Wait, what? Yes, you may be surprised to learn that the majority of condoms available on the market are produced using the animal product casein. Casein, a highly profitable byproduct of dairy farming, is the principal protein in milk, and it finds its way into all sorts of places one would never expect. Case in point… As […] Read more

Is your Champagne flute ready for Valentine’s Day? If, like many others, you plan to celebrate with this bubbly celebratory drink, you should know that it may not be vegan. Also see: Is Your Alcohol Vegan? Bon Appetit explains that the base for Champagne is typically a dry wine made from Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier, or a […] Read more

From blouses to sarongs, suits to ties, and lingerie to pajamas, silk is still widely used by the textile industry, finding its way into sheets and pillowcases as well as handkerchiefs and headscarves. What some people may not be aware of, however, are the less-obvious places silk shows up, including parachutes, bicycle tire casing, cigar […] Read more

Is your makeup brush made with goat hair or synthetic bristles? Does your eye shadow have fish scales or mineral mica? There are many alternatives to cosmetics that use animal products, and many conscious companies are providing not only vegan lines, but organic and environmentally friendly choices as well.

Have you ever enjoyed a “naturally flavored” berry soda? Did you know that the delicious “natural” berry flavor could actually be made from a beaver’s sex gland secretions? This ingredient is technically called “castoreum”, but few (if any) companies put the proper name on their labels, instead simply calling it a “natural flavor”. Ingredients such […] Read more

Any processed food, including bread, is likely to have a block paragraph of polysyllabic ingredients printed on its packaging. From duck feathers to pancreatic enzymes, commercial bread provides a whole new collection of reasons for everyone to learn how to decipher an ingredients list.

Although the insect-derived carmine has been widely accepted as a ‘natural’ alternative to chemical dyes, it has recently received an increasing amount of public attention from squeamish consumers… Enter, Tomat-O-Red.

A number of common foods are enriched with vitamin D without specifying which form of the vitamin they contain or how it was derived. And, as opaque as this may already seem, some companies that manufacture and distribute vitamin D supplements have demonstrably confused ideas of what the term vegan actually means.

Sugar seems vegan at a glance; it comes from a plant after all. But when the natural sugars from the plant are refined in a factory, they are often filtered through bone char.