Stores Stop Selling Donkey Gelatin Following PETA Asia Exposé

Good news! Following a PETA Asia investigation revealing that donkeys in China are bashed in the head with a sledgehammer before they’re skinned and their skins are boiled down to make a gelatin called ejiao, a growing number of U.S. stores have agreed to stop selling products containing this cruelly obtained ingredient. While it’s most commonly used to make a traditional Chinese “medicine,” which is distributed in the U.S. as well, it can also be found in some candies, snacks, and beauty products.

Thousands of donkeys, many of whom are taken from African villages, are crammed into filthy concrete pens, beaten, and then bludgeoned. Video footage shows some still breathing and moving when workers slit their throats. The exposé reveals that donkeys are shipped to China for slaughter and that horses, pigs, and cows are now being killed to make fake ejiao.

PETA is in the process of contacting companies and asking them to pull ejiao products from their shelves.

The following companies have all banned ejiao:

Acu-Market, Albert Max, Inc. (previously DBA VitaSpring Health), Bonanza.com, CAI Corporation, Chef Masterpiece, eBay, Fresh Bites Basket, Good Price Appliances, Grocery Grove, HerbalShop, Jet.com, Magical Chefs, Maxnature, NuHerbs, Ron Teeguarden’s Dragon Herbs, Shen Clinic, Stocked Farm, VitaLiving, VitaminLife (who also donated $100 to PETA), and Wabbo.

Please get involved in this campaign against cruelty. Never buy anything containing ejiao, and refuse to support businesses that sell it. If you learn of other companies selling it, please let us know. We also encourage you to send a message to the Chinese ambassador to the U.S. and respectfully urge him to work to stop the cruel treatment of donkeys killed for ejiao—you can increase your impact by asking your friends and relatives to do the same.