As a vegan it can be a nightmare finding out what’s safe to eat. These are some foods you probably thought were vegan but aren’t!

With the food industry always trying to reduce costs it’s becoming increasingly shocking the variety of animal products finding their way into foods you thought were cruelty-free. Surely fruit and vegetables are safe? Fruit juice must be safe? Well, I can tell you now, nothing is safe. Okay, that’s a slight overstatement but you do need to be vigilant. To make things easy for you here are a whole bunch of foods you probably thought were vegan but aren’t.

“Man, so there are even more things that aren’t vegan!?!?”

Unfortunately, there are animal products in the most surprising of places so it’s best to know which foods that aren’t vegan so you can avoid them. It takes commitment, planning and A LOT of ingredient checking to be completely free of animal products but we think it’s worth it.

This list was put together so you know and are aware of what to look out for, whether that’s shopping for vegan hiking snacks, an impressive dinner or a cruelty-free picnic.

For a long-term, healthy vegan lifestyle it’s much easier if you WANT to be vegan, rather than feel like you should. For this reason, if after reading this article you realise many staples of your diet are not vegan, take your time finding the right alternatives rather than cutting out everything straight away. There has never been a better time to be vegan, every day there are more and more plant-based options so go slow and find alternatives one by one.

A quick note: some foods on this list are never vegan-friendly whilst others will depend on the brand and region. To be safe, check that label!

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A Whole Bunch of Foods You Thought Were Vegan But Aren’t

1. Foods Labelled as ‘Dairy-Free’

Can contain: Animal additives, E-numbers or just plain meat

Don’t be fooled by that dairy-free stamp! This one may seem obvious but although things marked as ‘dairy-free’ won’t contain dairy they may contain other animal products. A chicken breast is dairy-free, so is a prawn, they’re still not vegan.

Pick this instead: many dairy-free items are vegan too, so just check the ingredients or look for the vegan stamp. Check out some dairy-free vegan options in the UK here or in USA here.

2. Jelly

Can contain: bone and connective tissue

All that wibble wobble wibble wobble can, unfortunately, be animals products on your plate. Jelly is found on many cakes, ice lollies and desserts and quite often contain gelatine: crushed animal bones.

Pick this instead: gelatine-free jelly is now easy to find and you can find make-at-home vegan jelly kits here! In the US, you can use agar agar, which is a gelatine substitute.

Yup, all vegan!

3. Honey

Contains: Dead bees

Many people may not realise but honey is not vegan. Although there are many reasons for this, the key points are that many many bees are killed during honey production, honey is actually the bee’s food and beekeepers often kill the queen bee to keep production levels high. If you want to know more here’s an interesting article from a beekeeper.

Pick this instead: Go for agave, maple syrup or syrup as awesome replacements. Find online!

4. Crisps

Can contain: a variety of meaty or dairy products

Finding crisps that are vegan can be a bit of a headache. Some flavours you’d never expect to be vegan are actually suitable, whilst others you would assume are in fact not. Meat flavourings are often added whilst milk powder can also be added to the most surprising of places.

Pick this instead: there are loads of vegan crisps (you just gotta check the labels) but these are hands-down our favourites!

Ditch the honey and go for agave, maple or golden syrup!

5. Margarine

Can contain: Casein or lactose

Although a lot of margarine is vegan, it’s not always the case. Some brands use casein or lactose so make sure you check the ingredients or look for a vegan stamp. Ingredients are constantly changing, so make sure you regularly check your shopping basket in case they’ve added some nasties.

Pick this instead: many kinds of margarine are vegan and Your Daily Vegan has a very comprehensive list of vegan butters in the UK and USA.

6. Alcohol

Can contain: Egg whites, milk products, crustacean shell, bone and connective tissue, fish bladders

Alcohol that isn’t vegan!?!?! Be cautious all you vegan boozers, alcohol can contain a whole variety of different animal products that you’d never expect. Cider and wine sometimes use gelatine (cow and pig bone and connective tissue), albumin (derived from egg whites) and casein (milk-based protein) in the filtration process. Wines use crustacean shells for fining and ales commonly use isinglass to filter yeast which is taken from fish bladders (you’ve gotta be taking the piss, fish bladders?).

Pick this instead: Fear not, there is plenty of vegan-friendly alcohol – to find out if your favourite booze is meat-free then check out Barnivore.

Vegan Boozer?

7. Red coloured foods

Can contain: Crushed insects

How do they even think of these things? Red food colouring or carmine (sometimes labelled as E120) is made from the cochineal insect which is crushed to produce the colour. Reportedly 70,000 beetles must be crushed to produce 1 pound of the dye. It’s used in many red sweets and foods along with cosmetics and household items.

Pick this instead: with the vegan revolution many brands are moving away from carmine (even Haribo!) so check the label and look for the vegan stamp. Biona does delicious vegan Haribo-style sweets and they’re an awesome organic option!

8. Soups

Can contain: Meat Stock

Many soups which may seem vegan actually use meat stock for flavouring. This is very common in traditional restaurants throughout Europe so have a word with the waiter before you order that vegetable soup.

Pick this instead: if you’re in a restaurant clearly explain you want a soup with no meat, dairy or meat stock. In shops, the vegan option is improving and now you can even get vegan pea & ham soup!

9. Bananas

Can contain: shrimp and crab shell

Non vegan fruit? It’s surprising how nice all those bananas look, considering how far they’ve had to travel. A lot of the time its thanks to chitosan which is used as a preservative to increase the shelf life of bananas. Chitosan is taken from crustacean shells, most commonly shrimp and crabs. If you’re not questioning is fruit vegan? Yes, it is, but sometimes non-vegan products are used as preservatives.

Pick this instead: this one can be difficult to check, so the best thing is research online, email the place you’re shopping or opt for organic fruit that doesn’t use preservatives.

A lovely bowl of vegan soup

10. Fruit Juice

Can contain: Fish oil, sheep’s wool, crushed insects or animal bones

How have they managed to put animal products in juice? To seem extra healthy many companies add extra nutrients and vitamins like omega-3 oils which are derived from fish and vitamin D – sometimes sourced from sheep’s wool. Not only this but some juices use gelatine for thickness and carmine for red colouring.

Pick this instead: avoid juices with added omega-3 oils, look for 100% fruit juices or squeeze your own

11. Marshmallows and Haribo style soft sweets

Can contain: Crushed insects, bone and connective tissue

Most marshmallows and Haribo style soft sweets contain gelatine and many red ones also use carmine. If you felt left out not being able to eat sweets like your friends when you were younger, or frustrated by the marshmallow-free vegan backpacking trips, we know how you feel.

Pick this instead: now there’s a huge variety of vegan sweets (yes, vegan Haribo too) so you can have tooth fillings like the rest of your friends. These vegan marshmallows are ace!

12. Roast vegetables and mash

Can contain: Goose fat, butter, milk or cream

Whether it’s ready-made from the shops or from a restaurant be careful as roast vegetables may have butter or goose fat used for baking. Mash is regularly cooked with cream, butter or milk (or all three) so keep an eye out!

Pick this instead: if buying from a shop then check labels or go for vegan range. In a restaurant make sure you clearly ask the waiter, or, better yet, support a vegan restaurant!

Looking for vegan protein sources?

100% Plant Based

13. Lactose-Free Products

Can contain: dairy products

Whilst most Lactose-intolerant people avoid dairy foods, lactose-free food can still contain casein or whey which are milk proteins and are not vegan.

Pick this instead: much like the dairy-free products, make sure you check ingredients and look for a vegan stamp.

14. White sugar

Can contain: Cow bone

Whilst this is less common in the UK, in the US many sugar companies use bone char (charred bones) to whiten their sugar. This also applies to brown sugar as it goes through the same process as white sugar and then has molasses added. A huge amount of products have added sugar, so there may be a lot of foods you thought were vegan but aren’t.

Pick this instead: this information is rarely added to packages so you might have to check online. Here’s some extra info and a list of vegan-friendly sugars.

15. Dark chocolate

Can contain: Milk or milk powder

I was eternally grateful when I found out that a lot of dark chocolates don’t use any dairy. Beware though, this tends to be better quality chocolates with a higher percentage of cocoa. Other dark chocolate brands may still use milk products so check the ingredients list or look for a vegan stamp!

Pick this instead: the higher percentage of cocoa the better – check the ingredients for milk powder or vegan stamp. If you like salted caramel, you’ll wanna check this out!

So glad that chocolate is still on the menu, but check to be sure!

16. Worcestershire sauce

Contains: Anchovies

Yup, one of Britain’s favourites is not vegan or vegetarian, it contains anchovies.

Pick this instead: instead go for the proud Sheffield staple Henderson’s Relish as it’s cruelty-free!

17. Pesto

Can contain: Animal stomach

Not only are many types of pesto not vegan, but many also are not vegetarian either. Most traditional types contain Parmesan which may use rennet. Rennet is taken from the stomach lining of mammals, most commonly young calves.

Pick this instead: vegan-friendly pesto is now commonly available and there are loads of options here.

18. Butter

Can contain: cow’s milk or cream

This one may seem like one of the obvious non vegan foods but it’s surprising how many people don’t realise (many meat-eaters!). Butter is NOT vegan, it’s just milk or cream – a definite no-no.

Pick this instead: now there are lots of vegan butter alternatives, spreads and margarine which is suitable.

Gotta love vegan pesto!

And something interesting for you…

Figs

Contains: Dead wasps

Hard to believe but completely true, for some figs to be pollinated it requires a female wasp to die inside! The wasp enters to lay her eggs, is then unable to escape and is broken down by enzymes in the fig. Figs would be unable to pollinate without the female wasps but wasps also need the figs to lay their eggs. As they both need each other to survive, it’s what’s known as a symbiotic relationship.

This is a completely natural process and no animals were exploited so figs are still considered vegan, but it’s something interesting to know. It seems crazy but it’s true folks.

Are there any vegan foods we missed out or where a real surprise?

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A Whole Bunch of Foods You Thought Were Vegan but Aren’t

Crushed insects, fish bladders, stomach lining, how do they even think of using it these things?

If this is all new information to you then I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. There may be many foods you now realise aren’t vegan, but, there are probably plenty of other foods you thought weren’t vegan but are.

Right now we’re experiencing the Vegan Revolution and every day more and more vegan items are going on the shelves. Yes, there are still a lot of surprising things that are not vegan but our numbers are growing and we’re putting pressure on companies to get the meat off the menu and out of our products. As I mentioned in the opening lines, it’s all about baby steps: if these are products you regularly consume then take your time finding the right alternatives and be a life-long, happy vegan!

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