Posted on 03/22/2024 6:56:40 PM PDT by Morgana
RNS) — A Hindu advocate has called for an official apology from General Mills after learning Yoplait brand yogurts contain gelatin sourced from beef.
Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hindus, released a statement on March 19, which included a call for the resignation of General Mills CEO Jeffrey L. Harmening.
Zed said he was told by a friend that the popular yogurt product contained gelatin, but he did not know from where. He wrote a query to the consumer care department of General Mills and received a response, he said, after several tries: “The source of gelatin in all Yoplait Yogurt products is beef.”
“I was appalled,” Zed told RNS in an email.
Hindus commonly abstain from eating beef, believing cows are sacred and revered companions to the gods. Many Hindus venerate cattle as gaumata, or cow mother, an animal they see as nourishing both the body and soul through her supply of dairy. And in India, special protective shelters called gaushalas exist to ensure stray cows have a home.
“It is shocking for Hindus to learn that popular Yoplait yogurts, which many have been eating for years, contained beef, while beef was not explicitly mentioned under the ingredients listed on the Yoplait packages.
“It is a very serious issue for the devotees and would severely hurt their feelings if they would come to know that they were unknowingly eating beef-laced Yoplait yogurts,” he added.
In his statement, Zed urged General Mills to recall all Yoplait items containing gelatin where its source is not clearly mentioned and replace them with packages that “markedly declared source of gelatin under the ingredients label.”
“This issue, besides Hindus, also impacts vegetarians, vegans and devotees of other religions who do not consume certain kinds of meat,” Zed told RNS.
Zed’s organization has long been vocal against the “inappropriate usage or trivialization” of sacred Hindu images by corporations, such as a Lord Ganesha yoga towel and an IPA with the name “Kali the Destroyer.”
General Mills did not respond to RNS for comment. Disclosure of the origin of gelatin, whether bovine, porcine or fish, is not a labeling requirement, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
In 2017, Zed slammed Kellogg’s for not disclosing the beef gelatin in their products, such as Frosted Pop-Tarts, Frosted Mini-Wheats and Rice Krispies Treats cereal. And more recently in 2023, Zed fought against Baskin Robbins for the marshmallows found in their Rocky Road ice cream, also derived from beef and pork gelatin.
Zed says it is altogether safer for Hindus, and others with religious dietary restrictions, to avoid gelatin — traditionally made from collagen that comes from the bones and hides of cows and pigs — since there is no way to be certain about its origin without writing to the manufacturers. Or, he says, people should look for vegan gelatin alternatives.
“General Mills, which claims to be an ‘innovative company that stands for good,’ should not be in the business of hurting the sentiments of trusting consumers and communities and contradicting its own statement ‘Do the Right Thing, All the Time,'” said Zed.
Tulsi Gabbard, she is a Hindu. They’re whack jobs.
Agree, and yet in a crowd of many wannabes, she appears sane.
So, for all of the religious “can’t eat that” people, are they all going to hell, or just complain to the rest of us? I’ll just keep eating my bacon burger while I’m waiting for the answer.
Is that really worse than cheese on your cheeseburger?
the article says clearly that the origin of the gelatin is not on the ingredients label.
Firstly - they are NOT "a cancer on the host civilization" - this is clearly seen in the USA, UK etc.
Your first statement then would put the 28 million Christians in India at risk - India is a secular country like the USA and unlike Pakistan. It IS difficult for Christians in some parts of the country, but not in others - by saying "Hindus do not belong in western countries", you put the Christians in India at risk.
Some Hindus in India - specifically in Kerala - eat beef.
Hinduism is not a very defined religion like Christianity, Judaism or Zoroastrianism. Rather it includes everything from polytheism to atheism with multiple types of religions in it. I call it a “meta-religion”.
Anyway, the reason why the cow is revered dates to the Indo-European reverence for cows - you see this also in the Nordic religion. The Indo-Europeans arose around 4000 BC in the region between the black sea and the caspian sea. They probably started off as cowherders as the common language includes a lot of “cattle” related words. They also developed lactose tolerance.
The development of lactose tolerance meant that they could get a source of nutrition without having to go hunting, hence the reverence for the cow.
I think his beef ;-P was that it is not labelled as “containing beef”.
Western Cheese is known to have rennet. Indian cheese - paneer - does not. Neither does Indian yogurt.
General Mills is in the right as it is not required to label for containing beef or not.
Sorry, but you made the mistake of trying to compare Hinduism to Christianity.
Christianity is a defined religion with boundaries of what is and isn’t Christianity.
Hinduism is not a religion in that definition - it is a collection of religions.
“Krishna” and “Ganesha” were not even worshipped before the 1st century.
Pre-Buddhism, the “Hinduism” in India was Vedic religion with a God of Thunder - Indra (who is analogous to othOdin etc,.) was the chief of gods with two “families” of gods: Ahuras and Devas.
This is analogous to the more primitve Nordic religion with the Aesir and Vanir.
The Indo-Irani branch of Indo-Europeans had a falling out with the Iranis raising the Ahuras to a higher level (and ultimately Zoroaster took one ahura - Ahura Mazda) as the only God of light (countered by Aingra Mainyu, the god of the Lie) and hte Devas became fireplace/hearth deities.
In India the opposite happened - the Devas were raised up and the Asuras were reduced to demon status (only becoming demons after influence from Christianity — Christianity came to india as early as 52 AD).
Anyway - Krishna is an “avatar” of Vishnu - who has, I think - 10 avatars, another of whom is Rama.
This “Vishnu” along with Shiva and Brahma are called “the Hindu trinity” - and this concept arose only in the 1st century AD — again, under the influence of Christianity.
Ganesha first is mentioned in the 2nd century BC as an Asura , but later in the 3rd century AD he becomes a son of Shiva.
To your question “My question is whether the Hindu belief in God is genuine since their various prayers to apparent deities that are substitutes. “ — i find that for many it is genuine. The more philosophical forms of hinduism have an “Atman” or a greater than all God, but one who is so ineffable that he doesn’t bother with and can’t be understood by the world.
so there is one item on which we can agree.
well, religious feelings. We may find their cow worship weird, but they find weirdness in our beliefs.
All the guy is asking for is that it be labelled “contains beef” - he’s not saying to remove it
There are 28 million Christians in India - India has had Christianity since 52 AD.
If you put "assimilate", then you put those 28 million Christians at risk.
I know, you're going to point out persecution of Christians in India - and it does happen, but not everywhere and not all the time. The south and west of India has had Christians for centuries and the north-east is a purely Baptist land (Nagaland, Mizoram etc.)
There are times you make sense. That's somewhat disconcerting.
Almost all food grade gelatin is from beef or pork products.
I cannot help it if Mr. Dot-Horseshoe head (and you?) do not know that.
But this is not India.
Here we label things differently. This is pretty much the standard for all countries, they label things differently. Which means if you have dietary restrictions, religious or otherwise, you need to learn what the differences are.
I respect people who take their religion seriously, barring people who are into human sacrifice and such, but based in his actions I would say his religious dietary restrictions do not actually mean that much to him. He just wanted to throw a fit in public for the attention.
Thank you for all the information in your two posts.
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