Food: Gelatin and Lard

What comes to mind when you think of gelatin and lard?

Do you know what these common food ingredients are?

I didn’t know what these ingredients were at first, but over time, I began learning what was in my food. When I realized what parts of an animal these ingredients came from, I quickly starting doing my best to avoid them even more. However, what’s surprising is how they’re snuck into many of our common foods we don’t really think twice about!

GELATIN:

Let’s start with gelatin. Most of us know it’s in Jell-O and jelly-like products – mainly processed foods. Yet, you’d be surprised what other common food items are made with gelatin. We’ll get to that in a minute.

What is Gelatin?

Gelatin is basically animal skin, cartilage, tendons, and bones that have been boiled down to extract a jelly-like protein substance that is used as a gelling agent and a clearing agent in a variety of common processed foods.

What Foods Contain Gelatin?

You mostly find gelatin in processed foods. You’ll eat it naturally when consuming meat. The difference is, you know which animal it’s coming from when you eat it in its natural state when consuming meat. Here’s a shocking list of common processed foods that contain gelatin:

Juices (used to clarify)
Vinegar (used to clarify)
Beer (used to clarify)
Wine (used to clarify)
Lite and Low-fat foods
Yogurt
Chewing gum
Gummy bears – any gummy candy
Various candies
Altoids and possibly other mints
Cereals – watch the frosted kind closely
Peanuts/Nuts – roasting process
Sour cream
Margarine
Jelly
Cream cheese
Cake icing and frosting
Marshmallows
Soups, sauces, and gravies
Canned ham and chicken
Corned beef
Sausage
Instant drinks
Whipped cream
Cakes
Ice cream
Pill capsules and coatings

LARD:

Next up is lard. Sounds gross, but it’s also used in a variety of processed foods. Lard is simply animal fat, specifically from certain parts of the animal. You may also know of the term “tallow.” Tallow is the same kind of fat as lard, but from cattle and goats. Many “from-scratch” cooks like to use lard for its flavor, texture and more. Let’s take a look at some foods you might not have known that would contain lard:

Refried beans
Baked beans
Flour tortillas
Tamales
Used as a frying fat
premade dessert batters (cakes, brownies)
French Fries (double-check the restaurant frying oil)
Premade processed cake desserts
Cornbread Mix (specifically Jiffy – check packaging)
Premade pie crust
Potato chips (check packaging)
Salad dressings (double-check restaurants)
Soups

Always know what’s in your food by reading the ingredient labels or asking your server. Many restaurants put their nutrition information on their websites now, but not all. Plus, these two ingredients are not on the required list of allergens, you won’t find them in the bold print.

So, Where Does Gelatin and Lard Come From?

Gelatin and lard both come from swine (pork/pigs). This is partly what makes eating Biblically according to God’s commandments so difficult in our modern society. Some ingredients aren’t as “obvious” as these like L-Cysteine which mostly comes from human hair. Gross!

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When the scriptures say “do not eat,” it means do not eat. It doesn’t allow for eating variations, different names, in different ways, etc. It’s straightforward – DON’T EAT IT!

Now, if we take a look at the cultural context of the scriptural food laws, we know there wasn’t the manufacturing and food processing that we know today. Things where made from whole foods. You knew what you were cooking and what your neighbor cooked. The issue was eating in the other nations. If you knew, you didn’t eat it. If you didn’t know and you ate it (they tricked you), that’s on them. However, you were still expected to be diligent about what you were doing and what you were consuming according to the Word of God.

Today, it’s even harder. We unknowingly consume unclean food everyday. We know we live in the land of Christianized paganism, many countries do. We are learning that what we used to assume was good, Christian, and godly may not really be as we were led to believe.

What to Do:

God intended for us to eat whole foods. He intended for us to cook our own foods. Sticking with whole foods and cooking at home will guarantee total control over what you consume. Luckily, there are a lot of food prep resources on the internet to help with homemade food challenges in a busy society.

Remember, man created manufacturing and high volume product processing. These actions were led by our recent world wars for soldiers. Then, it got pushed onto society because a lot of money was made from it. Processed foods became the greatest hit in the 1950s. Many of our parents and grandparents know the days before commercial processed food.

So when buying these types of food products, we must be diligent about reading food labels for gelatin and lard. Also, be careful of Kosher and Halal labeled products. These products are made according to oral law which is outside of the Law of God and the very thing Jesus rebuked!

It’s best and a lot easier to just make your own food!

Check out these citation links for more info:

What is gelatin made of?

https://www.peta.org/about-peta/faq/what-is-gelatin-made-of/embed/#?secret=xUsKg59ImE