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Not all Sweets and Candy are vegetarian

Gelatin


Jelly Babies

Just when I thought I'd finally got a handle on my IBS trigger foods, another one pops up!!!

  Mum and I had dropped into our local supermarket to buy some goodies for my nieces and nephew.  My youngest niece is lactose intolerant like myself, so I always double check the ingredients to make sure there are no hidden surprises.  

Picked up a bag of jelly babies and discovered one of the ingredients is bovine gelatin. Bovine is just another word for cow/beef.  They were perfectly Ok for my niece, just not for me.

Last July I cut out all meat and dairy products, due to my IBS.  I don't really fit in the vegetarian or vegan category as I can still eat fish.   Lets say am a  dairy free  pescetarian.  

Jelly babies are or was one of my favourite sweets. After I became lactose intolerant my friends would buy them as gifts instead of chocolate.  It's only recently that dairy free chocolate has become more readily available.  


Wine Gums

I knew that not all sweets were vegan because they contained milk or eggs.  I just never considered that not all candies are vegetarian.   So I got curious and started to wonder what other sweets/candy are made with Gelatin.  

  Gelatin (or gelatine, from Latin: gelatus = stiff, frozen) is a translucent, colourless, brittle (when dry), flavourless solid substance, derived from collagen obtained from various animal by-products


Marshmallows

Wine gums & other jelly type sweets,  marshmallows  and some chewy sweets are all commonly made with either beef or pork gelatin.  

I did a little research and discovered the follow are made using plant based gelling agents.  

- Sour Patch Kids
- Liquorice

   


Shellac


Coated Chocolate Candy


When you look into one problem, you always discover another!!!  I blogged a while ago about how Shellac was used as wax on lemons.  Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, and the bugs are usually killed in the process of making the resin.

So I was kind of surprised, okay more grossed out to discover it's used to give coated chocolate candy it's shine.  Both M&M's and  UK Smarties use shellac in this process.  

It's also sometimes listed as resinous glaze or Confectioners glaze in the list of ingredients.  

I know am lactose intolerant and can't eat any candy coated sweet unless its dairy free, however I know there a lot of vegetarians out there that might not be aware.

My advice, if your vegetarian/vegan avoid any product that has gelatin or shellac listed in its ingredients.  


If you know any more that are safe Id love to know   xxx

Comments

  1. Unknown5 July 2013 at 15:35

    Just visited my local supermarket, the sour patch kids are made with Bovine gelatin. Id planned to treat myself to some.

    On a positive note, the Jelly Belly beans are gelatin and gluten free xx

    ReplyDelete

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