I still remember (with a mixture of awe and horror) the video I saw that showed how gummy bears are made... in reverse. So you start with delicious looking things, and it just gets more and more nightmarish. It was brilliantly done, and I am pretty sure I think of it almost every time I think about gummy candies.

I think I found it again by searching for "reverse gummy bear video". I won't link it directly, so that if you really don't want to see it, there's less chance of reflexively clicking a link. ;)

Welp, guess I've eaten my last gummy bear. At least Swedish Fish are gelatin-free!

The video, for anyone wanting a direct link (be warned, it's exactly as gknoy described): https://vimeo.com/180163754

Fascinating, never thought about how they get the skin off. Think in terms of a cross between a large powered vegetable peeler and a packing tape dispenser (the kind with a handle).

The video is not actually gory - shows parts of the cleaning and butchering process, but not the slaughterhouse.

I had a callout a few years ago to fix some issues with a sheep pelter. I'd never seen one before and didn't have much context until the guy described how it was meant to work, at which point I... did not feel well. Ended up having weird OS comms issues with the PLC programming software and after a few hours of frustration wasn't able to connect anyway, but to this day that's the most morally compromised I've ever felt about my job. Which I guess is weird, I mean the sheep were already dead so it's not like it was gonna suffer more, but... ew. Ew ew ew. So much ew. Not gonna lie, a part of me was relieved that I couldn't help them.

I'm sitting here just opening and closing my mouth in that "I'm sure there's something to say about this but I'm not quite sure what" way.

Getting past that, I was pretty sure I knew what a sheep pelter was, but I did not expect that there is in fact a product (TM!) named the Pelt-O-Matic.

Reading the description it sounds very.... efficient.

Warning: Don't watch the same video for electronics (assuming it exists and gets back to the heavy metal mines)

Decomposing an alive pig into gummy bears is like making gold bars out of laptops.

As someone who eats plant based, that is definitely not the case in the US. Gelatin is very easy to avoid.

Outside of jello itself, the common desserts that contain it are chewy candies and some mousse type desserts. So canolli, mousse, and flan frequently have gelatin, along with things like Starbursts and some chewing gums, but other than that I have not found it to be a common ingredient.

Weird... In Australia (last I checked at least, maybe it's changed) it's commonly in chocolate, ice cream, and any kind of soft sweet, to the point where it's nigh impossible to get any of the above without it.

There are very good vegetarian substitutes for gelatine, they're just more expensive. So gelatine content can vary quite widely by market depending on the number of vegetarians. Here in the UK it used to be in a lot more things 20 years ago than it is now.

> chocolate

Definitely not in anything like a bar of chocolate.

> ice cream

Oddly, this seems to vary a lot by country. It's rare in the US, though. Guar gum is common, though.

People who keep kosher or halal mostly avoid gelatin, so countries with notable kosher, halal, and vegetarian/vegan populations probably see less gelatin use.

Expert vegan here. No, gelatin is never in plain chocolates, but often added to diced coconut!

For chocolates it might be in things with foams or nougat. Definitely in marshmallows.

Ah. chocolates != chocolate

Usually nougat uses egg whites so it doesn't need gelatin as a protein. Marshmallows are arguably nougat, though, since they're also sugar bound with protein. Marshmallow cream usually uses egg.

All of the major nougat US candy bars I can find use egg and not gelatin.

I've seen chocolates with marshmallow in them.

In Ireland it would be very rare for me to see it in ice-cream or chocolate, and I'm fairly religious about checking labels. Plenty of sweets / jellies, but these days there are more and more vegan / vegetarian options.

Not just food, gelatin is also found in shampoos, face masks, cosmetics in general, and all kinds of candy.

The theme in the US is things that are chewy and things that are stored cold and need to retain a texture.

The common places you might not expect it are sour cream, yogurt, fondant, and some Planters dry-roasted nuts.

Does Great Lakes gelatin have the same "random assortment" issue?

The history of gelatin as a food product is fascinating, as it exploded in popularity in the mid century - check out some of these.... interesting looking dishes.

https://flashbak.com/meals-in-a-mold-the-mid-centurys-love-a...

https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/why-were-there-so-many-gela...

I always thought it was made from the actual hoof... which I assume is keratin.

But this video shows it to be made from pig skin https://vimeo.com/180163754

And the red coloring in many foods (E120) is made from insects.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine

A different question could be why are you a strict vegetarian when your species evolved as an omnivore

Everybody turning strict vegetarian would create an ecological disaster at planetary level.

Why is that worse than the planetary-level ecological disaster that's currently being exacerbated by everyone in the developed world eating a ridiculous amount of meat?

My species also "evolved" to constantly fight wars against everyone not in my family; I'd say it's really good news that we were able to develop moral and conceptual systems to overwhelm our evolutionary tendencies.

So you live a hunter gatherer lifestyle, mostly outdoors, and definitely don't sit in a chair out of the sun for hours at a time? Since we're talking about evolution.

I'm not, I evolved as an omnivore. I also generally don't like meat though because I'm weird.