Glycerin sources, USA- 30% + Animal or other non-kosher

There is a misconception by some in the kashrus field, re: Glycerin sources in the USA.

USA product Glycerin, over 40% is from non-kosher sources. The pharmecutical glycerin is from whatever is more economical at the time.

A glycerin product manager at Cargill provided some data to support the general trends noted above. He wrote in a July 2012 email that “Total glycerin usage in the United States is about 45 million lbs. per month. Approximately 30% is non-kosher tallow-based and 70% would be vegetable-based. That includes imports of vegetable-based glycerol and all the glycerin made here in the United States.”

Mono- and diglycerides, used in most breads and baked goods as well as in a wide variety of other foods, are formed by chemically joining glycerol to fatty acids found in animal fats or vegetable oils. The mono-and diglycerides principally act as emulsifiers, preventing breads and baked goods from crumbling or going stale, and/or keeping oil and water components of a food together (e.g., in salad dressings). Based on the data given above, the percentage of vegetable oil-sourced mono- and diglycerides commercially used today in the United States is also approximately 70%. - See more at: http://www.vrg.org/blog/2012/09/24/glycerol-and-mono-and-diglyceride-updates-mostly-vegetable-derived/#sthash.kBkQ4Bzl.dpuf

Glycerin is a by-product of biodiesel production. This “waste glycerin,” (and, to a lesser extent, that produced from used cooking oil, which is increasingly being used as a biofuel today), has greatly increased the supply of glycerin in the market. Much work is currently being done on ways to produce biofuels from waste glycerol. - See more at: http://www.vrg.org/blog/2012/09/24/glycerol-and-mono-and-diglyceride-updates-mostly-vegetable-derived/#sthash.kBkQ4Bzl.dpuf