Especially for new vegans (and even for seasoned vegans) there is a world of deceitful animal products in vegan clothing. Here are 18 foods and products that seem vegan but actually are not:
Foods Containing Gelatin (Animal Bones) and/or Bone Char (Burned Animal Bones)
2. Jell-O
3. Gummy candies
4. Jam
5. Altoids
6. Vitamins and supplements (the capsule casings can be made of gelatin)
7. Sugar (sometimes processed with animal bone char)
Foods Containing Lard (Animal Fat)
8. Broth (flavored with chicken or beef fat)
9. Prepared pie crust
10. Prepared cake mix
Foods Containing Fish
11. Worcester sauce (flavored with anchovies)
12. Juice fortified with Omega 3 (the source may be fish)
13. Beer (Isinglass, used for clarification, comes from fish bladders.
Check out this comprehensive list of vegan beers to make sure your favorite brand is vegan friendly.)
Foods Containing L-Cysteine (Chicken Feathers)
14. Pre-packaged bread (Many brands of pre-packaged bread are made without L-Cysteine, but you can never be sure unless you read the ingredient list to double check!)
Foods Containing Casein/Caseinate (Milk-Derived Protein)
15. Vegetarian cheeses and meats (sometimes have milk derivatives)
16. Potato chips (sometimes have animal fat flavoring or milk derivatives)
Foods Containing Carmine/Natural Red Dye 4 (Insects: commonly crushed cochineal beetles)
17. Chap sticks and other beauty products with red dye
18. Juices and foods with red dye
Matt says
This is a terrible article. There is virtually no specific information about products, just generalizations and random nonsense like 15. Vegetarian cheeses and meats (sometimes have milk derivatives) How are they “vegan” foods??
Sara says
Fantastic article!
Irene says
Matt, I disagree. It is not a terrible article, as the author is just indicating there is a “buyer beware” notion that needs to be followed when purchasing foods that at first glance appear to be vegan as they don’t have an obvious animal product in them. (For instance, most people don’t think of gummy candies containing an animal product.) I’m confused, however, on a different topic–which images were taken by the author? The images appear to be stock images. Please be clear as to not get yourself in trouble with copyright infringement.