Gelatin is not vegan or vegetarian friendly as it is derived from animal sources. There is no way to obtain gelatin from a plant source as by nature it only occurs in protein rich connective tissue which plants do not have.
Gelatin is a naturally occurring protein source, derived from the collagen rich components of connective tissue in animals. It is produced through a method of heating these components to naturally extract the gelatin rich collagen from these areas. Gelatin naturally contains a large amount of amino acids such as proline, glycine, hydroxyproline, glutamine and many more which can otherwise be hard to obtain from lean cuts of meat commonly consumed in the western diet.
It is totally safe for people who aren’t sensitive to sulphates. The levels present in gelatine are right on the cusp of being at a level it even needs to be declared (so is very low) but we just wanted people who are sensitive to sulphates to make informed decisions. It's in there as a result of the manufacturing process so unfortunately we can’t get gelatin without it.