First published September 27, 2018.
Check the ingredient list for the product
The process shown may explain one type of ingredient. It does not establish that every gummy uses the same recipe, source or manufacturing method.
After seeing videos like the following, I must admit that I miss the innocence of being a kid that had no clue what was going on.
Thanks to Belgian filmmaker Alina Kneepkens viewers can examine one gelatin-production process.
In the horrifying short film below, we can see the reverse process of how gummy candy is made. When you realize that the gelatin in the candy is in reality taken from the skin of pigs, the familiar product can acquire a different meaning for the viewer!
For all of you that have already decided to give up gelatin-based products, the good news is that candies can be made with many vegan gelatin substitutes.
The filmmaker, Kneepkens, states on her website regarding the dark, yet truth-revealing video series that, "jelly is candy. But only few people know they're made of gelatin from the skin of pigs. Sweet?"
Where gelatin comes from
Gelatin is made from collagen in animal skin and bone. Pig skin is the most widely used commercial source because it is cheap; cattle hides and bones are the other main source, and fish skin and bone are used on a smaller scale. That matters for people who avoid pork or all animal products: a “gelatin” label alone does not say which animal it came from. Gummies made without gelatin usually set with plant-based gelling agents such as pectin (from fruit), agar or carrageenan (from seaweed). The ingredient list, or a vegan, halal or kosher mark, is the practical check.
The reversed sequence changes the starting point
Alina Kneepkens’ film works backwards from a familiar sweet toward an ingredient’s production. That reversal makes a process normally kept out of view newly prominent. It documents a particular gelatin source and method; recipes vary, so the film cannot establish the ingredients of every gummy product.
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