Animal product
Animal product, or animal by-product, is a term used to describe material taken from the body of a non-human animal. Examples are fat, flesh, blood, milk, eggs, and lesser known products such as isinglass and rennet.[1]
The term is generally not applied to products made from fossilized or decomposed animals, such as petroleum, which is formed from the ancient remains of marine animals. Crops grown in soil fertilized with animal remains are rarely characterized as animal products.
Several human diets prohibit the inclusion of some or all non-human animal products, including vegetarian, vegan, kosher, halaal, and the raw food diet.
Common animal products used for food
Non-food animal products
- Animal fiber
- Ambergris
- Beeswax
- Blood and some blood substitutes (blood used for transfusions is always human in origin, though some blood substitutes are made from animal sources. Many diagnostic laboratory tests use animal or human sourced reagents)
- Bone, including bone char, bone meal, etc.
- Casein (used in plastics, clothing, cosmetics, adhesives and paint)
- Castoreum (secretion of the beaver used in perfumes and possibly in food flavoring)
- Coral rock
- Ejaculate (used in artificial insemination)
- Feathers
- Foreskin (used to treat burns victims)
- Fur
- Gallstones (from livestock for Traditional Chinese Medicine)
- Horn, including antlers, ivory, tusks, etc.
- Ivory
- Lanolin
- Leather
- Manure
- Mink oil
- Musk
- Pearl or mother of pearl
- Scales
- Silk
- Sponges
- Tallow, may be used in food and soap
- Tortoiseshell
- Urine
- Venom (used to produce human and veterinary antivenin)
- scal
- Wool
Notes
- ^ Nolle, Leo. 'Handbook of Analysis of Edible Animal By-Products. CRC press, 2009.
Further reading