Gelatine made from something besides feet?!

Gelatine made from something besides feet?

I'm vegetarian and don't eat gelatine (made of hooves, skin, bones and ligaments of animals) and I am currently in Germany, and I wanted to bring back candy for my vegan friend.

I found some ultra-dark chocolate and I wanted something else too so I asked a sales clerk. They brought me to an expensive pack of gummie bears. I know they usually have gelatine in them, and I told the clerk, but they insisted that they were vegan. Ilooked in the ingrediant list and sure enough it said that it contained gelatine. But the sales clerk assured me that it was made of something else besides animals limbs, and he pointed to something written on the container. I can usually understand German, but I couldn't decipher the label.

My question is: Can gelatine be made from something vegan? If so, what, and why don't they always do it?

Gelatine is made from bones, ligaments and tendons of slaughtered animals, as you said. Occaisitonally, it is made from fish bones, but would be clearly marked as such. Agar Agar is a seaweed based gelatine like substance which is vegan-but it would be very CLEARLY marked as such, and labeled suitable for vegetarians, as would be products made from carageenan. It may have been marked "suitable for vegetarians" but would not be vegan. So many countries believe that vegetarians still eat animal by products, so the mislabeling wouldnt surprise me. I feel you would be better off with something not so questionable, such as a hard candy. Can you bring me some goodies too? thanks, you are a gem! I was raised in Germany and miss their lovely sweets!