Gelatin has become a staple in many of our diets, but do you what it really is? According to PETA, gelatin is protein obtained by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones with water. In essence, it’s made primarily from the stuff meat industries have left over —pork skins, horns, and cattle bones! Technically not even a food source, it’s used as a thickening agent in a number of products and gives food a soft, squishy consistency. I know it’s gross and I hate to rain down on your gummy bear parade, but you and your kids really shouldn’t be eating this stuff. I don’t even know why it’s legally permissible to be considered a “food” product.
Contents
Big Problems for Vegetarians and Vegans
Gelatin is not vegetarian and is certainly not vegan. Sadly, millions of vegetarians and vegans could actually be using animal commodities unknowingly as the list of products that contain gelatin seems to grow everyday. Be certain to only buy certified vegan, animal-safe body products and make sure to read your food labels!
Gelatin is in What!
It’s tricky to find out which foods have certain products in them and gelatin is no exception. This life-saving list of products containing gelatin is adapted from Veggie Boards and Mathrubhumi.
Foods Containing Gelatin:
- Marsh mellows
- Pop-tarts w/ frosting
- Mini Wheats
- Other frosted cereal
- Jell-O
- Skittles, Star-bursts Jr, mints, Trident gum, M&M’s, Snicker bars
- Peeps
- Gummy worms/bears
- Yogurts
- Frozen vegetables (in a bag)
- Icing/frosting
- Cream cheese
- Sour cream
- Coffee, milk substitutes
- Lozenges
- Hostess cupcakes- Hostess brand
Gelatin is also used in fat reduced foods to simulate the feel of fat and to create volume without adding calories.
Non-Food Items Containing Gelatin:
- Shells of pharmaceutical capsules.
- Thickening agent in many pharmaceuticals
- Implantable medical devices, such as in some bone void fillers.
- Various ointments.
Vegetarian and Vegan-Friendly Alternatives
Vegetarians and Vegans don’t fret! There are some fantastic vegetable-based alternatives to replace gelatin so you don’t have to give up every tasty treat out there. Alternatives to gelatin include non-animal gel sources such as agar-agar, carrageenan, pectin, konjak, and guar gum.
Cooking With Agar
For those of you who make most of your food try using agar – it is made from seaweed and comes in powder or flake form available at any good health food store. Like gelatin, agar is full of protein and contains the rich array of minerals one would expect from seaweed.
To use agar substitute one tablespoon powdered gelatin for every tablespoon of powdered agar. When cooking with agar consider the following:
- Soak agar your liquid recipe for about 15 minutes then bring it to a boil. Afterwards, place the heat on simmer and stir until the mixture is completely dissolved. The agar-liquid mixture gels as it cools.
- Acidic foods weaken agar’s gelling power, so if you’re firming an acidic liquid use more agar.
- The enzymes of certain fruits will break down agar. So, like your typical gelatin recipes, you may want to use canned fruits instead because they are pre-cooked.
Thanks a lot for these amazing information !
Goodley grammer
Actually Gelatin is really healthy for you.
I have to agree with Juan (I am either a vegan or vegetarian,but I do understand why those are) gelatin is amazing for you and have fantastic benefits for your body. Make you look and feel great and healthy!
Seriously? like really? how can that crap be healthy for you? it’s the throw aways that makes gelatin… you would;t eat that stuff yourself if you bought a whole pig would you?? makes me queasy just thinking about it…
How is it not healthy? It benefits your skin and ligaments/tendons among other things. One thing most pompous “first world” modern humans forget is that we evolved and have survived pre-super store, pre-supplements, and pre-packaged foods by eating from the land and that includes eating all parts of the animal. If we werent meant to eat meat we would not have survived and thrived for the many, many, many years we have walked the earth. Modernization of our food is the issue. I will eat a nice bowl of oxtail before I pop processed gummys. You can turn your nose up as you stuff yourself with gluten, b-12 supplements, and processed vegan/vegetarian crap but its just not natural. Unfortunately most of you dont know what natural really is. You live in theory and turn your nose up to nature – nature is NOT ALWAYS PRETTY!!!! Enjoy your supplements and fake foods that look good!
Think your thinking of collagen
Really?? Almost everything on there was junk food.
Sabrina you are not a vegan, a vegan can’t use animals for human benefit/advantage and if you are thinking gelatin, a product derived from the fat, tendons and bones from either a pig or a cow is healthy and good for you and consuming it makes you feel fabulous then you can’t be a vegan. Maybe a vegetarian, but a really bad one at that. Maybe a dietary vegetarian, but if you don’t care about consuming animal parts then why would you be checking a list for animal products hidden in food? I dont get it, please enlighten me.
Im not vegan and i agree with local human being. Seriously if you’re going to give up animals give it ALL the way up
Whether you think it is healthy for you or not, this list is for vegans and vegetarians and I am assuming more along the lines of ethical vegans or vegetarians that want to minimize their impact on the animals. If you are a non vegan then why do you even care what is in your food?
Hi, I have started using vegan gelatin for almost two weeks, I did that in the hope of getting rid of my constant neck pain and head ache, It’s working, my pain is almost gone… My question, can I use gelatin every day? I am really so happy with the good result and want to know if I can continue having it… Thank you.
I cannot believe this article is actually telling people not to ingest something that is the building blocks for a healthy functioning body! Everyone NEEDS Collogen and that is a fact!! Sorry but more vegan bullshit! This is a classic online rubbish article that sensible people stay away from!
What next vegans, should we also avoid minerals and those dastardly nutrients too!!!
Utterly stupid!
Go eat a lettuce!
Carrageenan
Am told is NOT GOOD!!! Also known as Airplane De Icer!
Found in Almond milk I love. May contain MSG
Induces over eating by 40percent. Causes malignancies and ulcerations to intestinal tract.
Just bought Knox gelatin???????
Wow we might as well die or drop the vegan thing if we will miss out on all these tasty mouth watering treats yum :3
Ewww who wants to eat SKIN? We don’t know what that poor skin has on it! Wow if people want to eat that crap, then let them do it
I agree with you I am a vegetarian and I think that eating bones and skin of the poor animals is just gross and rude to the animal. Also why would anyone in their right mind rats animal bones that have been processed through a machine and think that it is healthy and Benito’s your body.
thanx a lot, as we are pure vegetarian
I eat meat. I don’t mind eating bones.
There are also many health benefits to “organic” gelatins. Gelatin is simply animal collagen, which many westerners do not enough of. Collagean improves the elasticity of your skin & keeps it looking youthful & smooth. In many Asian countries women drink this as a beauty trick
This grosses me out to the max, Thanks again for the info. The meat industry is so nasty, I don’t know how people can continue to eat it. Only the best for my body.
Yuck!!! I’m a vegitarian and this info is soooooo disturbing to me! It won’t be hard for me to give that “food” up; now every time I see a gummy bear I see hooves and animal carcasses.
Skittles no longer use gelatin. They still test on animals though 🙁
PS Gelatin Gum can be found in “Silk” Almond Milk. Off to find a replacement…what a pain. Why is that in there people!?
My bad there is no gelatin in Silk Almond Milk. Its gellan gum, and that is vegan. All these chemicals sound the same. I learned something today.
Lol, vegetarians are babies. I like eating head cheese which is the same stuff that is in gelatin. I also like cow brains.
That is so disgusting! I wish you had to see what happens to those poor animals, than have that done to you. You are disgusting
@James : no, vegetarians are just tough enough to quit meat for what they believe in.
Thank you for this information.Being a vegetarians over 15yrs
.It is truly away of life for me. I did not know gelatin is snickers. I will definitely read all the labels for now on. Thanks again.:-)
Good for you I’ve just became a vegetarian at the beginning of this month but I’m staying this way.
Skittles do not have gelatin in them. It says “Gelatin Free” on the package. Neither does Snicker bars It has ; MILK CHOCOLATE (SUGAR, COCOA BUTTER, CHOCOLATE, SKIM MILK, LACTOSE, MILKFAT, SOY LECITHIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR), PEANUTS, CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, MILKFAT, SKIM MILK, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, LACTOSE, SALT, EGG WHITES, CHOCOLATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR. MAY CONTAIN ALMONDS
Um you do know there are people that are called liars and get away with it They don’t put it on the ingredients because they sell more that way.
It’s illegal to leave out ingredients on a package. If such a big, mass-producing company did that, they would be found out and forced to display the ingredients. Or get sued. Or shutdown.
It has “EGG WHITES” anyways which is not vegan nor vegetarian.
Lmao, I would hate to be a vegetarian. Why don’t people just go to a local meat packing house where the meat is grown & killed locally? Hell I love most of that shit on the list so oh well I guess I’m eating left over parts. Plus I also love squirrel gravy, mmm yummy(:
I was recently dignosed with alpha gal allergy so the gelatin thing is not an “ick” fractor. It could kill people who are allergic. A cavalier attitude does not help people with real health issues. Believe me, this is no fun-realizing things I used to eat without thinking could have me reaching for the EpiPen.
Seriously? I would understand if non vegans wouldnt mind pig or beef gelatin (mix of bones, tendons and fat) in your food, but vegans or vegetarians? I am glad for this list; I’m never putting any of this inside my body. If you wouldn’t eat a plate full of tendons, fat and bones then why eat it mixed with your food. By the way there is always a plant based substitute no need for gross crap.
Why are people who like squirrel gravy and calf brains even on this website? Most of the world eats meat so I can’t understand why they have to bother with a tiny minority of us vegans/vegetarians.
I agree with you . If they aren’t vegans/vegetarians why would they care about the dogs that are made with animal. by -products. It Makes no sense why they would care. They need to just shut up and respect other people’s believes because it’s not like we go and tell at them and say that they can’t eat Meat and because of that they are disgusting. They are just being rude and disrespectful. That is weekday they should not do. Is not that they shouldn’t eat meat it’s that they shouldn’t disrespect others believes.
What disturbs me most about this article is that it is very one-sided and poorly researched. PETA? For real? That is your primary source? Contrary to popular belief (add this to your myths), although gelatin does come from the skin and bone joints of animals, it does NOT come from hooves, fat, horns or tendons! Maybe you want to look up what carrageenan is as well and see it that doesn’t raise your eyebrows a bit. Unless you are in the rainforest and munching on your leaves and roots, chances are your plant based substitutes contain a bunch of crap used to process it into powders and crystals to make it fit into pouches and jars marked “natural”. Yes the list of products above are junk food, however, gelatin Isn’t always used to make junk. I avoid buying stuff made with gelatin for three reasons: 1 because most commercial gelatins are pork-based (I do not eat pork),2, one can guess that commercial gelatin probably comes from animals that were not treated humanely, 3 most commercial stuff made with gelatin has a plethora of toxic additives that are not good for you. I have enjoyed health benefits from making my own gelatin and also buying from a source that treats its animals humanely. I also agree with TheOne who commented that what we now consider “throw-aways” or leftovers, or garbage, was originally a healthy source of nutrition which has helped keep our species alive. Consider the ways of the aboriginal/American Indians who knew,understood and respected nature and never wasted anything. If vegans want respect from the meat-eating community, maybe they can look at the facts and both sides of the story before bashing the ones who eat meat. You and I are all entitled to our opinions and choices, just make it an educated and informed one.
My older sister is vegan and I have became a vegetarian and my mother thinks I’m only doing this for her but I’m not only doing it for her I’m doing it for myself and all the animals because non vegans/vegetarians pretty much are the apocalypse and it’s not only the animals some eat that are being effected every day the rainforest is being cut down so we can put cattle farms there so it also effects those rain forest animals. So those who might say they’re an animal lover they are terrible to animals unless they change the way they eat.im even thinking about cutting out butter from my diet then after that maybe eggs and so on because I care and I am not giving up just because I like some kind of “food” because I like animals more then that “food”.
Thanks for providing this information. It’s really helpful.
human beings were never designed to eat meat..period.. our teeth..our intestines exc are made for plant based food.. we do not have fangs..claws exc..and our bodys do not proccess meat stuff well.. eating animals causes so much health problems.. the industry is just that.. an industry.. the way cows are milked is barbaric..the way meat is raised and injected with all kinds of stuff is very scary..yet the public are blind to this.. and this gellitin is a by product.. we as a race of inteligent beings can do better than this..
Some of these are wrong. It’s not in m&m’s, snickers, cream cheese (which sill isn’t vegan anyway), or trident gum. Most of these actually contain the substitutes mentioned.
I really love Skittles.
Mostly the sour ones.
On the package it says Gelatin-Free.
Other Skittles too.
Maybe not all Skittles are gelatin-free.
But a good majority of them don’t contain gelatin.
Bones and tendons in food…um, broth? Possibly one of the healthiest things non vegans and vegetarians can ever eat! Ever wonder why chicken soup is a remedy for feeling sick? Whole chicken carcass boiled for a long time makes chicken broth. Bone broth is incredibly good for you! Heck, the gelatin in all of that junk food may be the only part with any nutrients! Haha. Your body uses the collagen for your skin and hair/nails, as well as parts of your digestive system. If you’re not vegan/vegetarian, don’t be afraid of bone/tendons! Skin is high in fats. Store bought gelatin probably only has the collagen that’s good for you, but that’s still good.
As a vegan what makes us different from all the animal eaters is that we have a conscience and we are fully aware of the atrocities exploitation suffering torture enslavement and ultimately murder and slaughter of innocent sentiment beings
It’s a personal choice to be a vegetarian or vegan. Being one myself I have learnt to live with meat eaters and not judge….BUT in saying that there is absolutely no need to write you like eating “cow brains” etc have some respect for your fellow man.
This is a huge eye opener and I will no longer be eating anything with gelatine in it.
So,
Bread that is sold in India does not have gelatin?
Im sorry, but it is IMPOSSIBLE for vegetables to have gelatin. Also, skittles are no longer being made with Gelatin. Do you people even know what gelatin is??????!!!!!