How do vegans know if products contain trace amounts of animal products?

I mean, almost all bread has milk or butter in it. What if they eat something then find out later that there's animal products in it--do they freak out? Make themselves barf? Do they eat jell-o? Or ice cream? or yogurt?

I'm just curious....

Squirtle2007-03-02T20:04:28Z

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Yes, I read the label. But no one is perfect. There are a lot of *code words* for meat. I didn't know for a long time that mono&diglycerides were made of animal meat... once I found out, I removed them from my diet and moved on with my life. You can find this info in places like Peta's website.

I have also been in situations where foods that were vegan, ended up adding whey etc.. I didn't know how many times I ate them before I re-read the label.

We can't worry about the things we didn't know. The important thing is to fix it when you do know.



"There is no shame in admitting you were wrong; you are only saying you are wiser today than you were yesterday."

Anonymous2007-03-03T00:29:37Z

Actually most bread doesn't have milk,at least not whole grain.I would get kinda pissed for eating something with an animal product,like this one time I bought these drinks,and they had vitamin d3 in it,which is derived from an animal.I didn't drink em,but it kinda sucked that I wasted my money on them.If I ate meat by accident I would definetly barf,I would feel so sick.Jell-o,no,ice cream,only soy or rice ice cream,yogurt,only if it is soy yougrt.

Scocasso !2007-03-03T11:52:00Z

I'm vegan and, no I cannot tell if there are trace amounts of aminal products in my food, or even larger amounts if they do not present a large amount of flavour; enough flavour for me to taste.

Yeah, I don't think people are understanding the question. Reading the ingredients on a package is almost meaningless. The rules and regulations regarding food ingredients are designed for the manufacturers; that is, to make it very easy on them. The regulations are only there to make certain that no one in the public get's killed, poisoned, etc. Long term effects of ingredients; who cares.

The ingredients on a package are only the base ingredients. These days, there are ingredients within ingredients, within ingredients. Let's say you read: "flour, water, honey, salt, yeast." OK, what kind of flour? What's in the flour? What kind of water? Distilled, tap water, mineral water, filtered water, and to what purity level? Honey? What kind of honey? Where did it come from? Is there sugar added (most honey does have white sugar added and no it need not be listed)? What kind of sugar? Was there animal products in the processing of the white sugar or white salt? You'll find that things such as animal blood are used in the process.

Most food ingredients I wouldn't even consider edible. Such as ironoxide. Rust. It's used all the time as a food ingredient, and that's not even the worst on the list, that's near the bottom.

Not all ingredients need to be listed on a package if they are under a certain amount. The regulations are very long and complex and as I said, designed to give the manufacture as much free range as possible.

KathyS2007-03-03T05:26:17Z

Vegans dont eat animal products so of course they dont eat ice cream. yogurt or jello. The vegans I know stick to whole foods.

Croa2007-03-02T19:56:04Z

Smart people of any persuasion read the labels of their food before they eat it.
What do you care about anyone elses' eating habits, anyway?
Why is all this Vegan bashing going on?
Good luck.

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