Written By:Vegan Out The Mud
During your journey on a vegan diet you’ll learn to make checking the ingredients of everything second nature. Making sure your “veggie burger” doesn’t have eggs in it or the protein bar you want doesn’t actually contain milk it just may have been manufactured on equipment that touches milk becomes a habit. Unfortunately, there are many alternate forms of non vegan ingredients you may not immediately recognize.
Milk from any animal is considered non vegan so foods containing them are easy to eliminate but milk can be found under different names such as whey and casein. Whey is the liquid biproduct left over from milk being curdled and strained and is used in most protein powders. Casein is the curdled milk and it can be used to make protein as well but can also make paint and glue.
Carmine is another surprise ingredient because at first glance no one recognizes what it could be and that’s because if it was called what it really is no one would willingly eat it. Carmine is made of crushed up cochineal beetle scales. It can be listed as “Natural Red #4” and it’s what gives vivid red color in lipstick, candies and juices.
Last on the list is gelatin. We’ve all enjoyed gelatin since childhood and never questioned what it was made of. If you have seen gelatin not already made into jell-o you have seen it’s powder form not knowing that powder is made by boiling the skin and bones of animals. Gelatin is also is in marshmallows and some brands of roasted peanuts.
It’s important to question what is in your food and not consume anything unknowingly. It’s safer and can only benefit your health to make sure you are always only taking in the foods that you want to and avoiding the ones that you don’t. Check your ingredients and always look up anything you cannot identify.