Here are some common animal ingredients that sneak their way into our food and products. This is part one of the series starting with letters A-I. These ingredients are almost always
#NotVegan . I'll have a separate series for ingredients like "Glycerine" which can be sourced from vegan or animal ingredients.
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1⃣ Albumen {Albumin} In eggs, milk, muscles, blood, and many vegetable tissues and fluids. In cosmetics, albumen is usually derived from egg whites and used as a coagulating agent. In cakes, cookies, candies, etc. Egg whites sometimes used in "clearing" wines.
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2⃣ Carmine. Cochineal. Carminic Acid. Red pigment from the crushed female cochineal insect. Reportedly, 70,000 beetles must be killed to produce one pound of this red dye. Used in cosmetics, shampoos, red apple sauce, and other foods (including red lollipops and food coloring). ________________________
3⃣ Casein. Caseinate. Sodium Caseinate. Milk protein. In "nondairy" creamers, soy cheese, many cosmetics, hair preparations, beauty masks. May soy cheeses are not vegan because they contain casein. It's what gives soy cheese its (slightly) cheese-like flavor and texture.
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4⃣ Gelatin. Protein obtained by boiling skin, tendons, ligaments, and/or bones in water. From cows, pigs, and more recently, horse hooves and fish by-products. Used in shampoos, face masks, and other cosmetics. Used as a thickener for fruit gelatins and puddings (e.g., Jell-O). In candies, marshmallows, cakes, ice cream, yogurts. On photographic film and in vitamins as a coating and as capsules. Sometimes used to assist in "clearing" wines.
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5⃣ Isinglass. A form of gelatin prepared from the internal membranes of fish bladders. Sometimes used in "clearing" wines and in foods. ➡ Up next: Part Two (K-R)
#VegansofIG