Comments on: 5 ingredients commonly mistaken as vegan

By: strangeturnip

strangeturnip — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 01:08:17 +0000

While I am not vegan, I try to pay close attention to hidden food ingredients. A lot of people in my life keep kosher and very strictly kosher food is usually labeled with a mark that can be helful to vegans.
Kosher food has to be milk based, meat based or neither although this last category can include fish and eggs.since milk and meat cannot be consumed together and neutral or pareve can be consumed with either meat or dairy, this category cam be useful in telling if meat ingredients are used.
A symbol of “kosher pareve” most commonly a U in a circle can denote if a meat ingredient is included. The same symbol with a “D” beside means it either has dairy ingredients or was prepared on dairy equipment. It would certainly help to determine if a meat based ingredient is present in a vitamin or other additive.

Only the most strict kosher standards–mostly orthodox- condider byproducts like gelatin to be the same as meat so the circle U mark (for orthodox union) or similar OK (k in a circle) are the most helpful as they show up on many normal food products, and supplements. If in doubt consult a local orthodox organization. One might also get a clearer answer from food menufacturers if you pretend you concerns are religious (it was due to hindu concerns the Mcdonalds finally disclosed the meat in their fries), or they may refer you to the rabbi that certified the food, who would know all the ingredients.

By: Hilary

Hilary — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 01:09:51 +0000

Only recently I found that many of the inks used for tattoos actually have animal products in them. I recently found a Vegan tattoo parlour in Melbourne, Australia (where I live) that uses only vegan inks. As I understand it ink uses glycerine as a carrier, and although it can be derived from natural sources, most often it is from animal products.

By: Jason

Jason — Sun, 02 May 2010 17:20:58 +0000

Thanks for the link Jacqueline! I think we’re at a point where we can find some level of exploitation/abuse at almost any level of food production, be it bees in pollination or the treatment of workers who harvest the crops or the simple fact that someone in the chain of people that got my lunch to the store ate meat. Some of these examples might border on the silly side, and some might sound like excuses, but it’s hard to have a debate on those levels without getting into some kind of “all or nothing” position, where you’re either living naked in the woods trying not to move or you’re eating at the steakhouse, and I don’t think it’s helpful…

At the end of the day, there are some things that suck but are still necessary, and they are what they are but I have faith that things will get better over time (and it’ll probably be for economic or technological reasons, not compassion, but I’ll take the wins where I find them.)

By: Jacqueline

Jacqueline — Sat, 01 May 2010 16:37:46 +0000

I agree with all those that others listed. Confectioner’s glaze is a big one… it’s in a lot of candy and goodies that people try to give to our kids. It’s not only not vegan, but it’s not vegetarian!

And depending on how you look at it, almonds are not vegan either: http://www.vegblogger.com/blog/2009/12/vegan-honey-the-great-debate.html

By: Lorraine Haines

Lorraine Haines — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 09:55:45 +0000

I’ve just downloaded a free iphone application called ‘Animal Free’. It has an extensive list of animal derived ingredients, and information on what each individual ingredient is.
It also tell you whether that item is always or sometimes animal derived.

By: Valerie

Valerie — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:37:20 +0000

Confectioner’s Glaze. It’s in sprinkles and some candy and is not vegan.

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:36:32 +0000

@jen

Amino acids are chemicals. If you don’t understand why, please look up the definition of “chemical”.

Also, it is a food additive. It is commonly added to food as a dough conditioner or to enhance flavor.

By: Leah Rutherford

Leah Rutherford — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:23:06 +0000

Shellac -” … is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. It is processed and sold as dry flakes which are dissolved in denatured alcohol to make liquid shellac, which is used as a brush-on colorant, food glaze, and wood finish. ”

I found it in some very pretty candies that I wanted to buy, that is before I found out what it is.

Oh, sorry to be a pedant, but *everything* is chemicals.

By: jen

jen — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 22:14:34 +0000

Thanks, Jason. I have no clue why people feel the need to manufacture food when there is plenty available in nature.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:28:57 +0000

@jen, thanks for the clarifications! I’ve updated the L-Cysteine section of the post. For posterity, the opening paragraph was “There aren’t a lot of weird chemicals that I track religiously, but L-cysteine is one of them, because it’s hands down, to me, the weirdest food additive I see in common usage.” and the closer was “While there are non-animal forms of this ingredient, my understanding is that the vast majority are still animal-derived, so if you see it on an ingredients list that doesn’t specify the source, it’s best to move on.”

It’d be great if manufacturers could use hemp or quinoa instead, but for the purposes that they use the additive, animal-based sources seem to still be the status quo. As with many things, I think this may change over time, but it’s going to be tricky to get companies to disclose their sources…