Hidden Animal Ingredients in Food Vegans Should Avoid

By : James Takahara

It is dificult for vegans living in the non vegan world when it come to food. There has been so many times in which I thought the food I was buying was 100% vegan until I realize later, and by pure curiosity, that it contain some hidden animal ingredients.
 Now of course it's not the end of the world, but it would definitely be nice to know what the most common animal ingredients found on foods are, so we could avoid this mistake and choose other products to buy, one that is vegan.
 

This might seem a daunting task. There are hundreds of different ingredients in the market today and there are many more being created every day. We cannot know every single ingredient and even worse, what the original source of that ingredient is. Fortunately, some compenies will label their products as vegan when they are, but many compenies are not as forthcoming.  So how could we avoid hidden animal ingredients without the need of getting a PhD on nutrition?

The most simple answer is to always look for natural foods. The more natural the food is, the more you know of its origins. But I agree with you, there are times in which we need to buy products that are not 100% natural. So what do we do then?

Below I'm going to give you a short list of some ingredients I have found on products that seemed to be vegan but contained hidden animal ingredients. Keep in mind that these are just a few but it should give you a start on what to look for.

Casein - This is milk protein often found in "non dairy" products such as soy cheese and creamers.
Gelatin - Gelatin is a protein obtained from boiling tendons, ligaments, skin, bones with water from cows and pigs. This ingredient can be found on marshmallows, puddings, gelatin, cakes.
Lard - This comes from the fat in a hogs abdomen. Common products that contain lard are shaving creams, soaps, french fries, refried beans and baked goods.
Bone char - Is animal bone ash. This is use by some sugar companies to make their sugar look white.
Whey - Is a by-product of dairy production. This can be found on breads on some butter substitutes.
L-cysteine - This is made from duck feathers and used mainly as a processing aid in baking.
Carmine extract - Is made from insects called cochineals, usually use in coloring the food to look reddish.
Carbon black - For coloring, derived from various parts of animals unless otherwise described as vegetable carbons.
Canthaxanthin (natural orange color Xanthaphyll) - For coloring, usually from plant material but somtime can be made from fish and invertebrates hard shells.
Potassium Nitrate (Saltpetre) - For preservative, the origine usually from natural but sometime can artificially made from waste animal matter.
Lecithin - for emulsifier and stabilizer, It contain egg yolks and some are soy. But  can also directly from animal fat check the manufacture.
Glycerine - For sweetener, mostly from animal fats.
Lactic Acid - As antioxidant, from milk.
Sodium Lactate - Antioxidant, is salt Lactic Acid.
Calcium Lactate - Antioxidant, is another type salt from Lactic Acid.
Ammonium Phosphatides -  Emulsifier, sometimes can be made from Glycerol (animal fats).

As you can see these are just a few ingredients to watch for as they are found on products that look vegan but are not. Again the more informed you are about animal ingredients, the easier it will be for you to understand the "scientific" words on labels, thus avoiding purchasing goods that contain animal ingredients.
By the way, do you want to learn and discover everything you need to know about the vegan diet so you could reach a better quality of life?
If so, we are going to put all the hard work for you so you can easily become and stay vegan.
More information you can check it out from the address below :
http://www.veggieglobal.com/nutrition/non-vegetarian-food-additives.htm
http://www.vegsoc.org/page.aspx?pid=727




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