Things that are surprisingly veg*n/non-veg*n

actua11

It's only recently struck me how with the majority of 'cream' crackers being vegan, how this confusing labelling may just automatically put off vegans, lactose intolerant people etc.
It originally took me a while to actually find out that they were vegan, so was quite surprised when I found this out. So this has me wondering......,

Is there anything that else that people may be wrongly assuming a veggie status on?

The examples off the top of my head, are as I said 'cream' crackers being vegan, but also things like 'fruit' pastilles/jelly in their traditional form being a no-no. By the same token I was very surprised when I found the sweet exceptions like 'jelly' tots not having gelatine as I had just always presumed.

So, is there any other sneaky one's that I am missing out?

cregganna

Been caught out a few times on seed based omega supplement capsules not being veggie. Example: Holland and Barrett Omega 3, 6, 9 linseed etc capsules actually use gelatine. Fortunately they also supply a veggie version. Downside is that it has smaller capsules and is twice as expensive.

Raminahobbin

I was quite surprised that JusRoll pastry is vegan and Bisto is vegetarian.

And annoyed that they use gelatin in practically all chocolate mousse and ready whipped cream.

flikflak

Vegan
Red Bisto
Bourbon biscuits can be
Plain hob nobs are
M+S jelly pots
Lots of the M+S large bags of flavoured crisps
Bacon bits (cant remember the brand but the ones you sprinkle on salads)

Mark Hamill

Was in Holland & Barretts today looking at their soy protein powders:

Soya Protein Isolate Powder : Veggie and Vegan.
90% Soya Protein Powder : Veggie, but not vegan because of egg.
Spirulina Soya Protein Drink : Not veggie or vegan because it contains gelatine.

I think they just like to randomly add animal based ingredients into stuff

Shenshen

flikflak wrote: »

Bacon bits (cant remember the brand but the ones you sprinkle on salads)

Schwartz do these. I really love them for flavouring things.

the beer revolu

I suppose people are aware that Worcestershire sauce isn't vegetarian?
(anchovies)

flikflak

^ Yep but there is a free from version that you can pick up easily enough.

sok2005

Guinness has fish bladders in it.

cregganna

sok2005 wrote: »

Guinness has fish bladders in it.

Yes "forgot" about that, thanks for reminding me.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finings

sweet-rasmus

Same with many other alcoholic drinks including Bulmers. Check www.barnivore.com for other drinks names (and contribute too if you have new information) - I find the site very helpful indeed.

rubadub

Sugar can be purified with charcoal made from bones.

There are a few non obvious ones relating to alcohol. e.g. Jameson age whiskey in old sherry barrels, these could possibly have had sherry with finings in it. I wonder how far they go in their researches. Same with companies using sugar.

Many insects can be killed in the production of hops, you can have 200 insects killed per pint from the hops alone, yet can still presumably be called vegan.

Vegetable soup is often made with chicken stock.

I was surprised to see in a C4 documentary that many cheeses use insects in their production which can be in the product at the end.

henryporter

Not vegan: kellogg's cornflakes - vitamin D that is in them made from sheep wool :eek:

sweet-rasmus

henryporter wrote: »

Not vegan: kellogg's cornflakes - vitamin D that is in them made from sheep wool :eek:

Ah yeah, I forgot about that. They changed the recipe only a few years ago. It's the same issue with many breakfast cereals. Though, I found rice crispies without vitamin D in Lidl - very important for making vegan rice crispie buns

Slaphead07

a few more surprises http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/9-everyday-products-you-didnt-know-had-animal-ingredients.html

Golgotha

I think oreos are suitable for vegans.....nothing natural can possibly be in the ingredients

sweet-rasmus

Oh yes, until a few months ago Oreos in Irish shops had dairy in them. Now they are suitable for vegans
Always good to check the 'Contains: ...' list in case you come across an old packet.

rubadub

Tescos oreo page says "may contain traces of milk" now.

Someone emailed kraft about their sugar

Kraft has several sugar suppliers. Some of our suppliers DO use the animal-derived natural charcoal (also known as “bone char”) in their cane sugar refining process and some suppliers DO NOT use this process.

http://www.isitvegan.com/2011/06/02/are-oreos-vegan/

uk site
http://www.oreo.co.uk/faq

Is Oreo suitable for vegans?
Oreo is not suitable for Vegans as they have the cross contact of Milk.

Just Like Heaven

Funnily enough I remember reading before that some kinds of pop tarts (perhaps only the ones available in the US) are actually vegan, much like the oreos probably nothing natural in them.

I think all the kinds sold here though have frosting on them or something which contains gelatin.

fobster

rubadub wrote: »

Many insects can be killed in the production of hops, you can have 200 insects killed per pint from the hops alone, yet can still presumably be called vegan.

Ah here really, sure in a field of harvested wheat how many insects, small rodents get obliterated? There's a line you have to draw.

rubadub

fobster wrote: »

sure in a field of harvested wheat how many insects, small rodents get obliterated?

Lots, I have also made that point before. If you value the life of a cow the same as a mouse you might go out of your way to find a beer producer who harvests using a more animal friendly technique. Or simply drinking a beer with less hops could result in far less lives being needlessly being lost over the course a year. If you goal was to reduce the loss of lives by 50% by changing your ways, not necessarily by not eating meat, then it could probably be easily done.

e.g. I eat beef & chicken, I have no doubt far more lives are lost due to other things I consume & take part in over the course of a year. So if I viewed all life as equal saving a single cow might be low on my priority list.

At 16oz/pound that comes to 7,200 oz - 8,000 oz of edible steaks, burgers, etc. on each animal.

If one eats a single 6oz portion every day, it would take between 1,200 and 1,333 days to get through the whole cow. Bumping it bump it up to 8oz portions reduced that to 900 to 1000 days.

In either case, it'd take about 3 to 4 years.

Of course you have to account for animal feed etc, its not that simple.

fobster wrote: »

There's a line you have to draw.

Yes, and some draw it in totally different places, I am just interested in where people decide on the cut off point, and if they give it much thought

http://www.veggieboards.com/t/125731/agriculture-and-animal-cruelty


Guys question that graph in the link.

I was bringing up the point in another thread about how the life of 1 lamb provides less meat than a cow. So if McDonalds changed over to only make lamb burgers it would result in more animals being killed.


THE LEAST HARM PRINCIPLE MAY REQUIRE THAT HUMANS CONSUME A DIET CONTAINING LARGE HERBIVORES, NOT A VEGAN DIET.

tricky D

fobster wrote: »

Ah here really, sure in a field of harvested wheat how many insects, small rodents get obliterated? There's a line you have to draw.

From a previous thread with updated/fixed new link:

tricky D wrote: »

This might make for some uncomfortable reading:


U. S. Food and Drug Administration - The Food Defect Action Levels

Briefly it sets out limits of food contaminants including non-veg 'defects' on the basis that 'it is economically impractical to grow, harvest, or process raw products that are totally free of non-hazardous, naturally occurring, unavoidable defects.'

Yuk

Raminahobbin wrote: »

...Bisto is vegetarian.

I discovered this last weekend having dinner at the sister's so gave it a bash. It just doesn't feel right.

T L S

Yoplait Weight Watchers yogurts are made with beef gelatine.

--LOS--

Spar choco flakes are vegan!




Spar seems to have a lot of own brand stuff that is accidentally vegan, including their chocolate spread, red pesto and some of their crisps like spar bacon snacks.

Killer_banana

henryporter wrote: »

Not vegan: kellogg's cornflakes - vitamin D that is in them made from sheep wool :eek:

Last time I was on the kellogs site I noticed in the list of boxes to tick to refine your search there was one saying 'vegan' so I clicked it, no results at all. I don't think I've eaten ceral since going vegan, most are fortified with vitamins so just don't take the risk. They're full of rubbish anyway.

--LOS--

Killer_banana wrote: »

Last time I was on the kellogs site I noticed in the list of boxes to tick to refine your search there was one saying 'vegan' so I clicked it, no results at all. I don't think I've eaten ceral since going vegan, most are fortified with vitamins so just don't take the risk. They're full of rubbish anyway.

I don't eat it either tbh, it was one of those things I had to eat as a kid and never really liked so when I didn't have to eat it I didn't. I suppose I never really liked it coz we never had the sugary ones. I wouldn't mind those spar ones as a treat though

Just Like Heaven

Those look horrid I haven't had cereal either, it's been pretty much porridge and two chopped bananas with more fruit or a veg smoothie OR these bad boys covered in Jam;



They're class, do it.

Amalgam

Golgotha wrote: »

I think oreos are suitable for vegans.....nothing natural can possibly be in the ingredients

There's definitely a green 'V' symbol of some sort, on the Oreo clones that LIDL sell.

There's a sizeable minority of their biscuits with a V.. Not sure if it signifies Vegan safe, or just, Vegetarian safe, though.

--LOS--

Spicy sweet chilli Doritos are vegan as well, I accidentally bought paprika today though coz they're both purple >.< It's not easy, not only checking ingredients, but in a language you dont know :P I always feel so crazy in the supermarket scrutinising everything.

Actually Peta have quite a good accidentally vegan food list here.

turnikett1

Tayto Bacon Fries are vegan. They're delicious and you can get a big bag for €2
Fry's Chocolate Cream/Peppermint are (unsurprisingly) vegan. It does say "may contain traces of milk due to cross contimation from factory" or something like that, but I dont mind that too much. It's handy when you just want a quick snack from the shop but can't treat yourself to a bar
Like I said in the other thread... Starburst! Has been my sweet-tooth life saver lately
Tesco Dark Chocolate Mint Thins. Basically a cheap rip off of After Eights! Which is also vegan IIRC
Butter-flavoured microwave popcorn, although eating something that has "butter flavouring" on it feels a bit gross! Still delicious though

That's all I've discovered lately but it's made my life easier

Just Like Heaven

Amalgam wrote: »

There's definitely a green 'V' symbol of some sort, on the Oreo clones that LIDL sell.

There's a sizeable minority of their biscuits with a V.. Not sure if it signifies Vegan safe, or just, Vegetarian safe, though.

The lidl stuff tends to have either 'vegetarian' or 'vegetarian & vegan' written underneath the green v in small white writing. It's so handy that they keep it uniform and consistent across basically everything in the shop.

Raminahobbin

I had it in my head for years and years that Red Bull was not vegan, so I've never had it. Apparently it is! Time to try the fabled Jager Bomber.

--LOS--

Not surprising since it says dairy free on it but surprising that marks and spencers have a few veg*n friendly things.