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.