Oslo: Hindus have urged Norway government and Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) to mandate food manufacturers to mention the source of gelatin on its “ingredients” label. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed said that when the source of gelatin is not listed and if it is beef, it is a serious non-disclosure affecting the Hindu devotees and would severely hurt their feelings when they would come to know that they were inadvertently consuming beef-laced popular food products.
Consumption of beef was highly conflicting to Hindu beliefs. Cow, the seat of many deities, was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said in a statement. Nina Lødrup, Senior Adviser of Mattilsynet said: “it is not necessary in Norway to declare the source of gelatin in products.” Zed said that it would be shocking for the Hindu community in Norway to learn that some of the popular food products they might be eating for years, might contain beef as part of the gelatin while beef was not explicitly mentioned under the ingredients listed on the boxes/packages to caution them.
Zed urged His Majesty King Harald V, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Minister of Agriculture and Food Jon Georg Dale and Mattilsynet Director General Harald Gjein to seriously and urgently look into this issue affecting Hindu-Norwegians, who had made lot of contributions to the nation and society.
