Gelatin Smelled Like A Meat Rendering Plant - Threw It Away

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Orange can of gelatin was about a year or two old, unopened. I had stored it properly and the expiration date was June 2019, oddly.

I made a gelatin out of it with cranberry juice and sugar and heated it.

It smelled like the outside of a rendering plant.

I threw it all away of course.

I wonder what happened?
 
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ecstatichamster
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I think gelatin contains a lot of endotoxins.

I notice when I make gelatin, I can smell that very faint rendering plant odor.

Do you notice it?
 

Fractality

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I've never smelled a rendering plant but I went off gelatin a while back, and just now stopping the homemade beef tendon / chicken feet broths. Something about it isn't sitting right with me any longer.
 

sladerunner69

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I have had some funny smelling gelatin batches, definitely. I think it is not a bad idea to give it a boil before consumption.
 

ilikecats

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Is there any evidence that gelatin contains endotoxin? It seems to be something that gets mentioned on this forum (recently) but I’ve never heard ray peat warn about it or seen any papers on it. It’s past it’s expiration date so I think there’s at least part of your answer. I don’t think they’re specially sealed in a way that would preserve the things contained in it for extremely long periods of time, the container doesn’t say “once opened use by x” it’s just an expiration date. And usually the expiration dates seem generous- 2 plus years after purchasing. Also sometimes you just get a bad batch happens with milk too that’s actually far from it’s expiration date.

And did you get it from Great Lakes on amazon? I’m going to stop getting mine from amazon I don’t trust the resellers (especially when some are selling for 4 dollars less than the source). You see in the reviews that some people find the product is not the same as the Great Lakes gelatin bought straight from the company.

Also was it porcine gelatin? Once I accidentally bought that and it seemed pretty unappetizing.
 

Fractality

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Is there any evidence that gelatin contains endotoxin? It seems to be something that gets mentioned on this forum (recently) but I’ve never heard ray peat warn about it or seen any papers on it. It’s past it’s expiration date so I think there’s at least part of your answer. I don’t think they’re specially sealed in a way that would preserve the things contained in it for extremely long periods of time, the container doesn’t say “once opened use by x” it’s just an expiration date. And usually the expiration dates seem generous- 2 plus years after purchasing. Also sometimes you just get a bad batch happens with milk too that’s actually far from it’s expiration date.

And did you get it from Great Lakes on amazon? I’m going to stop getting mine from amazon I don’t trust the resellers (especially when some are selling for 4 dollars less than the source). You see in the reviews that some people find the product is not the same as the Great Lakes gelatin bought straight from the company.

Also was it porcine gelatin? Once I accidentally bought that and it seemed pretty unappetizing.

I believe the commercial gelatin is made of the boiled skins and there is a study floating on this forum showing most endotoxin is in the skin.
 

ilikecats

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@Fractality interesting, I will investigate further. But even if that was the case don’t you think it would probably be destroyed during the refining process when it’s exposed to very high temperatures?
 

Fractality

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@Fractality interesting, I will investigate further. But even if that was the case don’t you think it would probably be destroyed during the refining process when it’s exposed to very high temperatures?

That's conventional thought, but then again we know that the byproducts of endotoxin/bacteria that develop on cooked/processed foods is a problem. No amount of cooking removes it and makes it safe.
 

rei

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In today's society take about 50% of the duration from manufacturing date to expiration date and treat that as expiration date. Much of the food is expired already when packaged due to the low standards, but if you eat food at expiration date you are getting almost spoiled raw material to build your body. It takes enormous amount of energy to turn almost spoiled into vibrantly living. Most don't have this reserve and thus become spoiled to some degree themselves.
 

schultz

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I use hide glue sometimes and it smells like animals. Hide glue is basically unrefined gelatin. Personally, I like the smell because it is familiar. I do live on a farm though, so I am probably used to it. I imagine the smell from the gelatin is from bacterial breakdown of amino acids. This produces smelly diamines and such like putrescine (the name says it all) and cadaverine (again, the name sums it up).

Is there any evidence that gelatin contains endotoxin? It seems to be something that gets mentioned on this forum (recently) but I’ve never heard ray peat warn about it or seen any papers on it.

Yes, there is a semi-recent hysteria regarding this it seems, not unlike the "my estrogen is too low because I feel like it is" phase the forum went through. I questioned it in another thread. For one thing, it assumes that the endotoxin is absorbed into the body. We have like 5 pounds of bacteria in us and a constant supply of endotoxin in our gut but that doesn't mean it is being absorbed. Ray has even mentioned that very small amounts of endotoxin being absorbed is important (but I am sure no one has a problem of not getting enough). There may even be endotoxin in a lot of the food we eat, so the question is, does the amount in a TBSP or 2 of gelatin amount to any meaningful amount? Is endotoxin absorbed more easily when it is consumed vs. when it is already in the large intestine? (maybe it absorbs easier in the upper portion of the GIT?)
 
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ecstatichamster
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I think gelatin has a lot of endotoxin. I don't get the same issue with collagen though. Not sure why.

There are ways that chemicals can break down endotoxin, but heat itself doesn't do it.

It could be that gelatin has a lot of endotoxin in it, much more than food. Remember, trillionths of a gram can be very toxic.
 

yerrag

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Interesting thread. I began to source out gelatin sources from food. I find chicken feet, oxtail, pork ears, pork skin, pork and beef tendons to be tasty and free from off smells that would turn me off, not that I consider myself an expert with judging whether something is good or bad by smell. But still, I eat what I prepare so I get to decide it I want to eat something or throw it away.

Wbat I find unappealing is bovine facial hide. After making it into a stew through simmering it for a few hours, it would turn into a gelatinous stew. The stew doesn't taste bad, but when I eat the hide, it has an off smell that I associate with fungus. Still, I ate it. But towards the end of eating the batch, my distaste for it grew that I end up feeding it to my cat. Only two of my four cats would eat it, so I was left to be the tiebreaker. I decided not to consume bovine facial hide anymore. I think that there may be truth to endotoxin in beef hide. Just my gut feel.
 
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ecstatichamster
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I emphasize I eat collagen from Great Lakes every day and it doesn’t have this odor or taste at all.
 

michael94

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Interesting thread. I began to source out gelatin sources from food. I find chicken feet, oxtail, pork ears, pork skin, pork and beef tendons to be tasty and free from off smells that would turn me off, not that I consider myself an expert with judging whether something is good or bad by smell. But still, I eat what I prepare so I get to decide it I want to eat something or throw it away.

Wbat I find unappealing is bovine facial hide. After making it into a stew through simmering it for a few hours, it would turn into a gelatinous stew. The stew doesn't taste bad, but when I eat the hide, it has an off smell that I associate with fungus. Still, I ate it. But towards the end of eating the batch, my distaste for it grew that I end up feeding it to my cat. Only two of my four cats would eat it, so I was left to be the tiebreaker. I decided not to consume bovine facial hide anymore. I think that there may be truth to endotoxin in beef hide. Just my gut feel.
I almost gagged reading about it
 

SuperStressed

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Orange can of gelatin was about a year or two old, unopened. I had stored it properly and the expiration date was June 2019, oddly.

I made a gelatin out of it with cranberry juice and sugar and heated it.

It smelled like the outside of a rendering plant.

I threw it all away of course.

I wonder what happened?
The same thing happened with me. I used a orange juice and lemon, the final smell was revolting and I couldnt eat it. Did you try the same gelatin in just water without juice and sugar?
 
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ecstatichamster
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The same thing happened with me. I used a orange juice and lemon, the final smell was revolting and I couldnt eat it. Did you try the same gelatin in just water without juice and sugar?

I tried two brands and it made no difference. Juice only. I think there are a lot of endotoxins in all gelatins. Maybe not collagen.
 

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