SILVER FOILS ARE NOT VEGETARIAN
The silver foils are not very expensive. They are sold by weight. Ordinarily, you can buy a packet of 160 foils for a price between Rs.100 to 200. That is, approximately one rupee per foil. Not only the sweets, now a days it is also applied on fruits. Some Ayurvedic medicines also are wrapped in silver foils.
They are made by hammering thin sheets of silver in middle of booklets made of a bull's intestines. In other words, after slaughtering a bull, quickly his intestines are removed, and sold to the manufacturers of foils. The skins made of old intestines are of no use. Even one-day-old intestines can not be used, because within a few hours they stiffen.
The foil manufacturer removes blood and stools from the intestines, and cuts them into pieces. Then he puts one piece over another, making a booklet out of it. At his home, or in the factory, he puts one silver (or gold) sheet in-between each page. Then he hammers it hard until those metal sheets turn into thin wafers.
The intestines of bulls are so strong, that even repeated hammering do not destroy them, or they do not let the foils move around inside. Because of the hammering, some tissues of the intestine mix with the foils. After that the foil manufacturer sells the bundle of foils to the sweets manufacturers. Some small foil manufacturers sell the foils to the temples.
This foil is not only dirty, it also is non-vegetarian. Even the meat-eaters do not eat intestines. Use of these foils turn even sweets into non-vegetarian food. A few years ago the Indian Airlines learned about this, and since then stopped using them on the sweets served in their planes.
Source of Silver Foil in Sweets
Indian Airlines, the domestic air-carrier of India had issued instructions to its suppliers to supply sweet without silver foil called VARAKH. Do you know why? Silver is widely used for various purposes in the market today.
Silver is considered precious and its utility is enormous. The reason behind this is that silver reflects back 95% of the light energy that falls on it. The silver foils used for edible purposes is called VARAKH So what's so special about VARAKH? If you keenly observe this VARAKH under a microscope don be perturbed if you happen to see traces of blood, stools and saliva of a cattle or ox.
VARAKH is a silver foil and we have no second questions on this, but to prepare this VARAKH important parts of the CATTLE/OX is made use of.
Intestines of Cattle/OX are obtained from the slaughterhouse. This is obtained after butchering to death the cattle/ox for beef and the part, which cannot be consumed: the intestines are pulled out of the animal and handed over to the manufacturers of VARAKH. Before handing over the intestines, they are washed in the slaughterhouse to get rid of the blood and other remains on these intestines in the limited facility that is present in the slaughterhouse. We are not sure how neatly this job is carried out. Intestines are cut into small pieces and then are bound together as pages in a notebook.
A silver block is placed in the middle of these bound intestines, and the whole thing is placed in a leather bag and sealed. Experts, who know how to make VARAKH, pound the bag with wooden sticks, till the entire bag flattens out. The silver block would by this time be turned into silver foil. This Silver foil would now be separated from the intestine pack and will be placed on paper.
This is VARAKH, which reaches the market ready for use. Even staunch vegetarians, who shy away from egg, unknowingly consume this as a part of sweet, pan and arecanut. Some unknowingly consume this because of the additional taste that VARAKH provides.
Now the question is "Why the intestines of the cattle/ox? Why not something else?" The reason behind using the intestines of the cattle/ox for preparing the VARAKH is because of the elasticity of the intestines. They do not get cut even after a severe pounding.
This aspect is brought out in the magazine "Beauty without cruelty" and the Television show of Maneka Gandhi, "Heads and Tails". In India, on an average an estimate indicates that 2,75,000 kilos of "VARAKH" is consumed. Can you estimate how many cattle/ox are sacrificed for just a bit of taste? If you are surprised as I am, after reading this article please inform as many as possible so as to ensure that we unknowingly don't consume beef.
Pan
By now, a pan-lover vegetarian person may have eaten equivalent of many miles of oxen intestines! For them, here is an another bad news - the Chuna that they apply on pan, also is not vegetarian! That is made from the shells of living insects. These insects are taken from the ocean, killed, and removed from the shell. Then the shells are softened in water, dried, and ground into white powder. When you put this Chuna in your mouth, you are participating in killing of many insects. This is no different from taking life of a goat or a pig. Everyone wants to live, no one likes the pain of death.
Indian Sweets and Varakh
Silver foil, or varakh, as it is generally known in India, adds glitter to Indian sweets, betel nut (Supari), Paan (betel-leaf), and fruits. It is also used in Ayurvedic medicines. The silver-topped sweet is even served as prashad in many temples and on auspicious and religious occasions. Varakh is also used in flavoured syrups as in Kesar (saffron) syrup.
If one observes Varakh under a microscope one will find traces of blood, stools and saliva of a cattle or an ox. Varakh is not derived from an animal source. However, a crucial material of animal origin, ox-gut, is used in its manufacture. This ox-gut is obtained from the slaughterhouse.
The intestine (ox-gut), smeared with blood and mucus, is pulled out from the slaughtered animal by the butcher at the slaughterhouse, and sold for the specific purpose. This is then taken away to be cleaned and used in the manufacture of Varakh. The gut of an average cow, measuring 540 inches in length and 3 inches in diameter, is cut open into a piece measuring 540" x 10". From this, strips of 9" x 10" are cut to give approximately 60 pieces of ox-gut, which are then piled on top of each other and bound to form a book of 171 leaves.
Next, small thin strips of silver are placed between the sheets and the book slipped into a leather pouch. These bundles are hammered continuously for a day to produce extremely thin foils of silver of 3" x 5".
The leather and ox-gut, being supple, can withstand the intense manual hammering for up to 8 hours a day till such time as the silver is beaten to the desired thickness. When ready, the foil is carefully lifted from between the leaves of ox-gut and placed between sheets of paper to be sold to the sweet shops. A booklet of 160 foils weighs approximately 10 grams and costs few hundred rupees.
To make a single booklet of 171 sheets, the guts of 3 cows are used. And the yield per book is generally 160 foils of silver, the rest of which may be damaged or unfit for use. Thus one book, used on an average of 300 days of the year yields approximately 48,000 foils of silver which means that each ox-gut yields an estimated 16,000 foils.
The leather used for the pouch to hold the book (made from ox-gut), is cowhide or calf leather, and uses about 232 sq. inches of material. Assuming the size of an average cowhide to be 18 sq. ft or 2,600 sq. Inches, the yield per hide will be approximately 10 leather pouches.
Usually 4 foils are used per kilograms of sweets and the ox-gut of one cow is used to produce foil for approximately 4,000 kilograms of sweets. It is estimated that the average consumption of sweets by a middle class family of four in India is about 100 kilograms per year.
Thus, an average middle class Indian family of four consuming approximately 100 kg of sweets per year for forty years consumes silver foil produced with the gut of 3 cows and one-tenth of a cowhide!
In India 275 tons of silver is transformed into Varakh that utilises the intestines of 516,000 cows and calf leather of 17,200 animals each year.
Silver Foil Maker From Hyderabad a small cilip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_gSNSwhTd4
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
is wine & alcohol vegetarian
How Alcohol Works
If you have ever seen a person who has had too much to drink, you know that alcohol is a drug that has widespread effects on the body, and the effects vary from person to person. People who drink might be the "life of the party" or they might become sad and droopy. Their speech may slur and they may have trouble walking. It all depends on the amount of alcohol consumed, a person's history with alcohol and a person's personality.
Even though you have seen the physical and behavioral changes, you might wonder exactly how alcohol works on the body to produce those effects. What is alcohol? How does the body process it? How does the chemistry of alcohol work on the chemistry of the brain? In this article, we will examine all of the ways in which alcohol affects the human body.
What is Alcohol?In order to understand alcohol's effects on the body, it is helpful to understand the nature of alcohol as a chemical, so let's take a look...
Here are several facts:
Alcohol is a clear liquid at room temperature.
Alcohol is less dense and evaporates at a lower temperature than water (this property allows it to be distilled -- by heating a water and alcohol mixture, the alcohol evaporates first).
Alcohol dissolves easily in water.
Alcohol is flammable (so flammable that it can be used as a fuel).
Alcohol can be made by four different methods:
Fermentation of fruit or grain mixtures
Distillation of fermented fruit or grain mixtures (Spirits such as whiskey, rum, vodka and gin are distilled.)
Chemical modification of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal (industrial alcohol)
Chemical combination of hydrogen with carbon monoxide (methanol or wood alcohol)
Ethyl AlcoholThe alcohol found in alcoholic beverages is ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The molecular structure of ethanol looks like this:
HH3 C - C - O - HH
In this structure, C is carbon, H is hydrogen, O is oxygen and the hyphens are the chemical bonds between the atoms. For purposes of clarity, the bonds between the three hydrogen atoms and the left carbon atom are not shown. The OH (O-H) group on the molecule is what gives it the specific chemical properties of an alcohol. For the remainder of this article, when we say "alcohol," we mean ethanol.
You will not find pure alcohol in most drinks; drinking pure alcohol can be deadly because it only takes a few ounces of pure alcohol to quickly raise the blood alcohol level into the danger zone. For various types of beverages, the ethanol concentration (by volume) is as follows:
Beer = 4 to 6 percent (average of about 4.5 percent)
Wine = 7 to 15 percent (average of about 11 percent)
Champage = 8 to 14 percent (average of about 12 percent)
Distilled spirits (e.g. rum, gin, vodka, whiskey) = 40 to 95 percent
Most of the typical spirits purchased in liquor stores are 40 percent alcohol.
Some highly concentrated forms of rum and whisky (75 to 90 percent) can be purchased in liquor stores.
Some highly concentrated forms of whiskey (i.e. moonshine) can be made and/or purchased illegally. How Alcohol Enters the Body
When a person drinks an alcoholic beverage, about 20 percent of the alcohol is absorbed in the stomach and about 80 percent is absorbed in the small intestine. How fast the alcohol is absorbed depends upon several things:
The concentration of alcohol in the beverage - The greater the concentration, the faster the absorption.
The type of drink - Carbonated beverages tend to speed up the absorption of alcohol.
Whether the stomach is full or empty - Food slows down alcohol absorption. After absorption, the alcohol enters the bloodstream and dissolves in the water of the blood- The blood carries the alcohol throughout the body. The alcohol from the blood then enters and dissolves in the water inside each tissue of the body (except fat tissue, as alcohol cannot dissolve in fat). Once inside the tissues, alcohol exerts its effects on the body. The observed effects depend directly on the blood alcohol concentration (BAC), which is related to the amount of alcohol consumed. The BAC can rise significantly within 20 minutes after having a drink.
How Alcohol Leaves the BodyOnce absorbed by the bloodstream, the alcohol leaves the body in three ways:
The kinney eliminates 5 percent of alcohol in the urine.
The lungs exhale 5 percent of alcohol, which can be detected by breathalyzer
The liver chemically breaks down the remaining alcohol into acetic acid. As a rule of thumb, an average person can eliminate 0.5 oz (15 ml) of alcohol per hour. So, it would take approximately one hour to eliminate the alcohol from a 12 oz (355 ml) can of beer.
The BAC increases when the body absorbs alcohol faster than it can eliminate it. So, because the body can only eliminate about one dose of alcohol per hour, drinking several drinks in an hour will increase your BAC much more than having one drink over a period of an hour or more.
The Effects of Alcohol
If you have seen someone who has had too much to drink, you've probably noticed definite changes in that person's performance and behavior. The body responds to alcohol in stages, which correspond to an increase in BAC: 1. Euphoria (BAC = 0.03 to 0.12 percent)
They become more self-confident or daring.
Their attention span shortens.
They may look flushed.
Their judgement is not as good -- they may say the first thought that comes to mind, rather than an appropriate comment for the given situation.
They have trouble with fine movements, such as writing or signing their name. 2. Excitement (BAC = 0.09 to 0.25 percent)
They become sleepy.
They have trouble understanding or remembering things (even recent events).
They do not react to situations as quickly (if they spill a drink they may just stare at it).
Their body movements are uncoordinated.
They begin to lose their balance easily.
Their vision becomes blurry.
They may have trouble sensing things (hearing, tasting, feeling, etc.). 3. Confusion (BAC = 0.18 to 0.30 percent)
They are confused -- might not know where they are or what they are doing.
They are dizzy and may stagger.
They may be highly emotional -- aggressive, withdrawn or overly affectionate.
They cannot see clearly.
They are sleepy.
They have slurred speech.
They have uncoordinated movements (trouble catching an object thrown to them).
They may not feel pain as readily as a sober person. 4. Stupor (BAC = 0.25 to 0.4 percent)
They can barely move at all.
They cannot respond to stimuli.
They cannot stand or walk.
They may vomit.
They may lapse in and out of consciousness. 5. Coma (BAC = 0.35 to 0.50 percent)
They are unconscious.
Their reflexes are depressed (i.e. their pupils do not respond appropriately to changes in light.
They feel cool (lower-than-normal body temperature).
Their breathing is slower and more shallow.
Their heart rate may slow.
They may die. 6. Death (BAC more than 0.50 percent) - The person usually stops breathing and dies.
IS WINE VEGETARIAN?
Here is the result of a study by a Carolina Pyevich.
Although wine usually contains only grapes, yeast and a small amount of sulphites, which are added and created during fermentation, the processing of wine introduces small amount of substances not acceptable to vegetarians and vegans. Every wine is different and no uniform formula exists for producing them. A clarifying or fining agent makes wine clear by removing proteins from it. If left in the wine, thest proteins would denature and form long molecule strands. That would result in wine to be hazy or having loose sediments floating in it. The agents eventually settle out of the wine. Different proteins serve as clarifying agents depending upon both the type of wine and the desired flavour.
Some clarifiers are animal -based products and others are earth-based. Common animal-based agents are egg white, milk, casein, gelatin and ising glass. Gelatin is derived from the skin of connective tissues of pigs and cows. Ising glass is prepared from the bladder of sturgeon fish. Bentonite, a clear earth product serves as a common fining agent. Organic protein agents are more likely to be used in the clarification of premium wines which cost more than $7 a bottle. Egg whites obtained rom chicken eggs are used for red wine clarification. Wine makers in France (Burgundy) commonly utilize egg whites in their production of expensive wines.
Large producers of wine in the United States usually implement potassium caseinate as a substitute for eggs. Whole milk and casein are two other fining agents used in some red wines. Gelatin can clarify either white or red wine or beer. Gelatin pulls suspended material out of wine and less expensive wines use this process. Ising glass is used to fine selected white wines. Germany is one of the countries that uses this technique. American wineries also use this material to clarify white wine or chardonnay. The most popular substance used to remove the proteins of domestically produced white wines is bentonite. It is used to fine most inexpensive wines. Another fining agent of concern to vegetarians is blood. Although blood of large mammals may serve as clarifier in some of the Mediterranean countries, its use is forbidden in United States and France.
Both the clarifying agents and removed proteins coagulate on the bottom of the wine tank or barrel, from where they are removed. The ingredient list will not state the clarifier because it is removed from the final product. Kosher wine is a specialty item and it is produced directly from Kosher market. These wines may be more likely to avoid the use of animal-based clarifying agents, but not all do so. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations stated that a wine could theoretically be certified as Kosher if it contains egg whites or if the gelatin were completely removed from the final product. Paper is yet another agent sometimes used to clarify Kosher wine, as the impurities adhere to the paper.
IS ALCOHOL VEGETARIAN - NO
Alcohol, Beer, Ale, and Wines are made with Fish glue, Pepsin, Peptone, Lactic acid, Lactose, Glycerin, Gelatin, Egg white, Albumin, Isinglass lactic acid, and / or malo-lactic bacteria.
Some years ago The Center for Science in the Public Interest compiled a list of well over a hundred additives permissible in various alcoholic beverages. These ingredients were not required to be declared on the label. Strictly from a vegetarian standpoint, some are obviously animal, some are suspect, and some can be made either from animal or other sources. These additives include fish glue, pepsin (stomach extract), peptone (product of pepsin acting on albumin), lactic acid, lactose, glycerin, and gelatine for beer and/or ale. Wines fare no better, with gelatine, egg white or albumin from egg white, isinglass (sturgeon's bladder), lactic acid, and Malo-lactic bacteria.
The other additives include ingredients such as enzymes to convert starch into sugar; clarifying, chill-proofing, foam stabilizing and anti-gushing agents; antioxidant; anti-microbial preservative; artificial colors; plus of course natural and artificial flavors. Who needs them? Finally, Alcohol results in the death of innumerable Jivas but being intoxicating, it also destroys the power of discrimination, creates delusion in wisdom, harms health and can bring about an end to family happiness and tranquility.
If you have ever seen a person who has had too much to drink, you know that alcohol is a drug that has widespread effects on the body, and the effects vary from person to person. People who drink might be the "life of the party" or they might become sad and droopy. Their speech may slur and they may have trouble walking. It all depends on the amount of alcohol consumed, a person's history with alcohol and a person's personality.
Even though you have seen the physical and behavioral changes, you might wonder exactly how alcohol works on the body to produce those effects. What is alcohol? How does the body process it? How does the chemistry of alcohol work on the chemistry of the brain? In this article, we will examine all of the ways in which alcohol affects the human body.
What is Alcohol?In order to understand alcohol's effects on the body, it is helpful to understand the nature of alcohol as a chemical, so let's take a look...
Here are several facts:
Alcohol is a clear liquid at room temperature.
Alcohol is less dense and evaporates at a lower temperature than water (this property allows it to be distilled -- by heating a water and alcohol mixture, the alcohol evaporates first).
Alcohol dissolves easily in water.
Alcohol is flammable (so flammable that it can be used as a fuel).
Alcohol can be made by four different methods:
Fermentation of fruit or grain mixtures
Distillation of fermented fruit or grain mixtures (Spirits such as whiskey, rum, vodka and gin are distilled.)
Chemical modification of fossil fuels such as oil, natural gas or coal (industrial alcohol)
Chemical combination of hydrogen with carbon monoxide (methanol or wood alcohol)
Ethyl AlcoholThe alcohol found in alcoholic beverages is ethyl alcohol (ethanol). The molecular structure of ethanol looks like this:
HH3 C - C - O - HH
In this structure, C is carbon, H is hydrogen, O is oxygen and the hyphens are the chemical bonds between the atoms. For purposes of clarity, the bonds between the three hydrogen atoms and the left carbon atom are not shown. The OH (O-H) group on the molecule is what gives it the specific chemical properties of an alcohol. For the remainder of this article, when we say "alcohol," we mean ethanol.
You will not find pure alcohol in most drinks; drinking pure alcohol can be deadly because it only takes a few ounces of pure alcohol to quickly raise the blood alcohol level into the danger zone. For various types of beverages, the ethanol concentration (by volume) is as follows:
Beer = 4 to 6 percent (average of about 4.5 percent)
Wine = 7 to 15 percent (average of about 11 percent)
Champage = 8 to 14 percent (average of about 12 percent)
Distilled spirits (e.g. rum, gin, vodka, whiskey) = 40 to 95 percent
Most of the typical spirits purchased in liquor stores are 40 percent alcohol.
Some highly concentrated forms of rum and whisky (75 to 90 percent) can be purchased in liquor stores.
Some highly concentrated forms of whiskey (i.e. moonshine) can be made and/or purchased illegally. How Alcohol Enters the Body
When a person drinks an alcoholic beverage, about 20 percent of the alcohol is absorbed in the stomach and about 80 percent is absorbed in the small intestine. How fast the alcohol is absorbed depends upon several things:
The concentration of alcohol in the beverage - The greater the concentration, the faster the absorption.
The type of drink - Carbonated beverages tend to speed up the absorption of alcohol.
Whether the stomach is full or empty - Food slows down alcohol absorption. After absorption, the alcohol enters the bloodstream and dissolves in the water of the blood- The blood carries the alcohol throughout the body. The alcohol from the blood then enters and dissolves in the water inside each tissue of the body (except fat tissue, as alcohol cannot dissolve in fat). Once inside the tissues, alcohol exerts its effects on the body. The observed effects depend directly on the blood alcohol concentration (BAC), which is related to the amount of alcohol consumed. The BAC can rise significantly within 20 minutes after having a drink.
How Alcohol Leaves the BodyOnce absorbed by the bloodstream, the alcohol leaves the body in three ways:
The kinney eliminates 5 percent of alcohol in the urine.
The lungs exhale 5 percent of alcohol, which can be detected by breathalyzer
The liver chemically breaks down the remaining alcohol into acetic acid. As a rule of thumb, an average person can eliminate 0.5 oz (15 ml) of alcohol per hour. So, it would take approximately one hour to eliminate the alcohol from a 12 oz (355 ml) can of beer.
The BAC increases when the body absorbs alcohol faster than it can eliminate it. So, because the body can only eliminate about one dose of alcohol per hour, drinking several drinks in an hour will increase your BAC much more than having one drink over a period of an hour or more.
The Effects of Alcohol
If you have seen someone who has had too much to drink, you've probably noticed definite changes in that person's performance and behavior. The body responds to alcohol in stages, which correspond to an increase in BAC: 1. Euphoria (BAC = 0.03 to 0.12 percent)
They become more self-confident or daring.
Their attention span shortens.
They may look flushed.
Their judgement is not as good -- they may say the first thought that comes to mind, rather than an appropriate comment for the given situation.
They have trouble with fine movements, such as writing or signing their name. 2. Excitement (BAC = 0.09 to 0.25 percent)
They become sleepy.
They have trouble understanding or remembering things (even recent events).
They do not react to situations as quickly (if they spill a drink they may just stare at it).
Their body movements are uncoordinated.
They begin to lose their balance easily.
Their vision becomes blurry.
They may have trouble sensing things (hearing, tasting, feeling, etc.). 3. Confusion (BAC = 0.18 to 0.30 percent)
They are confused -- might not know where they are or what they are doing.
They are dizzy and may stagger.
They may be highly emotional -- aggressive, withdrawn or overly affectionate.
They cannot see clearly.
They are sleepy.
They have slurred speech.
They have uncoordinated movements (trouble catching an object thrown to them).
They may not feel pain as readily as a sober person. 4. Stupor (BAC = 0.25 to 0.4 percent)
They can barely move at all.
They cannot respond to stimuli.
They cannot stand or walk.
They may vomit.
They may lapse in and out of consciousness. 5. Coma (BAC = 0.35 to 0.50 percent)
They are unconscious.
Their reflexes are depressed (i.e. their pupils do not respond appropriately to changes in light.
They feel cool (lower-than-normal body temperature).
Their breathing is slower and more shallow.
Their heart rate may slow.
They may die. 6. Death (BAC more than 0.50 percent) - The person usually stops breathing and dies.
IS WINE VEGETARIAN?
Here is the result of a study by a Carolina Pyevich.
Although wine usually contains only grapes, yeast and a small amount of sulphites, which are added and created during fermentation, the processing of wine introduces small amount of substances not acceptable to vegetarians and vegans. Every wine is different and no uniform formula exists for producing them. A clarifying or fining agent makes wine clear by removing proteins from it. If left in the wine, thest proteins would denature and form long molecule strands. That would result in wine to be hazy or having loose sediments floating in it. The agents eventually settle out of the wine. Different proteins serve as clarifying agents depending upon both the type of wine and the desired flavour.
Some clarifiers are animal -based products and others are earth-based. Common animal-based agents are egg white, milk, casein, gelatin and ising glass. Gelatin is derived from the skin of connective tissues of pigs and cows. Ising glass is prepared from the bladder of sturgeon fish. Bentonite, a clear earth product serves as a common fining agent. Organic protein agents are more likely to be used in the clarification of premium wines which cost more than $7 a bottle. Egg whites obtained rom chicken eggs are used for red wine clarification. Wine makers in France (Burgundy) commonly utilize egg whites in their production of expensive wines.
Large producers of wine in the United States usually implement potassium caseinate as a substitute for eggs. Whole milk and casein are two other fining agents used in some red wines. Gelatin can clarify either white or red wine or beer. Gelatin pulls suspended material out of wine and less expensive wines use this process. Ising glass is used to fine selected white wines. Germany is one of the countries that uses this technique. American wineries also use this material to clarify white wine or chardonnay. The most popular substance used to remove the proteins of domestically produced white wines is bentonite. It is used to fine most inexpensive wines. Another fining agent of concern to vegetarians is blood. Although blood of large mammals may serve as clarifier in some of the Mediterranean countries, its use is forbidden in United States and France.
Both the clarifying agents and removed proteins coagulate on the bottom of the wine tank or barrel, from where they are removed. The ingredient list will not state the clarifier because it is removed from the final product. Kosher wine is a specialty item and it is produced directly from Kosher market. These wines may be more likely to avoid the use of animal-based clarifying agents, but not all do so. The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations stated that a wine could theoretically be certified as Kosher if it contains egg whites or if the gelatin were completely removed from the final product. Paper is yet another agent sometimes used to clarify Kosher wine, as the impurities adhere to the paper.
IS ALCOHOL VEGETARIAN - NO
Alcohol, Beer, Ale, and Wines are made with Fish glue, Pepsin, Peptone, Lactic acid, Lactose, Glycerin, Gelatin, Egg white, Albumin, Isinglass lactic acid, and / or malo-lactic bacteria.
Some years ago The Center for Science in the Public Interest compiled a list of well over a hundred additives permissible in various alcoholic beverages. These ingredients were not required to be declared on the label. Strictly from a vegetarian standpoint, some are obviously animal, some are suspect, and some can be made either from animal or other sources. These additives include fish glue, pepsin (stomach extract), peptone (product of pepsin acting on albumin), lactic acid, lactose, glycerin, and gelatine for beer and/or ale. Wines fare no better, with gelatine, egg white or albumin from egg white, isinglass (sturgeon's bladder), lactic acid, and Malo-lactic bacteria.
The other additives include ingredients such as enzymes to convert starch into sugar; clarifying, chill-proofing, foam stabilizing and anti-gushing agents; antioxidant; anti-microbial preservative; artificial colors; plus of course natural and artificial flavors. Who needs them? Finally, Alcohol results in the death of innumerable Jivas but being intoxicating, it also destroys the power of discrimination, creates delusion in wisdom, harms health and can bring about an end to family happiness and tranquility.
eggs are non vegetarian
Are eggs vegetarian?
There seems to be a lot of confusion as to whether eggs are or are not vegetarian. In Sikhi our rehit says we should not eat egg, be it processed, i.e. in cakes etc, or whole, as in an omelette, this is enough for us but for those that want a few more scientific facts, read on. This is a section taken from a Jainism article on meat and eggs. It has some interesting points and describes why eggs are not vegetarian. Facts about Eggs Do you remember as a child your mother telling you not to eat cakes or pastries that had eggs because you are a vegetarian? Many times I have heard people saying, eggs are vegetarian food and are good for health so we eat it. The myth about vegetarian eggs and its health-promoting qualities are misleading. Its consumption by so many vegetarians is really shocking. The ignorance of such matter has spread so far that people resist believing that an egg has potential life and that an egg has an unborn chick within its shell. Man's desires for food has made him go to extremes and leading him to eat those foods that are coloured with violence and pain. Nature has its reason for eggs, not by way of food for man but as an important link in the reproductive system of hens. It is the craving for violent food that actually numbs the feeling and thinking capacity of the human being. He ignores going deep into the subject and shuns the truth of the matter. But how long will he remain in darkness? For facts are facts and they will never change whether he accepts it or not. Let us look at some facts about eggs and remove the ignorance that prevails in our mind. The facts you are about to read are taken from the book Hundred Facts about Eggs by Dr. Nemi Chand. Eggs of all birds are structurally alike (See the McDonald Encyclopaedia of Birds of the World, Page 30-31). Their internal structure is meant for reproduction of progeny and not for human consumption. By eating eggs, man has reverted to the hunting stage of his civilisation. He is meddling both with nature and with the reproductive system. The egg is totally forbidden for those who believe in non-violence. Right from the rearing of hens to the hatching of their eggs, there is violence all over. A visit to any poultry farm will support this fact. In poultry farms, hens are considered no better than egg-producing machines. They are confined to a narrow space of 15" x 19" in the midst of several hardships and tensions that are naturally passed on to the blood and system of those who eat their eggs and turn them into imbalance personalities. Chickens are housed in small-congested cages known as chickenhavens. Due to shortage of space, they naturally become violent, offensive, obsessed and quarrelsome. They attack one another in a barbarous manner. So they are de-beaked. Due to de-beaking, they are unable even to drink water. Do we not realise the cause of our present widespread complexes, aggressiveness and suffering in the chicken-havens? As mentioned earlier, hens are de-beaked to prevent them from fighting and wounding one another.
The de-beaking is done in brown light, especially during the night when hens become almost blind. The lower beak is cut. If any mistake is made, the hen is deprived of food for the rest of her life. The hen has to starve at least for three days due to the wounded beak. Wouldn't this act of cruelty affect the egg-eater? Hens are given five kinds of violent-generating foods: bone meal, blood-meal, excreta-food, meat-meal and fish-meal. Can we dare to call eggs vegetarian food even after learning this? The term vegetarian egg is a first-rate misnomer. The purpose of a fertile egg is to animate life, but an infertile egg has no such purpose and as such should be considered totally inedible. Battery and factory eggs are harmful to health. It is better that we abstain ourselves from eating them. The egg produced without any contact with the male bird (and thus producing an infertile egg) is also animate because it is born out of the hen's body with its blood and cells. Therefore, its consumption is 100% non-vegetarian. According to the famous American scientist Mr. Philip J. Scamble, no egg is without life in it. The scientists at Michigan University in America have proven it beyond doubt that no egg - fertile or infertile - is without life (inanimate). The hen gives infertile eggs during the absence of the male bird. But it has been observed that she gives an infertile egg before the day of contact with the male bird - and also the next day. In other words, she can give a fertile egg even without contact with a male bird. On the fifth day, again she gives a fertile egg. This means that the semen of the male bird remains lying in her body for a considerable duration. In some cases, this duration has been observed to be as long as even six months. A fertilised egg is a pre-birth stage of a chicken; unfertilised eggs are the result of the sexual cycle of a hen and very unnatural. Both are non-vegetarian food. Victoria Moran, the author of the book Compassion:
The Ultimate Ethics says, to eat fertilised egg is in fact to consume a chicken before its birth (The Ethic on borderline). I was told that an unfertilised egg is the product of a bird's sexual cycle and can hardly be regarded as natural food for Man. Whether the egg is fertile or infertile, life is essentially there; and it has all the symptoms of life, such as respiration, brain, feeding ability, etc. There are 15,000 porous-breathing holes on the shell, the cover of the egg. The egg begins to rot at a temperature of less than 8^ Celsius, 00^ Fahrenheit. When it begins this process, its rotting manifests itself through evaporation of the water content. The egg becomes infected by germs and thus becomes diseased. The progress of the rotting soon reaches the shell of the egg. Eggs contain cholesterol in large quantities. The yellow bulk of the egg is the major source of cholesterol. Cholesterol narrows down the arteries and may eventually lead to a heart attack or to paralysis. Eating eggs may also lead to rheumatism and gout that can cause serious and painful joints in old age. All the above facts lead to prove that eggs are not vegetarian and so let us re-think about the issue of eggs and realise that a balanced vegetarian diet contains an abundance of health protecting nutrients and fibres without eggs.
http://abafna.googlepages.com/egg.pdf
There seems to be a lot of confusion as to whether eggs are or are not vegetarian. In Sikhi our rehit says we should not eat egg, be it processed, i.e. in cakes etc, or whole, as in an omelette, this is enough for us but for those that want a few more scientific facts, read on. This is a section taken from a Jainism article on meat and eggs. It has some interesting points and describes why eggs are not vegetarian. Facts about Eggs Do you remember as a child your mother telling you not to eat cakes or pastries that had eggs because you are a vegetarian? Many times I have heard people saying, eggs are vegetarian food and are good for health so we eat it. The myth about vegetarian eggs and its health-promoting qualities are misleading. Its consumption by so many vegetarians is really shocking. The ignorance of such matter has spread so far that people resist believing that an egg has potential life and that an egg has an unborn chick within its shell. Man's desires for food has made him go to extremes and leading him to eat those foods that are coloured with violence and pain. Nature has its reason for eggs, not by way of food for man but as an important link in the reproductive system of hens. It is the craving for violent food that actually numbs the feeling and thinking capacity of the human being. He ignores going deep into the subject and shuns the truth of the matter. But how long will he remain in darkness? For facts are facts and they will never change whether he accepts it or not. Let us look at some facts about eggs and remove the ignorance that prevails in our mind. The facts you are about to read are taken from the book Hundred Facts about Eggs by Dr. Nemi Chand. Eggs of all birds are structurally alike (See the McDonald Encyclopaedia of Birds of the World, Page 30-31). Their internal structure is meant for reproduction of progeny and not for human consumption. By eating eggs, man has reverted to the hunting stage of his civilisation. He is meddling both with nature and with the reproductive system. The egg is totally forbidden for those who believe in non-violence. Right from the rearing of hens to the hatching of their eggs, there is violence all over. A visit to any poultry farm will support this fact. In poultry farms, hens are considered no better than egg-producing machines. They are confined to a narrow space of 15" x 19" in the midst of several hardships and tensions that are naturally passed on to the blood and system of those who eat their eggs and turn them into imbalance personalities. Chickens are housed in small-congested cages known as chickenhavens. Due to shortage of space, they naturally become violent, offensive, obsessed and quarrelsome. They attack one another in a barbarous manner. So they are de-beaked. Due to de-beaking, they are unable even to drink water. Do we not realise the cause of our present widespread complexes, aggressiveness and suffering in the chicken-havens? As mentioned earlier, hens are de-beaked to prevent them from fighting and wounding one another.
The de-beaking is done in brown light, especially during the night when hens become almost blind. The lower beak is cut. If any mistake is made, the hen is deprived of food for the rest of her life. The hen has to starve at least for three days due to the wounded beak. Wouldn't this act of cruelty affect the egg-eater? Hens are given five kinds of violent-generating foods: bone meal, blood-meal, excreta-food, meat-meal and fish-meal. Can we dare to call eggs vegetarian food even after learning this? The term vegetarian egg is a first-rate misnomer. The purpose of a fertile egg is to animate life, but an infertile egg has no such purpose and as such should be considered totally inedible. Battery and factory eggs are harmful to health. It is better that we abstain ourselves from eating them. The egg produced without any contact with the male bird (and thus producing an infertile egg) is also animate because it is born out of the hen's body with its blood and cells. Therefore, its consumption is 100% non-vegetarian. According to the famous American scientist Mr. Philip J. Scamble, no egg is without life in it. The scientists at Michigan University in America have proven it beyond doubt that no egg - fertile or infertile - is without life (inanimate). The hen gives infertile eggs during the absence of the male bird. But it has been observed that she gives an infertile egg before the day of contact with the male bird - and also the next day. In other words, she can give a fertile egg even without contact with a male bird. On the fifth day, again she gives a fertile egg. This means that the semen of the male bird remains lying in her body for a considerable duration. In some cases, this duration has been observed to be as long as even six months. A fertilised egg is a pre-birth stage of a chicken; unfertilised eggs are the result of the sexual cycle of a hen and very unnatural. Both are non-vegetarian food. Victoria Moran, the author of the book Compassion:
The Ultimate Ethics says, to eat fertilised egg is in fact to consume a chicken before its birth (The Ethic on borderline). I was told that an unfertilised egg is the product of a bird's sexual cycle and can hardly be regarded as natural food for Man. Whether the egg is fertile or infertile, life is essentially there; and it has all the symptoms of life, such as respiration, brain, feeding ability, etc. There are 15,000 porous-breathing holes on the shell, the cover of the egg. The egg begins to rot at a temperature of less than 8^ Celsius, 00^ Fahrenheit. When it begins this process, its rotting manifests itself through evaporation of the water content. The egg becomes infected by germs and thus becomes diseased. The progress of the rotting soon reaches the shell of the egg. Eggs contain cholesterol in large quantities. The yellow bulk of the egg is the major source of cholesterol. Cholesterol narrows down the arteries and may eventually lead to a heart attack or to paralysis. Eating eggs may also lead to rheumatism and gout that can cause serious and painful joints in old age. All the above facts lead to prove that eggs are not vegetarian and so let us re-think about the issue of eggs and realise that a balanced vegetarian diet contains an abundance of health protecting nutrients and fibres without eggs.
http://abafna.googlepages.com/egg.pdf
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