Reading Product Labels: What Vegans Should Watch Out For
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Choosing vegan products goes beyond avoiding meat, eggs, and dairy. It also means reading vegan product labels closely so you can spot animal-derived ingredients, fuzzy marketing terms, and processing aids that don’t align with your ethics. This guide explains what to look for, why it matters, and how to make faster, more confident choices at the store. Reading Vegan Product Labels: Start Here Before you scan the front of the package, go straight to the ingredient list. By law, packaged foods must list ingredients in descending order by weight—the first items make up the largest share, and the last ones are present in the smallest amounts. See the FDA’s rule on ingredient order for details. If you’re on the fence...
Are Tortillas Vegan? Everything you Need to Know About Tortillas
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Are tortillas vegan? Short answer: usually yes. Corn tortillas are almost always vegan. Modern flour tortillas are too, since most switched from lard to plant oils after the 1990s. The exception is tradition: a few regional or old-school recipes still use lard, and some shelf-stable wraps may sneak in dairy byproducts or ambiguous emulsifiers. This guide cuts the guesswork. You’ll learn which ingredients to flag fast (lard, whey, butter, animal-derived mono-/diglycerides), how to read labels in seconds, and how popular options—from grocery staples like Mission to restaurant tortillas at places like Chipotle—stack up. If you’ve ever typed “are tortillas vegan” mid-meal prep, you’ll finish this article knowing exactly which tortillas belong in your cart. However, many animal derived ingredients find...
Is Tea Tree Oil Vegan? The Truth Behind the Trend
Posted by Patricia Borbe on
Tea tree oil is a popular essential oil known for its numerous benefits in health and personal care. It is used in a wide range of products, from simple face creams to specialty products like BJJ submission soap. As the world moves towards a more compassionate, plant-based lifestyle, you might be wondering if tea tree oil is vegan. Tea tree oil is derived from the leaves of the tea tree plant, making it a plant-based essential oil. Luckily for you, tea tree oil is indeed vegan, as it's derived from a natural source and doesn't involve animals in any way. However, when purchasing tea tree oil, it's essential to ensure that the product is free from animal-derived ingredients and hasn't...
Is Pb2 Vegan? A Vegan Powdered Peanut Butter Guide
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Is PB2 certified vegan? That's a great question, but first, what is it? If you have never heard of it, PB2 is simply powdered, dehydrated roasted peanuts with most of the oil removed. Though it may carry the disadvantage of not being a whole food, it has a very simple ingredients list that is completely free of chemicals and additives. PB2 has seen a lot of popularity recently among health and fitness circles. But, why would someone buy powdered, defatted peanuts when they could just buy regular peanut butter? PB2 carries a number of advantages over regular peanut butter if you have certain goals. Two tablespoons of this food have just 45 calories, 1 gram of fat, and 1 gram of sugar, plus 5...
Is Soy Sauce Vegan? A Vegan Soy Sauce Guide
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Stepping into the soy sauce debate stirs up a lot of questions. Is soy sauce vegan friendly? The answer is debatable but as with all the other foods it's best to err on the side of caution. The tricky thing with soy sauce is the fermenting process. There is some gray area between products used during the fermentation process in items such as beer or soy sauce and what appears on the ingredients label. However, there are some safe non-fermented options like Tamari gluten free soy sauce. Skipping the fermentation process means no possibly hidden animal products. This all purpose seasoning works as a great substitute for vegan soy sauce! Soy Sauce Ingredients Using Kikkoman soy sauce ingredients label as...
Are McDonald's French Fries Vegan?
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Most vegans may not think of McDonald's as their first choice for dining. However, if you should find yourself in a situation where it is unavoidable, then you may wonder what you can eat from their menu. There is not much that can be consumed by a vegan at this establishment. They do not even offer a veggie burger in the United States, although they do in their London stores. The options are severely limited, and you might wish you had packed a sandwich. The French fries seems like a safe bet though, right? Unfortunately, even the fries are not vegan. How can a French fry fail to be vegan when it is just a slice of potato? It is...
Is A1 Vegan? A Cruelty-Free Steak Sauce Guide
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Is A1 vegan? Technically yes, but the company has a history of animal abuse. Read on for more info, as well as a few vegan steak sauce brands & homemade vegan steak sauce recipe! Note: Want to support our site and spread a positive vegan message? Check out our vegan t shirt collection <3 Have you chosen to live a vegan lifestyle? You are not alone. According to recent statistics, there are at least 1.62 million of us in America. Like me, you decided that precious animal life does not have to be sacrificed for our needs or pleasure. Even simple things like condiments can have animal products hidden in the ingredient list. Do you like savory sauce with your...
Is Sriracha Vegan? A Spicy Vegan Sriracha Recipe Guide
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Is sriracha vegan? The short answer is yes. Sriracha does not contain any animal ingredients which makes it suitable for vegan consumption. Read on to learn how to make your own sriracha, as well as a few delicious vegan sriracha recipes. Note: If you want to support our site and help spread compassion please check out our vegan clothing shop <3 Dairy-free condiments are healthy and delicious alternatives to add flavor to any type of diet. Sriracha sauce is one of the most widely-available, inexpensive, and delicious vegan choices to infuse spice and flavor to soups, plant-based snacks, noodles, and even breakfast items. This is because sriracha sauce reunites an amalgam of bold and intense flavors: the sweetness of sugar,...
Are Flour Tortillas Vegan?
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
Flour tortillas have many delicious variations and most traditional recipes have evolved over time to remove animal-based ingredients, however the question remains, are flour tortillas vegan? How do you know if certain flour tortillas conform to your vegan lifestyle? Let's take a look! Flour Tortilla Ingredients Flour Tortillas typically have very few ingredients which is appealing to those of us who live a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. Flour, baking soda, salt, oil, water and sometimes a pinch of sugar are the ingredients that it takes to make them. They are simple, clean and easy to pair with any style of cooking you enjoy. Even though Mexican style food seems to be a recurring theme with tortillas, if we think outside the...
Is Lactic Acid Vegan?
Posted by Aaron Seminoff on
As a vegan, you're probably in the habit of reading ingredient lists carefully. Most of the time, it's pretty easy to tell whether a food contains any animal products or not, but some ingredients can seem a bit more ambiguous. Lactic acid is one of those ingredients that can cause confusion. Is lactic acid vegan, or not? The term "lactic acid" itself is the root of the confusion here. The prefix "lac" means milk, and this leads many people to believe that lactic acid is derived from milk. However, this is a misconception. Lactic acid is typically derived from vegetable sources, so if your favorite foods contain this ingredient, don't panic - they're most likely vegan. Keep reading to learn...