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Vark, varak ((サンスクリット:वरक)), ((アラビア語:ورق)) or varaka is any foil composed of a pure metal, typically silver, sometimes gold,〔 used for garnishing sweets in South Asian cuisine. The silver is edible, though flavorless. Varak is made by pounding silver into a sheet a few micrometres thick, and backed with paper for support; this paper is peeled away before use. It is extremely brittle and breaks into smaller pieces if touched. Vark sheets are laid or rolled over some South Asian sweets. Edible silver and gold foils on sweets, confectionary and desserts is not unique to the Indian subcontinent; other regions such as Japan and Europe have long used precious metal foils as food cover and additive, including specialty drinks such as Danziger Goldwasser.〔(Gold in Gastronomy ) deLafee, Switzerland (2008)〕 Vegetarian lobbyists claim that vark is commonly hammered between layers of animal fat or hide and is thus a non-vegetarian product. However, there are certain vegetarian options of vark available in markets.〔 ==Safety== Gold and silver are approved food foils in the European Union, as E175 and E174 additives respectively. The independent European food-safety certification agency, TÜV Rheinland, has deemed gold leaf safe for consumption. Gold and silver leaf are also certified as kosher. These inert precious metal foils are not considered toxic to human beings nor to broader ecosystems.〔(Conspicuous Consumption ) L.V. Anderson, Slate (July 16, 2012)〕〔(Public Health Statement for Silver ) ATSDR-CDC, US Government (December 1990)〕〔(Edible gold and silver )〕 One study has found that about 10% of 178 foils studied from the Lucknow (India) market were made of aluminium. Of the tested foils, 46% of the samples were found to have the desired purity requirement of 99.9% silver, whereas the rest had less than 99.9% silver. All the tested Indian foils contained on average trace levels of nickel (487 ppm), lead (301 ppm), copper (324 ppm), chromium (83 ppm), cadmium (97 ppm) and manganese (43 ppm). All of these are lower than natural anthropogenic exposures of these metals; the authors suggest there is a need to address a lack of purity standards in European Union and Indian food additive grade silver.〔(Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry ), See toxicity, food and exposure papers on nickel, lead, copper, chromium, cadmium and manganese.〕 The total silver metal intake per kilogram of sweets eaten, from vark, is less than one milligram. Large quantities of ingested bioactive silver can cause argyria, but the use of edible silver or gold as ''vark'' is not considered harmful to the body, since the metal is in inert form (not ionic bioactive form),〔 and the quantities involved in normal use are minuscule. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「vark」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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