“Vegetarian” Foods That Aren’t Actually Vegetarian

Be it due to health reasons, dietary requirements, or moral reasons, more and more people are now adopting a vegetarian lifestyle. But completely avoiding meat is a lot harder than it first appeared to be. Meat, and other animal byproducts, are everywhere and in everything. So if you’re looking forward to refining your vegetarian diet, it might just be in your best interest to have a look at these five “vegetarian” foods that aren’t really all that vegetarian.\r \r 1. Cheese\r \r Even though cheese is an animal byproduct, many vegetarians still consume cheese as it's a great source of protein and calcium. But many cheeses, particularly the hard variety, aren’t just composed of curdled milk—many are infused with rennet, an enzyme that separates the curds and whey in the milk. And in case you didn’t know, animal rennet is derived from the fourth stomach lining of slaughtered unweaned calves. Gorgonzola, GranaPadano and Parmesan are some of the cheeses that always contain animal rennet. Luckily all hope isn’t lost because there are many alternative sources of rennet including vegetables, fungi and microbial sources.\r \r 2. Yogurt\r \r Many vegetarians believe yogurt to be an animal-free snack made of just milk, fruits and other flavorings. While that’s mostly true, there are a few ingredients you should look out for, mainly gelatin, omega 3, and the red coloring, carmine. Gelatin, as you may already know, is extracted from the skin, bones and connective tissues of animals, the omega-3 fatty acid is usually sourced from fish oil and as for carmine? Well, you won’t believe this, but it’s a pretty common red dye that comes from none other than a bug, the native Latin American cochineal insect.\r \r 3. Alcohol\r \r Not even alcohol is safe from animal products. You see, after the fermentation process, some beer manufacturers refine their beer with gelatin, isinglass or fish swim bladders and chitosan derived from crab shells. These agents play a crucial role in refining the process of drawing in the yeast and clarifying the beer, if it isn’t already cloudy. Even though these fining agents are removed from the end product, there is always the chance that a few traces remain behind, hence why some beer labels have disclaimers stating that their product may contain traces of crustacean.\r \r 4. Ice Cream\r \r Who doesn’t love a good ol’ bowl of ice cream? But if you’re a vegetarian, the flavor isn’t the only thing you need to take into consideration when you’re out shopping. That’s because many ice cream brands contain a fatty acid called capric acid or decanoic acid, which is acquired from, you guessed it, animal fats. Another common ingredient is lard, the semi-solid white fat produced from animal fatty tissues. Gelatin is another animal-derived ingredient, though it’s far from common.\r \r 5. Fries\r \r Unless you make your french fries from scratch, there’s a huge possibility that you’re consuming tallow, a rendered form of beef fat. Frozen french fries aren't just made of potatoes; when they’re being processed in a factory, the fries are cooked in beef tallow before being frozen and transported. Even though a store claims that their products are fried in 100% vegetable oil, there;s always the possibility of this being a huge lie. Like that time in 2001, when McDonalds was sued by a group of vegetarians due to the franchise’s failure to disclose on the full ingredient list.