7 Foods that are Not Really Vegan

Have you ever wondered about the question, are Pop Tarts vegan? Well, as it turns out, not all types of Pop-Tarts are vegan and the same goes for a number of other seemingly vegan products out there as well. Read on to identify and avoid the following seven and stay true to your resolution.

Cheese with Rennet

Rennet is obtained from the bowels of young lambs and calves to solidify milk for making curd, whey, and cheese. Fortunately, a majority of cheese manufacturers in the US have now shifted to the vegan option of fermentation produced chymosin (FPC) instead of rennet. Nevertheless, if the cheese you are buying is truly vegan, it should be marked as so.

Red Candy, Yogurt, and Ice Cream

Whenever you are buying any red candy, fruit punch, yogurt, or ice cream, make sure that it doesn’t contain carmine. While it is a natural color, that color is obtained by boiling crushed beetles into a solution of ammonia or sodium carbonate! Aside from the label, a telltale sign of carmine is a natural red color on your food that’s really bright. If the food contains words like carmine, Natural Red 4, Cochineal, E120, C.I. 75470 or Crimson lake, you are probably licking beetle juice.

Orange Juice with Omega-3

Omega-3 fatty acids do indeed have a number of health benefits, but they are often derived from fish and put into orange juice. It’s also possible to derive omega-3s from chia seeds, flaxseeds, brussels sprouts, hemp seeds, walnuts, and other vegan sources, so check for the “Vegan” tag on the juice packet just to be sure, or buy 100% pure juice.

Mexican Refried Beans

Beans are an essential source of nutrition for vegans, but you should be wary of Mexican refried beans because they are often refried in lard, which is basically pork fat. This is not to say that all Mexican restaurants do it, but the chances are pretty high.

Barbecued Chips

Most potato chips are vegetarian, but the barbecued flavors may not be so. As hinted by the term barbecue or BBQ, these chips may contain chicken, pork or beef fat. Look for the ingredients though, because we do have a few that do not contain any animal fat in them.

Cake Mix

The egg-free cake mix can be non-vegetarian because quite a number of them have lard inside. It will be mentioned on the box though.

Gelatin

Gelatin may seem to be as vegan as they come, but it most definitely isn’t. Gelatin is a food ingredient that’s used in many desserts, Jell-O, jelly, cosmetics, etc., and it’s derived from the collagen that’s obtained after boiling animal bones, ligaments, and tissues.

Turning vegan or vegetarian is a difficult choice for many, but even after you take the decision to not be a part of the animal torture and slaughter anymore, it’s even harder to stay true to that lifestyle because some apparently vegan foods are not really vegan. Hopefully, this list will help you to stay away from at least some of them.