Animal
Ingredients
There
are certain additives that you should be wary
of. They are common animal ingredients and derivatives
that can be thought of as vegetarian.
There
are quite a few of them and they are all listed
below. They have the explanation about where they
come from.
Anchovy
- this is a small fish of the herring family.
Animal
fat - this generally means fat from
a dead animal. It is often contained in cakes,
biscuits and margarine. Suet, lard and dripping
are all animal fat - although some supermarkets
do provide vegetarian suet.
Bristle
- this is usually animal hair from a pig or some
other animal.
Cheese
- unless cheese is stated as being vegetarian,
or =has the V symbol on it - it generally contains
rennet. Rennet is taken from dead calves stomachs
and is used to process the cheese in some way.
Cholecalciferol ( D3) - this is
a vitamin derived from lanolin or fish oil.
E numbers - certain
E numbers are derived from animal ingredients.
These include:-
E120
- cochineal, which is derived from dried bodies
of insects.
E542
- edible bone phosphate, which is made from animal
bones
E631
- sodium 5'-inosinate, which is made from meat
or fish
E904
- shellac, which is made from insects
*E422
- glycerin(e)/ glycerol, clear colourless liquid
which may be derived from animal fat
*E471
- which may or may not be made from animals, it's
hard to know.
There
are many additives that are hard to tell what
they're from.
Gelling
Agents - these are called gelatine
and aspic. They cannot be eaten by vegetarians
but there are veggie alternatives.
Isinglass
- this is a very pure form of gelatine which is
obtained from the air bladders of freshwater fish.
Lanolin
- this is contained in some cosmetics. Most vegetarians
avoid it. It's made from sheep's wool and is usually
a slaughterhouse by-product.
Tallow
- this is hard animal fat and should be avoided.
Whey
- this is residue from milk after the removal
of the casein and most of the fat. It is often
found in biscuits, bread, cakes and sweets. Vegetarians
should avoid it because it was probably made with
animal rennet.
Adapted
from information from The Vegan Society.
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