evidence: Vegetarian ethical issues [edit]Concerns have been raised about the ethical acceptability[8] and food safety of vark, as not all of it is pure silver, nor hygienically prepared, and the foil was until fairly recently beaten between layers of ox-gut because it is easier to separate the silver leaf from animal tissue than to separate it from paper.[7] Due to the grinding effect of the hammering, some of the animal intestine becomes part of the silver foil, which is sold in bulk.[9] Since Jains and a considerable percentage of Hindus are vegetarian,[10] this led to the decline in the usage of vark in sweets or suparis.[9] Indian Airlines asked its caterers to not apply vark to the food supplied to ensure no animal intestine is present.[9] In 2016, Government of India banned the usage of animal guts or skins in the making of vark.[7] Consequently, the Indian market for vark has mostly converted to using the machine-based vegetarian process in the making of the silver foils. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has issued guidelines for the silver leaf manufactures to adhere to regarding thickness, weight, purity, labeling and hygiene of the silver leaf.[7]