I would never have thought that yoghurt would contain gelatine…
(amongst other things… )
Low fat products pretty much always need something to replace the fat which affects the texture as well as taste.
If the products are labelled as suitable for vegan/vegetarian diets I could understand but otherwise……?
Fair comment, Paul…
I never bother with recipes which tell me to use gelatine (that’s just me, being me)… but, I would have thought yoghurt was “safe”… and I thought we were being good by eating low-fat stuff.
From now on… full-fat… and make a point of reading the label… phew… where’s the loupe… 
Thinking about it a second longer, I’m even less sure what the issue is. Googling the ingredients clearly shows gelatine. I agree that some people do not like the fact that things used in food processing but do not end up in the finished product do not have to be put on the lable but pretty much all food manufacturers do the same.
In any case to complain about gelatin in yoghurt is surely to miss the fact that anyone who consumes milk products has to be, if not comfortable with, not actively against veal creates.
That leaves religious groups who might object to pork gelatin sneaking in there but surely the devout should be eating kosher or halal food anyway.
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The “issue” (if such) is that the beef gelatine does not appear on the list of ingredients on the packet… (this lack of info is clearly explained in the article)
Nowadays more folk are wanting to know what they are eating…
I made a point of reading ingredient listings (even in tiny print) when OH fell ill and we had to be very careful… nowadays, I do it out of habit…
However, I had not thought of Googling everything before going out shopping… maybe I should…
Paul… What are you talking about? Can you elaborate please… ??
Veal production goes hand in hand with milk production - modern cattle are bred for long and high milk output but still need to get pregnant (well, give birth but getting pregnant is usually the first step 
) to make them lactate. This produces more calves than are needed for further dairy production (the typical productive lifespan of a dairy cow being about 5 years but they need to calve every 12-14 months to keep production going; none of the male calves can be used for milk production, obviously and maybe half of the female calves are surplus to requirements to replace the herd).
There was a typo in my original post - creates should have been creation (predictive text got me 
), “production” would have been a better word anyway.
The worst piece of equipment - the veal crate - has been banned in the UK and EU (but still legal in the US I believe?) but the calves are still reared in environments which separate them from their mothers and are restrictive. The best producers are ethical; the worst, probably not so much.
I tell myself that veal crates are a thing of the past and that veal production is not really any worse than other beef cattle husbandry; I hope that I am right.
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Ah… now I understand. I would say that the majority of producers (these days) are ethical… at least in my part of France. Anyone who was breaking guidelines would be “named and shamed”… 
and have the authorities set on them…
The attitude which honoured “white” veal meat has changed and natural veal (for want of a better phrase) is now preferred and delicious…
Around me there are beef and dairy farmers… so I see it from both angles…
Pleased to hear that the farmers your way are responsible and ethical. 
However anyone who drinks milk or consumes milk products without accepting that cute little calves go for meat production is deluding themselves.
Not that I am suggesting that you are in this group Stella.
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Cheers Paul…
No, I’m not in that group… I enjoy eating meat and virtually everything else… I just have fixed ideas on some things. (Daughter just reckons I am strange… 
)
Looks like we shall be visiting the local yoghurt producers and ask them what they put in their stuff.
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Hmmmm… apparently in Limousin & Aquitaine you do still get veal reared with the mother for a while, otherwise they are transported off at a few days old to be reared for 5 months in sheds elsewhere. Yes most is Rose veal, not white veal but truly ethical? We live next to a farm and hearing them being separated from their mothers is not nice - both mother and calf howl for days.
But on this subject… OH doesn’t eat meat at all, so I don’t either generally. But occasionally I get a yen for some so went off to look for a nice piece of meat reared to high welfare standards. Nothing that I could find in the supermarket or butcher mentioned anything to do with animal welfare. It was all about what they were fed on, and nothing about how they were raised and killed. Last time I was in the UK the meat aisles were full of outdoor reared meat, nitrate free bacon, cows that were milked to the sound of Debussy (I jest, but you get the idea). Do french meat eaters not care, or is it so implicit that no need to mention it in marketing?
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As in any country… locals know where to buy the best products… depending on what is available in their area of course.
You could ask about local producers, abattoirs etc… and possibly visit when such places have Open Days (it does happen)…
I live surrounded by comté cheese, so no other livestock farms apart from one farm that rears lovely highland cattle but which is only sold in 10kg packs. My annual consumption of meat is maybe 1kg.
But that’s not really my question. I am more interested in the mass market and curious as to why it doesn’t seem to me that animal welfare is an issue in marketing meat products here. Loads of Bio, OGM, antibiotic free etc. But apart from the greenwash of free range eggs nothing about how the animals are cared for. Is that something that you have ever heard discussed by french people locally?
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The only French person I have come across that seems to care is my step-son who is 17. He has been fed meat under protest since he realised where meat comes from and has had many battles with his Maman about it. He has just left for university a few weeks ago and has immediately become vegetarian.
I only buy Label Rouge meat now as there is at least some attention paid to animal welfare when it’s raised. I find I’m eating less and less meat these days anyway. Today, my protein intake consisted of eggs (free range of course) and prawns.
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All hard cheese uses rennet, found in the stomachs of cattle, to separate tge curds from the whey.
Vegetarians need to buy cheese made with vegetarian rennet.
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Bull calves are still being shot after a few days.
They are needed to take the beestings from the cow before she gives milk which can be commercially used.
@anon92567933. Just looked up label rouge for meat and, again, it’s all about things like what you feed the animal to make it taste good - and little about being free range. The Scottish salmon that is label rouge does give a stocking ratio for the fish pens which is a step forward. Just seems so strangely out of step with other EU countries.
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Yes killing the male calves does allow colostrum to be used for female calves, but not the only reason they are killed. It is generally uneconomic for many small farmers to send them off to be reared for veal so the sooner they are killed the cheaper it is.
Exactly.
We saved our border collie/cross from the neighbouring farm from being shot because a shot gun cartridge costs less than the bother of taking her to the SPA and paying 100€.
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Yes I’ve also had difficulty finding exactly what Label Rouge means but this may be helpful, certainly in terms of chicken. It’s also in English.
http://www.volaillelabelrouge.com/en/
My impression is that France lags behind, in particular the UK, in terms of animal welfare. Attitudes to domestic animals, circuses and food production etc are shocking to me.
It’s the one thing that I can say I truly dislike about France.
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