Amazon sued for selling supplements containing donkey meat

Amazon is being sued over supplements that contain donkey meat.

A California non-profit says selling donkey meat is illegal in the state.

What will Amazon do?

Amazon is facing a lawsuit filed by the Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, which claims the company is violating California law. As it turns out, the retailer has been selling supplements that contain donkey meat.

Specifically, the Center asserts that Amazon’s sale of products containing “ejiao” may be illegal. Ejiao is a gelatin made from donkey skin that is frequently used in traditional Chinese medicine and cosmetics.

How did the donkey meat complaint arise?

PHOTO: Shutterstock

According to WIRED, a woman from California, who is also a lifelong vegetarian, bought Artemisia Anti-Hemorrhage Formula dietary supplements from Amazon. She never imagined the product claiming to be made from «100% natural herbs» might contain donkey meat.

But, as she read the back of the bottle, she noticed an ingredient he hadn’t seen before called “gelatin nigra”. She googled it and was horrified by what she found. The gelatin was made from donkey hide.

Other retailers have banned products containing donkey meat

Ejiao. PHOTO: Shutterstock

According to The Sun, other online retailers such as Walmart and eBay have banned the sale of products containing ejiao, however, Wired’s recent report indicated that Amazon still sells such items.

Every year millions of donkeys are slaughtered and skinned to make the so-called gelatin nigra found in the dietary supplement. More commonly called «ejiao» or «donkey-hide gelatin,» its use is decimating the global donkey population.

Donkey meat is in other products

PHOTO: Shutterstock

Wired, investigated more Amazon products and found at least 15 grocery items that claim to contain donkey meat, including Chinese Special Snack Seedless, Ass Hide Glue Lumps, and Ejiao Slice. Amazon sells approximately 15 of these products.

Several advocacy groups have pushed to end the sale of ejiao products, and the Brooke USA Foundation says the increased trade in donkey skins «is driving demand for the widespread slaughter» of donkeys around the world.

Is Amazon in legal trouble?

PHOTO: Shutterstock

For Frank Rothschild, director of the Center for Contemporary Equine Studies, the law is clear: donkeys are equine and the sale of ejiao for human consumption in California is illegal. “We are a scientific organization and not in the business of national advocacy.»

We want the defendants to stop selling ejiao because it is illegal,» he says. «That’s the law.» The complaint demands that Amazon stop selling ejiao immediately. If a judge ultimately finds that Amazon violated the law, the state of California could fine Amazon for each sale.