Gelatine/gelatin in Food: Plight of a Vegetarian

When people read labels on food cans/tins/boxes, the obvious attention is towards the amount of calories the food contains. One would look at the names of chemicals and as a lay-man would hardly comprehend what each of those mean. As a general day-to-day activity we learn to ignore or take it for granted that whatever it is on the label, has got to be edible for all – else it must not have been included in the first place!

Well wrong! Especially, if you happen to be an (unfortunate?!) vegetarian – then you surely are inadvertently consuming more non-vegetarian than what you ever bargained for.

Gelatin – A commonly tagged ingredient found in packaged curd, marshmallows, certain ice creams and gummy candies is actually a substance that is extracted and processed from collagen taken from the skin and bones of animals. Collagen is a fibrous tissue which forms the fabric of skin and muscle, having abundance of protein.

There is supposedly a vegetarian gelatin called “Agar” but that is not the one commonly used in consumables mentioned above, as mass industrially produced gelatin comes from the tannery and leather industry. Most food cans, jar’s, boxes anyway do not mention the ‘kind’ of gelatin used; only whether it is present or absent. The curd I buy in South Africa mentions ‘Gelatine free – suitable for vegetarians’.  So that must mean the normal Gelatin mentioned is not suitable for vegetarians.

A web site I researched recently actually mentions gelatin as an indispensable part of the processing industry – food or others. It gives food the jelly-kind of thick, wobbly “yummy” taste which people crave for in comfort food. All the consumables that have the tag of “lite” or “low fat” apparently are even possible because of gelatin.

I am a vegetarian and hence it bothers me immensely as I am so by choice, and I feel wronged if I end up consuming non-veg without even knowing it!