Vegan Vinegar, and other non-obvious ingredients.

rubadub

I was mentioning chippers using animal fats to cook chips in the off topic thread and was surprised some might not have thought of it before. There was some poll in after hours on what to put on chips and somebody mentioned mayo and vegans.

But what about vinegar? I expect many are not vegan as many are made from brews which could be cleared with animal based beer finings, or brewed with sugar filtered with bone charcoal, all the same issues as beer & wine apply. I also expect like alcohol, some manufacturers are buing in pure acetic acid (vinegar) and might have different sources. Vinegar is in load of sauces so many might be unsuitable.

I wonder to what extent they really do check and think about ingredients. I emailed Jameson about their whiskey as it is aged in sherry barrels where the sherry could have been fined (I got no reply).

Has there been many cases of a "recalled vegan statment" where a manufacturer only later cops on their ingredients were overlooked as being "obviously vegan"?

Tar.Aldarion

I often wonder when you see wine marked as vegan or such, what exactly have they done to say that, or what have they looked at? M&S seem to be good for marking them but I wouldn't know the process. It's sometimes quite hard to get a reply.


so forms of vinegar would not be suitable for vegans are ones that come from brews, what % of vinegar would come from that I wonder.

rubadub

Tar.Aldarion wrote: »

so forms of vinegar would not be suitable for vegans are ones that come from brews, what % of vinegar would come from that I wonder.

I'm not saying all vinegar from brews are non-vegan, I am saying it is probably similar to beers, some are likely cleared with isinglass, gelatin etc some are not.

I am not familiar with vinegar making but read a little before and I would expect it is easier to work with cleared brews. You basically brew beer, add "mother of vinegar" which turns the alcohol into acetic acid.

I think nearly all vinegar for food in shops would be based on fermentation of grains, fruit or sugar. It can be made synthetically, as can ethanol (drinking alcohol), but that would be for industrial use.

I expect it is even harder to get info as the makers might not be the brewers, but might be supplied a ready brewed beer/wine.

I just wonder what other foods/ingredients might be overlooked. I also wonder what extent people or companies will go to, to make sure it is as "vegan as possible". e.g. a brewery might not clear beer with animal products but might kill rodents in its grain store house (grains attract rodents like crazy). Are there any vegan food makers who go that extra mile, e.g. a vegan brewer would probably have traps to catch rats live and set them free.

You can see the US food & drug administration guidelines here on acceptable levels of contaminants, including insects etc.

The Food Defect Action Levels
Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans

To many manufacturers this could be viewed as the minimum level they are forced to do, i.e. they could probably do better if they tried, so the term "unavoidable" would be debatable.

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Sanitation/ucm056174.htm#CHPTR

e.g.

CORNMEAL
Insects
(AOAC 981.19) Average of 1 or more whole insects (or equivalent) per 50 grams
Insect filth
(AOAC 981.19) Average of 25 or more insect fragments per 25 grams
Rodent filth
(AOAC 981.19) Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 25 grams
OR
Average of 1 or more rodent excreta fragment per 50 grams

DEFECT SOURCE: Insects and insect fragments - preharvest and/or post harvest and/or processing insect infestation, Rodent hair and excreta fragments - post harvest and/or processing contamination with animal hair or excreta
SIGNIFICANCE: Aesthetic

but also if there are low level of insects in the food they might have heavily used pesticides and killed more overall during the growth of that food.