Kapiti's feijoa sorbet may be dairy-free, but it's not vegan.

Sorbet containing gelatin has led Kiwi vegans to unwittingly consume animal products.

Lower North Island icecream and cheese manufacturer, Kapiti, released a range of dairy-free "whipped sorbets" late last year, which appeared to be vegan friendly.

The range's Orange and Cranberry, and Peach and Melon, flavours are vegan.

The Feijoa and Pear flavours contains concentrated feijoa juice that is processed with gelatin.

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Britt Mann/Fairfax NZ Gelatin is not listed as an ingredient on Kapiti's feijoa and pear sorbet.

The ingredient, which is made from the skin, cartilage, and bones of animal, is not listed on the package.

Charlotte Drene, co-founder of A Guide To Vegan and the Vegan Product Pioneers New Zealand page, said the ingredient's role in the manufacturing process was only revealed when she contacted Kapiti to confirm the sorbet did not contain animal products.

A spokesperson for Fonterra, Kapiti's parent company, told Stuff:

"Since feijoa juice is naturally cloudy and has a lot of sediment, our juice supplier clarifies the juice for us and this is where the gelatine comes in – our supplier adds the gelatine to bind the sediment together and therefore make it possible to remove it and deliver us a clear feijoa juice concentrate.

"The gelatine is therefore considered a processing aid and is not added to or present in the finished product.

"We realise that this use of gelatine is not desirable to some and we are working really hard with our supplier to source an alternative."

Supplied Guide To Vegan co-founders Charlotte Drene, left, and Tara Jackson take their market research seriously.

Drene said it was important for consumers to be able to make informed choices.

"It's still something that, if I went to go buy, I would still be essentially paying for that product," she said.

"We're not saying, 'change your recipe for us', we're just saying, if it's in there, we have the right to know, so we can choose not to buy it."

Drene explained that a vegan's reasons for their cruelty-free diet went beyond repulsion.

"It's also because... the more you invest, the more demand there'll be. So by removing ourselves, we're showing people that we don't support these things, and hopefully the demand will go down.

"Everyone likes to know what they're investing their money towards."

Drene said there are many items on supermarket shelves that were "so close to being vegan".

"It's just one little thing."

Honey in cereal and muesli bars, and gelatin in lollies, were common pitfalls, she said.