Vegan Forum

I am looking into a product/company that states that their capsules that have gelatin listed in the ingredients lists are vegan.
Is this possible? they Say their "100% certified organic manufacturing facility in the US" makes these and that is 100% vegetable based.

I would really like some help figuring this out because anything I find online so far says that gelatin is not vegetarian..plain and simple. I WANT to believe that they have made theirs from some vegetable made gelatin but I need to know the truth. Is this even a possibility?

thank you!

It is probably agar that they use (Google "agar" - I'm too new here to post Wikipedia link).
I've seen couple of times how agar is listed as plant-based gelatin, although it creates confusion among vegans and vegetarians.

The problem is not everyone has the same definition of vegetarian.

I personally think anything that kills an animal to extract it is not vegetarian and I think you have the same idea. The problem is that many 'vegetarians' eat fish, gellatin, rennet and so forth. So technically yes the company could have 'vegetarian' gelatin, but make sure to look into it and see if it's vegan (so far we seem to be quite lucky that the label hasn't been completely distorted yet).

At the very least don't get something with a gelatin capsule. There are alternatives to gelatin (like glucose based and what not) but I've never seen them in a capsule, mostly just in candy. I think it's great that you're asking - but be aware that you'll need to be very careful about how you ask things.

thank you for your answers. I will be staying away from the "vegen gelatin" products, just to be on the safe side.
I would like to continue asking questions of them and learning how they can call it vegetarian if it's not and if it is, if they can clarify the label. Any suggestions on the right questions to ask?
thank you again for your help!

If a label says its VEGAN, it's vegan.

Agar agar and irish moss are vegan gelatins. Agar is made from a japanese seaweed as far as I remember.

You just need to actually read the ingredient list. As you should always check with anything that says "vegetarian". If there's no animal products (gelatin, glycerine, etc) then its fine. Though I think you can get veg-based glycerine, but it should say.

ALSO: many products will not say specifically agar, a lot of them will say "gelatin" or "glycerine" and either in (brackets) beside it say "vegetable" or "vegetarian" or somewhere on the label will say *all ingredients vegetable sourced, and will often have a V logo on it.

What products are you looking for anyway?

And one of the questions you can ask is "Is it animal sourced?" Thats a little more specific than asking if it comes from an animal.