Your Guide To Reading Supermarket Labels
How can you tell if a packaged food is plant-based?
Unfortunately, in our world of meat-dairy-eggs domination, the by-products of meat, dairy, and eggs are often found in many packaged foods at the supermarket. And to make things worse, they are often renamed so they’re difficult to spot on the ingredient lists.
The steps below will help you identify as quickly as possible whether a product is plant-based or not.
Step 1: Vegan Labelling
The first thing you can do is quickly scan the product to see if it has been labeled ‘Vegan’ ‘Suitable for Vegans’ or have the ‘Certified Vegan’ logo. You may also find that many ‘vegetarian’ labeled products are actually Vegan but you’ll need to do Step 2 to be sure.
Step 2: Allergen Listing
On most products ingredients that are classed as allergens will have been made bold within the ingredient list – this makes looking for dairy and egg ingredients a super quick and easy process.
Be aware that not all manufacturers bold the allergens but they do, by law, need to state at the bottom of the ingredient list if the product contains allergens (i.e. Contains milk, eggs, shellfish). This doesn’t work so well for products containing meat, however, it will give you an indication right away whether to read the full ingredient list or not.
Step 3: Read The Ingredient List
This is where things become tricky. Many animal by-products are listed under different names so it can become a minefield to work out what is plant-based and what is not. For example; whey powder, casein, lactose, and modified milk ingredients are all dairy products.
You will soon become an expert at reading labels and establishing what ingredients and products to avoid. And, through this process, you’ll also become so much more informed about how you are actually fuelling your body!
Below is a list of the main ingredients to keep an eye out for. Good luck!
Obvious:
Meat: Beef, lamb, pork, veal, organic meat, wild meat, etc
Poultry: Chicken, turkey, goose, duck, quail, etc
Fish & seafood: All types of fish, anchovies, shrimp, squid, scallops, calamari, mussels, crab, lobster and fish sauce.
Dairy: Milk, yogurt, cheese, butter, cream, ice cream, etc.
Eggs: From chickens, quails, ostriches, and fish.
Bee products: Food for bees, made by bees. Honey, bee pollen, royal jelly (secretion of the throat gland of the honeybee), etc.
Trickier to spot:
Albumen/albumin: Derived from an egg (typically).
Pepsin: From the stomachs of pigs. Used as a clotting agent used in vitamins.
Aspic: Industry alternative to gelatine; made from clarified meat, fish or vegetable stocks and gelatine.
Casein: Protein derived from animal’s milk (usually cow’s or sheep) and is the main component in cheese making.
Certain additives: Several food additives can be derived from animal products. Examples include E120, E322, E422, E 471, E542, E631, E901 and E904.
Cochineal or carmine: Ground cochineal scale insects are used to make carmine, a natural dye used to give a red colour to many food products. Often listed as E120.
Collagen: From the skin, bones, and connective tissues of animals such as cows, chickens, pigs, and fish. Often used in cosmetics.
Elastin: Found in the neck ligaments and aorta of bovine. Similar to collagen and often used in cosmetics.
Gelatine: This thickening agent comes from the skin, bones and connective tissues of cows and pigs. Many varieties of jelly, marshmallows, gummy bears and chewing gum contain gelatine.
Isinglass: This gelatine-like substance is derived from fish bladders. It’s often used in the making of beer or wine, to clarify their final product.
Keratin: From the skin, bones, and connective tissues of animals such as cows, chickens, pigs, and fish.
L-cysteine: This ingredient, often sourced from feathers, is a dough conditioner listed in many pre-packaged breads and baked goods. This amino acid is used as a softening agent and may be lurking in the ingredient lists of many white and wheat bread.
Lactose: Derived from dairy milk (a sugar).
Lard/tallow: Animal fat often found in processed fried foods, crackers and biscuits.
Propolis: Used by bees in the construction of their hives.
Natural flavourings: Some of these ingredients are animal-based. One example is castoreum, a food flavouring that comes from the secretions of beavers’ anal scent glands.
Omega-3 fatty acids: Many products that are enriched with omega-3s are not Vegan since most omega-3s come from fish. Omega-3s derived from algae are Vegan alternatives.
Shellac: This glaze comes from the hardened resinous material secreted by the Tachardia lacca insect. It’s sometimes used to make a food glaze for sweets.
Vitamin D3: Most vitamin D3 is derived from fish oil or the lanolin found in sheep’s wool, and is often used to fortify foods like cereals. Vitamin D2 and D3 from lichen are Vegan alternatives.
Whey: Common ingredient in many foods, especially bread and candies, and is a by-product of cheese making. Whey is the remaining liquid once milk has been curdled, or churned, and then strained.
If you want to read a very extensive list of ingredients to avoid then check out: http://www.veganwolf.com/animal_ingredients.htm
