These days politics is being played on beef. The cow has constantly been an effective weapon for the BJP not only to divide people communally but also to divert their attention from real national concerns. Hindus in particular are hurt due to politics happening in the name of cow. Now they are upset and seeking official apology from Dutch-British transnational consumer goods company for non-disclosure of beef in some of its products; and immediate recall of all such food items.
Consumption of beef is highly contradictory to Hindu beliefs. Cow, the seat of many deities, is sacred and has long been venerated in Hinduism. Though, the average Hindu may not be even bothered about the cow gazing garbage or left to die on the roads, but when it comes to making an issue they immediately get hurt.
When we see cows roaming around a field, we usually think of a farm animal that gives us milk and may finally end up on someone’s plates, unless they’re vegetarians. Then they probably think, “What a beautiful animal.” The point is, people most commonly associate cows with food, but cow by-products are actually used in a wide variety of places. Over 34 million cows are killed each year in slaughterhouses, but only 51 percent of their bodies are used for food because consumers only eat select portion of meat. But if we seriously look at the animal agriculture industry, it is that they are always looking for a way to earn profit, so many of these “leftovers,” which include hooves, skin, bones, and glands that are used in other ways.
In many cosmetic products presence of Hydrolyzed Collagen is found, which may come from pork, beef or seafood. Alcohol may be used in fragrance. But shampoo, toothpaste to creams, lipsticks etc. needs animal fat as one of the vital ingredient. Even though animal products might not be present in as many places as some think they spread far beyond just those hidden in food.
On average, about 55% of the animal is used for edible products and the remaining 45% for inedible by-products. “Rendering plants” take in these animal parts, as well as entire animals that cannot be eaten by people, and separates them into fats and proteins for many of the unexpected uses you are about to discover. The places where unidentified cow parts crop up may surprise and shock you. They might make you worry that it’s impossible to avoid products made from cows, but never fear.
Leather is used to make a variety of sports equipment. It’s estimated that 20 footballs can be made out of one cowhide. Every year the National Football League manufactures around 700,000 footballs, that means around 35,000 cowhides are used annually just for this single sport. Keep in mind that leather is also used to make baseballs, baseball gloves, and basketballs. While you were aware that these sports require leather, you might be shocked to learn that cow intestines are utilized for “natural gut strings” in tennis racquets; it takes about four cows’ guts to make one racquet.
Keratin, a protein extracted from cow hooves, is used to create a specialized fire extinguishing foam. This extra strong protein helps to bind foam together to put out hotter, higher intensity fires. Keratin fire extinguishing foam is commonly used in airports to stifle fires caused by jet fuel. There might be cow bone hiding in your chocolate chip cookies. Processed white sugar is decolorized using a filter that is often created using bone char from cows, sometimes referred to as “natural charcoal.” Bone char effectively works to strip away any “impurities” from sugar and leave pure white crystals behind.
You may be familiar with the fact that gelatin is made from rendered cow bones and skin. This product is commonly found in Jello, marshmallows, and other gummy candies, but what you may not know is that gelatin can also be found in film. This means both photography and movies are likely to require animal products unless you go digital. Car tires are made using stearic acid, a cow by-product, but that’s not where it ends. Many cars, of course, have leather seats, but they also use glue created from beef protein in car bodies and hydraulic brake fluid is actually made from cow fat. If you thought that industrialised animal agriculture was destructive enough, just consider the fact that glycerin, which is derived from cow fat, is used in dynamite. More than 100 individual drugs performing such important and varied functions are helping to make childbirth safer, settling an upset stomach, preventing blood clots in the circulatory system, controlling anemia, relieving some symptoms of hay fever and asthma, and helping babies digest milk include beef by-products.” Insulin, for example, is produced using cow pancreases, additionally; gelatin capsules are commonly used for a variety of medications. Fats, fatty acids and protein meals from cows are used in a wide variety of everyday household items, including in candles, cosmetic, crayons, perfume, mouthwash, toothpaste, shaving cream, soap and deodorants. Stearic acid derived from cow fat is the most common culprit in these items.
In nutshell, if we notice there are many products that we unknowing or knowingly use are of animal fats, these incidentally become your way of life and you actually are used to it without any problem. But when such petty issues become politics or tool to earn money by blackmailing or pressurizing the industrialists or manufacturers, then they can hurt the sentiments of random people.
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