WTF? Frosted Mini Wheats have gelatin in them!?!
(Well actually I had like a handful before I noticed the ingredient list. And they're actually the Best Choice brand of them or something.. But anyway, why on earth would gelatin be necessary to make the frosting in this cereal? And do you know of any other cereals that have hidden animal stuff (not milk) in them?)
Answers:
Always read the ingredients before you buy anything. There's lots of times where I was going to eat Poptarts, rice crispy treats, cereals, jello, yogurt, candy, etc and they have gelatin in them. It bothers me how they put them where you wouldn't expect a product from a dead animal to be.
I've made frosting before without gelatin and it worked out just fine, I don't see why they insist on putting gelatin in anything like that. Pectin and guar gum are a jell substance from fruit, and they could use that to harden lots of foods.
Same here. I really liked those things, but the gelatin is a bit of a turn off. Here is a link to a forum that offers some alternatives to Mini Wheat.
http://www.veggieboards.com/newvb/showth…
And here is some other info that should help determine if foods or other products have animal ingredients:
http://www.suite101.com/content/beginner…
http://blog.sustainablog.org/animal-ingr…
http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/hi…
http://www.vegetariansocietymauritius.or…
http://www.ivu.org/faq/ingredients.html
Those ought to get you started. It is good to know that there are Vegan cheeses available, and some are quite good. Actually, many good products are on the market, but you do have to read the ingredients and even contact manufacturers sometimes. I think I shall do a bit more research and then post any good sources I find.
The gelatin serves as a binding agent so that the frosting doesn't ooze and melt off in the packing process. It helps lock the frosting to the cereal, so that you have a nice even coat when it comes breakfast time.
The kind they use is totally tasteless and shouldn't bother you at all (unless you read the ingredients again :P). Just have yourself a nice bowl of cereal and go on your merry way!
:3
All the other cereals with marshmallows in them contain gelatin. (Think Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops with marshmallows, smorz) ) All frosted poptarts have gelatin in the frosting. Most of the milk and cereal bars contain gelatin except for Special K bars.
Uh, I like to eat plain old cornflakes. And yes, they DO use gelatin for a lot of stuff. Marshmallows, jelly... And yep, they use it for the frosting, though I don't know why either. They use gelatin a lot in the confectionery business.
This is what happens when you check the ingredients when you've already started to eat. Check first, then eat.