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Just yesterday I was in a health food store examining the ingredient list on a bag of popcorn.
“Natural butter flavoring.” No source listed, hmm…
Allergen alert, “Processed on equipment used by dairy.” Okay, that’s not a dealbreaker.
But the thing that made me put the bag back on the shelf was the fact that other products by that brand (which I can’t recall the name of right now) made notes on the packaging when they were vegan. The one I was looking at just said “gluten-free.” I figure that if the company wants to put little symbols showing when things are gluten-free, allergen-free, vegan, etc., they probably would do so with everything that fits the criteria, right? To appeal to more customers? The fact that it didn’t specifically say it was vegan, even though other products did, made me suspicious.
I’m in the US, our laws concerning labeling the source of food additives suck. I can’t imagine why the company would’ve omitted explicitly saying the product was vegan if that was the case, so I erred on the side of caution. I ended up getting Hippeas and Vegan Rob’s puffs instead.
i’m disabled and i have a lot of food allergies / sensitivities. my insurance is trying to have me get home delivered meals i can just microwave when im not well enough to do anything else.
i’m allergic to soy and coconut… the meal company has almost nothing i can eat. like maybe 3 meals.
the hamburger - not a veggie burger, actual meat - contains soy. the meat patty… contains soy. not “may contain,” actual soy protein is an ingredient of the meat patty alongside the meat.
the mac and cheese contains coconut… it’s not vegan mac and cheese. but it contains coconut
like why do they do this. do not the unnecessary ingredients
Just the other day I saw the frozen hamburger patties in the supermarket were made with 62% soy, then meat
Cost cutting measures…
Lol I wasn’t just reading a label that said “may contain milk”
I don’t understand industrial food production
In short: The same facility produces something with milk and worker may carry some over on gloves, in mouth or similiar. Also, there simply may be splash damage included between lines.
So to avoid any and all accusations they add note “may contain <allergen>”
When they make cheese, the more solid curds are separated from the more liquid whey. The harder the cheese, the more whey was pulled out. There is lots and lots of cheese made around the world, so there’s lots and lots of whey created, and so it’s a relatively cheap substance to get ahold of. Dried out, it’s usually called “milk solids” (though that phrase can be used for other forms of dried out milk)
So yeah, it gets added to all sorts of things to make them taste milkier or sweeter. The thing is, the lactose in milk mostly ends up in the whey, not in the curds, so this really messes up people who are lactose intolerant. Lots of things end up having a high lactose content that you wouldn’t normally expect to. Someone told me that KitKat bars have lots of it, though I haven’t verified that.
example - I bought some instant oatmeal with added protein. It had pea protein which was fine. Next time i bought another brand because the first one wasn’t available. Whey protein. Cue unhappy stomach noises.
I developed a little sarcastic voice in my head that says “no whey” every time I find the smidge of dairy
I swear they just put milk powder in stuff for fun sometimes. There’s no way it’s actually that important to the flavor of a BBQ chip.
Maybe it’s cheaper than sugar in some cases? Milk is sweet and had fat in it, which can enhance other flavors. It still seems so self-defeating, though. They’re limiting their pool of potential buyers. Lactose intolerance is just as common as veganism.
Neither one of which is all that common compared to the rest of the population.
I mean, really depends on the region for lactose intolerance:
Worldwide, about 80% of people experience some form of lactose intolerance as they age past infancy, but there are significant differences between populations and regions. As few as 5% of northern Europeans are lactose intolerant, while as many as 90% of adults in parts of Asia are lactose intolerant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactose_intolerance#Epidemiology
It’s hard to imagine how milk products could be cheaper when they require more energy inputs and more processing, along with limiting the consumer base as you said. I guess it’s really subsidized so a lot of the actual cost is externalized?
I think like they’re just doing what they’ve always done. Inertia.
I can’t speak for other countries, but dairy farms are absolutely subsidized in the US.
It’s cheaper because it’s a by product of an incredibly popular main product. There is so much of it that isn’t used it’s hard to sell for much because it’s abundant and otherwise they would have to pay to dispose of it. And it is a food grade by product that has chemical properties making it an engineering solution to food producers
That shouldn’t be a surprise I would have thought
But is it cheaper than just using sugar and vegetable oil? I’m skeptical, especially since a lot of products that aren’t even marketed as being dairy free don’t bother with using dairy products. I’m not surprised, I just think it’s one of those “if it works, don’t fix it” kind of things that get stuck in the process.
Iirc yes it is much cheaper because otherwise it’s a waste product
If there’s a demand for a waste product they can still charge for it, simply because companies will pay. It’s not like they give it away.
Yes.
but if the demand is because it’s cheaper to use that product instead of alternatives, then the price can’t raise too much until those alternatives raise in price
And if there is no other user for it then that’s just where the price will stay
Fun fact, a lot of shelf-stable peanut butter is actually defatted peanut flour remade into a paste with a cheaper canola or soy oil and a bit of sugar to mask the taste, so they can sell the peanut oil and the peanut butter it comes from.
I can’t imagine it’s an issue for the lactose intolerant. I wouldn’t know though. It’s such a small amount usually, and probably cooked, so I’m sure it won’t cause any serious trouble.
@Cethin @ObtuseDoorFrame It’s a major issue for the alpha-gal intolerant.
whey, ugh!
I remember steve-o saying in a podcast that the only non vegan thing he eats are monster munch chips or something, no idea what they are. He said it has milk powder in it and he can’t comprehend why. He (jokingly?) said that he wants to get in touch with them because there are vegan alternatives. I wonder if he ever did.
I appreciate the new “CONTAINS:” labeling requirement in the US.
That’s a new thing? Jfc
Relatively new. Right after INGREDIENTS: there is a line that says something like “CONTAINS: Milk, Soy, Wheat…”.
The trick I use is to look at the allergens.
When somebody unfamiliar with reading ingredients lists wants to get me something, I tell them to look at the allergen list first. Yeah, a lot of things aren’t listed, but depending on the product, it can work as a cheat-sheet to easily know when something won’t work.
My management team at work is pretty good to me. The management wants to include options for me when they do things like bring in ice cream for everyone. The first time they tried, they bought Lactaid brand (for those that don’t know, it’s a popular option for those with lactose intolerance. However, it still explicitly uses dairy.) I had to be the gentle bearer of bad news, but it was an opportunity to show them how to read an ingredient list. I pointed out the allergen list first and showed how milk was the first advisory listed. I told them that most vegan ice creams will explicitly say “vegan” these days, and you can find them at most supermarkets where we live. My bosses felt bad, but promised to make it up to me.
And they did. They got So Delicious ice cream bars next time. 🙂
I do the same but unfortunately this usually doesn’t cover stuff like gelatin, or straight up meat, insect glazes, etc. so I’ve been caught out a few times from this.
Somebody’s about to get Scott Pilgrimed
When I tried be vegan (for about a decade), I never managed to give up ghee.
Why? As in you find it in everything? I’m in north India and the only food I regularly find ghee in is sweets.
I make my own ghee. Found it essential for my many ailments. Tremendously beneficial for my dosha (vata prakruti). I put it in “everything”. ;)
