Animal ingredients to avoid
As well as obvious things, such as meat, milk, eggs and honey, there are a host of other food ingredients that come from animal products.
Here’s a list of the most common ones to avoid:
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| Ingredient | What is it? | Animal-free alternatives |
|---|---|---|
| Whey | A milk by-product that is often used in processed foods, especially baked goods (biscuits, cakes, etc) and breakfast cereals. | Choose a dairy-free version of the product you want to buy. See our 'Guide to Going Vegan' for lots of examples. |
| Gelatine | A jelly-like substance made from boiled animal bones, skin and ligaments. | Agar, carrageenan or pectin |
| Vitamin D3 | A vitamin supplement often found in breakfast cereals that is usually made from fish oil or lanolin (from sheep). | Vitamin D2 is always plant-based, or you can get a vegan vitamin D3. |
| E120 (cochineal or carmine) | Red food colouring made from insects | Avoid products with lots of E numbers, or use non-animal versions, such as E160d |
| E904 (shellac) & E901 (beeswax) | Resins produced by insects that are used to glaze both food and non-food items. | Avoid products with lots of E numbers or choose un-glazed/un-waxed versions. |
| E322 (lecithin) | A fatty substance found in nerve tissue, egg yolk and blood. Used to emulsify fats and oils. | Soya lecithin & sunflower lecithin |
| Lactose | A sugar usually derived from cow's milk. | Other forms of sugar can be used, depending on the situation, or choose a dairy-free version of the product you want to buy. |
| Casein | A milk protein that is the main component of cheese and is sometimes used as a food additive. | Choose a dairy-free version of the product you want to buy. |
| Suet, dripping & lard | Solid fat from the bodies of cows, pigs or sheep. | Vegetable suet, dairy-free margarine, coconut oil and other vegetable oils |
| Albumin | Proteins found in egg whites and blood, often used as binding agents. | Choose a dairy-free version of the product you want to buy. See our 'Guide to Going Vegan' for lots of examples. |
| Worcestershire sauce | A flavouring sometimes used in processed foods that contains anchovies (small fish). | Vegan versions of Worcestershire sauce are produced by Biona, Geo Organics, Tiger Tiger and Granovita. Also try mushroom ketchup. |
| Quorn | A meat-substitute made from mycoprotein, which also often contains egg and milk proteins. | Quorn has a growing range of vegan products with clearly labelled packaging, or you can choose from a number of other vegan meat-substitutes. See our 'Guide to Going Vegan' for alternative brands. |