How to Spot Hidden Animal Ingredients: A Guide to Decoding Food Labels

When choosing whole foods, it’s easy to identify animal foods and avoid them. However, it becomes easier for animal-derived ingredients to go undetected when it comes to processed foods with more than one ingredient on the label. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help you know exactly what you’re consuming.

Decoding Food Labels: Understanding Confusing Terms

Let’s start with some common phrases that you may see on the packaging. “Natural flavoring” is first. Natural flavors are used to enhance the taste of a product. While the term is not officially regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), it refers to ingredients that are derived from natural sources. This can mean the flavors come from plants like herbs or fruit juice, but they can also come from meat and dairy. The same is true of the term “natural sources.”  These terms may indicate the need for a closer investigation.

Next up, we have “modified food starch.” Modified food starch comes from plants; however, it may be processed using ingredients such as oleic acid. Oleic acid is a fatty acid that may come from either plant or animal sources. Depending on your dietary preferences, this may cause you to skip the modified food starch altogether.

Lastly, we have clarified butter. Clarified butter is made by cooking butter to remove the solids and milk. Just like regular butter, it is an animal-based product. Clarified butter may be used to dip, fry, or sauté other foods, including plant foods. If you are purchasing a prepared plant-based dish, you may want to check if clarified butter was used.

Common Culprits: Unexpected Sources of Animal Products

So, where might you find these terms and other hidden animal products? Heavily and ultra-processed foods are going to be some of your biggest culprits. Packaged treats like candies and gummies often use gelatin or dyes derived from animals. Dark chocolate may even contain some milk or whey, the milk protein. Condiments like Caesar salad dressing and Worcestershire sauce may contain anchovies, and pesto sauce typically has parmesan cheese.

Some products containing the phrase “non-dairy” can be misleading as they may have other animal ingredients, like casein protein. Casein can also be found in some packaged snacks like potato chips and cereal bars. As you can see, animal ingredients can really be sneaky. If these examples are overwhelming, try cross-checking your ingredients list with the following terms that indicate animal-based ingredients could be present.

Reading Labels Like a Pro: Essential Tips for Identifying Animal-Derived Ingredients

Plant-Based Alternatives: Finding Suitable Substitutes

It wouldn’t be fair to list animal-derived ingredients without providing you with some plant-based alternatives. Here are some swaps you may find useful when exploring products or perhaps when making a recipe from scratch.

Ethical and Health Considerations: Why Avoiding Animal Products Matters

Following a 100% plant-based diet isn’t for everyone. You may even be wondering why anyone would go through the trouble at all. Well, the reasons can vary from personal health to personal convictions.

In terms of health, plant-based diets have been linked with lower chronic disease risks such as heart disease and cancer. This is largely due to the anti-inflammatory properties and fiber content of plants. Fiber is an essential nutrient for optimal gut health, too. While the health benefits of a plant-based diet can be felt even if the diet includes moderate or low amounts of animal products, some individuals feel more comfortable limiting all animal sources for ethical reasons. Plant-based diets are more environmentally friendly as they have a lower carbon footprint, produce less water, and require less farmland. There are also concerns regarding animal welfare practices, leading to the decision to forego consuming animal products altogether.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to follow a plant-based diet, I hope this guide empowers your grocery store decision-making. It may seem like reading a foreign language at first, but armed with the right tools, you will soon be decoding the ingredient label like a pro!

1. _{Goodman M. J. (2017). The “Natural” vs. “Natural Flavors” Conflict in Food Labeling: A Regulatory Viewpoint. Food and drug law journal, 72(1), 78–102.}
2. _{Tuso, P. J., Ismail, M. H., Ha, B. P., & Bartolotto, C. (2013). Nutritional update for physicians: plant-based diets. The Permanente journal, 17(2), 61–66. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/12-085}