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Asked by imgeorges to Enda, Jean, Kate, Kev, Tim on 17 Nov 2012.
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Tim Downing answered on 17 Nov 2012:
Hi Imgeorges,
Gelatine I assume 🙂 It’s very commonly used because it acts as a coating material, for example in cooking or coating sweets or even coating medicine pills. So you can eat it. However, some people are over-sensitive to gelatin made from cow parts, sometimes even their skin can react. And sometimes there are toxins in gelatine because it is made from animal products, which themsevles contain toxins. Our body is used to dealing with toxins, our liver processes these. Another reason why some people might not eat gelatine is the effect on the liver (and also kidneys) in processing it.
Maybe you have a more specific question on why you think it should not be eaten?
Tim
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Jean Bourke answered on 19 Nov 2012:
Gelatine is a fascinating compound: it is really widely used and not just as a food stuff.
It is what makes photos shiny, crepe paper wrinkly, paintballs, capsules on tablets, makes beta carotene (the orange colour) in soft drinks water soluble and many other things.
Some people cannot eat gelatine for moral or religious reasons. Gelatine is an animal product and so cannot be eaten by vegetarians. Muslims and Jews are required not to eat gelatine from pig sources but it is possible to buy gelatine from other animal sources that have been slaughtered appropriately, Hindus are often vegetarian and those that are not do not consume gelatine made from cows, often thought they all use non animal based gelatine. A nonanimal based alternative is agar which is obtained from seaweed.
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