that had torula yeast, and yeast extract. I got sick with the same type of signs and symptoms as MSG.