Gelatine?

[identityissues8]

Okay. Now I'm not sure if Gelatine can exist in a purely Vegan state, but I don't see how it can't as vegetable origin gelatine is for sure quite commonplace.

I was just wondering though, from personal interest and experience, when an ingredient list just says 'Gelatine' do you bother trying to find out what kind, or do you just avoid the product?
What methods do you use to find out what sort of Gelatine it is?

 

[Damo]

If I find something that has the ingredient "gelatine" i'll pretty much just put it back on the shelf.

I could be wrong but whole lot of products here in the UK (supermarkets) that use gelatine are animal based so I don't really bother trying to find out what kind as a lot of the time it's from an animal.

 

[Alexia]

Gelatin is an animal byproduct, but there are vegan and vegetarian substitutes. A pack would state what it was and not call it gelatin anyhow, agar or whatever it is instead. It's just called vegetable gelatin substitute and isn't an ingredient.

 

[louisclane]

Agreed with Damo--if it says gelatine, back it goes! Which can be tough because it seems to be a lot of unexpected places. Why do they have to coast every candy in it?!

Agar is a good alternative though--I've even made home-made marshmallows from it!

 

[identityissues8]

I'm not Veg/Vegan at the moment, but I am Muslim - so eat halal, thus gelatine is a bit dicey for us as well!
Generally I have the same rule, but I've definitely been told by companies that their gelatine is plant derived with no animal by-product before...Hmm...

 

[Alexia]

I just can't see how gelatin can be seen as healthy. I always remember friends offering me a wine gum or a jelly baby and I would check the pack to see if gelatin was in and decline. Then they would ask me what is was and then struggle to chew what they had just put in their mouth. It wasn't my intent to put them off, it's just people don't generally know what it is.

 

[paulojunior85]

Gelatine is obtained from collagen, a substance of animal origin. Collagen is the most abundant class of body proteins and accounts for about 30% of all body protein. It has many functions, one of which is to unite and strengthen tissues.

But to make the gelatin we eat, industries derive almost always the ox-hide collagen. The process does not appear to be complex: Ox skin is shaved, and these chips are treated with chemicals to collagen extraction. Then it is necessary to filter the mixture to the fat and fiber are removed. The collagen is clean dry esterilizadoe. After grinding and only a colorless powder which is already the gelatin powder and can be used in both the food industry and in the pharmaceutical and others. Of course, to be tasty gelatin, collagen powder needs to receive other ingredients such as dyes and sugars.

 

[lion]

It's a struggle trying to avoid gelatine - there are lots of products that seem fine, but then when you check the back, it has it in. It's one of those hidden ingredients I'm sure I ate a lot of when I was first transitioning without knowing what it was.

I find if it isn't gelatine from animals they'll usually state - I wouldn't eat something that just said "gelatine" as the likelyhood is it's animal byproducts. A trick I've found is some products call gelatine by the technical name of it's type - like "hydrolyzed collagen" - a lot of people who have heard of gelatine may not have heard of collagen and think it's safe.

 

[Blaine]

Honestly I thought gelatine is derived solely from seaweeds and yes they call them agar. I was not bothered by gelatine and I was confident enough and did not bother about reading the labels. But I am thankful I read about it here and some posts say it is an animal byproduct. I really did not know until today.

 

[Connie]

For me, also in the UK, I will look at the product and see if it is marked with the Vegetarian society V if it is labelled as just 'gelatine'. If it has the official Vegetarian Society V, then it has to be vegetable-based gelatine and to be honest, any major supermarket or supplier that marks their own stuff as suitable for vegetarians and with gelatine in the ingredients and it isn't, are not going to do their reputation any good whatsoever if it comes out!

So if it is marked with a Green V and suitable for vegetarians and says gelatine, I will eat it (if it is a vegan product that is). If it is not marked as suitable for vegetarians and has gelatine in it, and for all intents and purposes appears otherwise to be vegetarian, I won't touch it.

 

[Josie]

Before becoming vegan I still avoided gelatine unless it stated what kind. These days I don't eat the type of foods that would contain it. My diet is mostly whole.. almost all processing done in my kitchen.