Photo courtesy: Daniel Morrison via TreeHuggerI haven't been this grossed out since I blogged about meat being made from the protein in human fecal matter and/or sewage sludge.
It's one of those truths that you'd rather not know; although, many of us know now. That bright red, orange, and green gelatin you slurped down as a child is actually made from animals. Vegans avoid it like the plague because it's derived from the collagen in an animal's skin, hooves and bones.
This is not the really scary part, readers. Cue the "this is going to be sooooo disgusting" music...and read on, if you dare.
According to a story on Inhabitat, scientists are experimenting on ways to derive gelatin from humans and their research will be appearing in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry.
The process the researchers perfected actually involves taking human gelatin genes and inserting them into a strain of yeast. With their technology they were able to grow gelatin with controllable features.I'd be interested to know where the genes are derived. According to Science Daily, not only would this prevent the use of gelatin made from innumerable animals, it would also eliminate the risk of Mad Cow disease in addition to creating a predictable source of gelatin. Working with animal-based gelatin is at times unpredictable because you don't know how the end product will turn out.
How about using a completely vegetable gelatin made from seaweed - agar agar?
Human-based gelatins are actually being studied for use in drug capsules and other medical applications for the most part.
But don't worry, you're not eating your neighbor here; or, at least that's what they want you to believe.
Cue back-up creepy music and fade to black.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment