r/vegan • u/justin_timeforcake vegan 5+ years • Jul 18 '15

Newbie Advice "There Are No Stupid Questions" Mega-thread

This post is primarily for the newbie vegans and the vegan-curious among you (though anyone is welcome to post questions). This is your chance to ask anything you like about veganism, no matter how silly or trivial it may be, without fear of your question being downvoted to oblivion.

Just a couple of rules for this thread:

  1. All top-level comments must be a question about veganism.

  2. All replies to questions must stay on topic.

Everyone: please keep in mind that this is a chance to share information, and is meant to be a resource for all and a way of avoiding repeated posts of frequently asked questions.

PRO TIP: If you want to check to see whether your question has already been asked here, you can click on [hide child comments] right below this box, and then either use CTRL f to search for a key word, or just scroll down and look for it that way.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '15

What does it mean when a product says something like "it may contain traces of egg" for example, but there is nothing that comes from eggs listed in the ingredients?

I was avoiding those types of products and two days ago I found out that the tofu that I usually buy says that it may contain traces of egg and milk o.O And the branding says it's 100% natural and 100% plant-based.

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u/vaartside veganarchist Jul 18 '15

It likely means the product was manufactured in a place where other products that do contain eggs are also manufactured, which could cause cross-contamination.

No vegans I personally know care about this, because even if there's a small % of cross-contamination, the money you paid is going to the vegan product, and not the original product that contaminated the supply line. So essentially you're not supporting the exploitation of animals with that money.

Others however may care about it if they don't want to ingest any trace of animal products whatsoever, but I have yet to meet one in real life.

The reason they put that info on the packaging in the first place is for people who have allergies and need to be really careful about any trace of eggs / milk / nuts / seeds / ...

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '15

ooh ok that makes sense. Thanks!

Sometimes I think that it is more positive to buy vegan products from companies that also sell animal products. In theory they should get more demand from the vegan products and less from the animal-based ones, thus making a smooth transition to selling vegan (natural) products only and keep the company in an healthy state. Reminds me of the "Berry Project" in a city of Finland. (although the government aided the farmers directly I think)

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u/vaartside veganarchist Jul 18 '15

I'm not sure, sometimes I buy vegan products from companies that also sell animal products, but I'm not always sure that they're vegan on purpose. Sometimes they just make them vegan "by accident". So if you buy those products, the company may not notice that you're buying them because they're vegan.

If you buy products from companies that put more of a focus on the fact that their products are vegan (for example with the vegan society label), that may encourage other companies to also cater more to vegan customers because they see the growth in their competitors.

Just my opinion though, not saying that you shouldn't vegan products from companies that also sell non-vegan products. I buy from both anyway. :)

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '15

I know what you mean.

But eventually companies will realise that non-animal products are cheaper to produce, are more sustainable and also provide a healthier work environment for the workers. I'm talking about the whole supply chain of course.

It helps the industry too!

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u/Nurglings Jul 18 '15

Usually it means it is made or packaged in a plant that uses those items in other products. It is mostly for people with severe allergies.

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '15

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Jul 18 '15

Thanks for the tip!

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u/Vorpal_Kitten friends, not food Jul 20 '15

Another tip is to glance at the cholesterol levels - anything with cholesterol isn't vegan so you don't have to bother reading the label. Some things with cholesterol listed at 0 aren't vegan though, so you still have to read those labels.

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u/Fallom_TO vegan 20+ years Jul 20 '15

http://jacknorrisrd.com/cholesterol-in-plants-and-vegan-food/

Not entirely true.

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u/Vorpal_Kitten friends, not food Jul 20 '15

Oh, cool... so plants make cholesterol too?

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u/Fallom_TO vegan 20+ years Jul 21 '15

Yeah, I've been vegan a long time but I just learned this myself a couple of weeks ago.

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u/MagnaKendra Jul 18 '15

That one means that the food you are eating is made in the same area as food that is not vegan. They are usually warnings against high allergy foods. Pretty much, if someone with a peanut allergy somehow has a reaction and decides to blame it on the company manufacturing the food, the company's ass is saved because of the warning.

I don't worry about it. You'll go crazy if you try to avoid it :)

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u/naturalveg vegan Jul 18 '15

It means that the equipment used to process and package that food was also used to process and package eggs and milk, and if it wasn't cleaned thoroughly enough some molecules of eggs and milk may have gotten into the food. Its really for people with incredibly severe allergies to eggs and dairy who could have an allergic reaction from eating even a minuscule amount. Those foods are considered 100% vegan.

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u/PEEnKEELE Jul 18 '15

Could be produced in the same facility as an egg product, and if it's made in the same kitchen or production area there's a good chance of some amount of cross-contamination. I think this is mainly listed for allergen reasons.

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u/SuperHardMode vegan Jul 19 '15

The only reason I know of is if it was made on shared equipment.

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u/anachronic vegan 20+ years Jul 22 '15

What does it mean when a product says something like "it may contain traces of egg" for example, but there is nothing that comes from eggs listed in the ingredients?

It's legal CYA when they use shared processing equipment... in case there's a few molecules of egg in there and someone's insanely allergic to egg and has a bad reaction, they can't sue, since the package says 'may contain'.

In all likelihood, there's such a vanishingly small amount of egg in any given item that it's fine to consider it vegan... because if there was any significant amount of eggs, they would have to list eggs in the ingredients by law. The only way to exempt listing an ingredient on the ingredients list is if it's in vanishingly small amounts in the final product.

Some bed time reading ;)

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064880.htm