Will the bovine gelatin in my fish oil capsules give me mad cow disease?

July 26, 2017 7:55 PM

A good friend kindly gave me an opened half-bottle of fish oil. Unfortunately, the gelatin in the softgels is of bovine origin. I emailed the manufacturer who replied that the gelatin can be from any of a number of countries, some of which are not BSE-free. Am I being paranoid in not eating this?

I'm no scientist and tried googling this and it seems that it is low risk but not impossible though of course manufacturers claim that the risk is very low.I seldom eat beef and am mostly vegetarian.

I am hoping that a Mefite with a scientific background can tell me if I should eat this.

Also, Etiquette!Filter, if I return this to my friend, how do I do so in a tactful way without hurting feelings? She is aware I tend to be paranoid though.

posted by whitelotus to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

Humans can only catch mad cow disease if they eat the brains or spinal cord tissue of an infected animal. Gelatin does not come from this part of the cow - it comes from the bones and hooves. I take this type of fish oil all the time and I have never heard of someone catching mad cow from supplements.

But if you're not comfortable eating cow-based gelatin, you don't have to. If you want fish oil, you can buy it by itself and take it straight, or buy a brand that uses vegetarian gelatin. Just toss it if you don't want them, or give them to someone else. I wouldn't bring it up again with your friend - if she gave it to you I'm guessing she doesn't want or need them anyway.
posted by ananci at 8:07 PM on July 26, 2017 [13 favorites]

Yeah, the risk is totally miniscule and you'll do a million more risky things in your life without thinking about it. This is definitely a case of human intuition not handling low probability events well--"we don't think about them at all, or we think they are far more likely than they are." So rationally it's fine.

But it's a bottle of fish oil! The cost of tossing it out is miniscule too. And clearly you're kind of stressed regardless. If someone made you a dish with this stuff I'd say you should eat it and enjoy, but a half-used bottle? Life's stressful enough, don't waste time arguing yourself into thinking it's safe. Toss it and don't mention tossing it to her. (Or if you're me you'd leave it in my cupboard unused for a decade.)
posted by mark k at 9:45 PM on July 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Clarification: She gave it to me because I mentioned I was interested in taking fish oil. I considered tossing it but she will be sure to ask if I have been taking it the next time I see her. I'll prefer not to lie about it, moral issues aside, it may result in a gift of a brand-new bottle of the same brand next time in which case I would have dug myself in deeper.I do not want her to waste money on a gift I don't dare to consume.
posted by whitelotus at 9:53 PM on July 26, 2017

Gelatin is so heavily processed nothing will survive.
posted by FallowKing at 11:46 PM on July 26, 2017

This "friend" sounds like she's causing you undue stress with her "helpfulness" and I would wonder why you are allowing the threat of her potential response to pressure you in to doing something you're uncomfortable about. That seems unhealthy.

If you want to take fish oil supplement anyway and don't want to bring up your issues with her "gift", buy yourself some vegetarian-suitable capsules and pretend you've been taking the beef ones. Or tell her the reason you didn't want to take the beef ones was due to not wanting to eat beef, which is a fine choice- you don't even need to mention the mad cow disease.
posted by mymbleth at 11:48 PM on July 26, 2017 [2 favorites]

I considered tossing it but she will be sure to ask if I have been taking it the next time I see her.

Buy your own bottle of fish oil capsules. Toss the contents of your friend's bottle and put half the capsules you bought in there instead. Hide your remaining half bottle somewhere where your friend will not find it accidentally. Then you can tell her yes, I have been working my way through this half bottle and technically you're not even lying.
posted by flabdablet at 3:23 AM on July 27, 2017 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I think you can do this in a way without lying. Just get vegetarian ones, take them, and tell her, "Thanks for thinking of me but since I'm trying to avoid animal products I got a vegetarian version, which I like. But thanks for getting me into them. Do you want the ones you gave me back?"

Don't mention mad cow disease.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:59 AM on July 27, 2017 [10 favorites]

Just because someone gave them to you, doesn't mean you are required to eat them. :)
posted by Crystal Fox at 8:57 AM on July 27, 2017

> Gelatin is so heavily processed nothing will survive.

okay, I have to be the biosafety pedant here. Mad cow is a prion disease, and prions by their nature are extremely chemically stable. They are extremely difficult to inactivate and will cheerfully survive sterilization procedures that have the toughest viruses and bacteria running for cover.

That said, the risk of getting mad cow from gelatin is, as the folks in the thread have said, negligible.
posted by Alioth at 10:26 AM on July 27, 2017 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks for all the answers! I am planning to tell her that I don't eat beef and return them to her though tbh I am kind of dreading it. I'll order some vegetarian ones soon hopefully.
posted by whitelotus at 8:24 PM on July 27, 2017