A colouring that makes many foods red. Found in alcoholic drinks, fruit pie fillings, jams, many sweets and even cheeses. Cochineal is made from the female insect found on cacti called Dactylopius Coccus. She is boiled alive or left to "cook" alive through sun exposure. Cochineal is the result of crushing scales of the insect into a red powder.

153 Carbon Black, Vegetable Carbons - colouring

If the description on product packaging says "Vegetable Carbons", then it is most likely free of animal derivatives. (but could be derived from GM crops!) But if the additive is described as "Carbon Black", it 's more likely to be derived from various parts of animals.

161g Canthaxanthin (Natural Orange Colour Xanthophylls) - colouring.

Be aware that although Canthaxanthin is usually derived from plant material, it can sometimes be made from fish and invertebrates with hard shells.

252 Potassium Nitrate (Saltpetre) - Preservative

Saltpetre is usually assumed to be of natural origins but it can be artificially manufactured from waste animal matter. Potassium nitrate is often found in smoked type cheeses - so even if the cheese contains vegetable rennet and not animal rennet, it may contain potassium nitrate made from animal waste, so check with the cheese manufacturer to determine the source of the potassium nitrate.

270 Lactic Acid - Antioxidant

Can be obtained from whey so Vegan's should determine the source of the ingredient by contacting manufacturers. Lactic Acid can be found in carbonated drinks, beer, dressings and various tinned products.

322 Lecithins - Emulsifier and Stabilizer

Some Lecithin contains egg yolks so not suitable for Vegans. Other main sources of Lecithin are from soya bean oil and is likely to be genetically modified (if sourced from countries such as the U Lecithin can also be directly obtained from animal fat.

325 Sodium Lactate - Antioxidant

Sodium Lactate is the salt of Lactic Acid. (see E270 above)

326 Potassium Lactate - Antioxidant / Acidity Regulator

Another type of salt derived from Lactic Acid. (see E270 above)

Casein - it's the protein in milk and is in a lot of fake dairy products. Great idea for a thread, Linda!

441 Gelatine - Emulsifier / Gelling Agent

You may not find this E number 441 on food ingredients listings anymore because instead of an additive, Gelatine has now been classed as food (made of animal skin and hoofs) in it's own right. Remember, all types of gelatine are animal based and can be found in dairy products like yoghurts, plus many kinds of confectionery, jellies and other sweets.

442 Ammonium phosphatides - Emulsifier

Amonium phosphatides can sometimes be made using Glycerol (see 422 above) Therefore the finished additive may contain animal fat.

470a Sodium, potassium and calcium salts of fatty acids - Emulsifier / Anti-caking Agent

As 470 is derived from fatty acids, these may originate from animal sources.

470b Magnesium Stearate - Emulsifier / Anti-caking Agent

This is another magnesium salt from fatty acids and like 470a, may originate from animal sources.

Because E471 is derived from Glycerine (Glycerol) (see E422 above), there may be a slim chance that E471 might contain animal fats.

472 a - f E472 A to F are emulsifiers related to the mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids family:

E472a Acetic acid esters
E472b Lactic acid esters
E472c Citric acid esters
E472d Tartaric acid esters
E472e Mono- and diacetyl tartaric acid esters
E472f Mixed acetic and tartaric acid esters

Because the E472 family is derived from Glycerine (Glycerol) (see E422 above), there may be a slim chance that any of these might contain animal fats.

473 Sucrose esters of fatty acids - Emulsifier

E473 is a sucrose ester of E

Very Informative and eye-opening lists! It just confirms in my mind the importance of starting with fresh natural ingredients and cooking my own goodies!

Never can be really sure of what's actually in that premade stuff available in the supermarket.

That's where this site comes in handy...providing us with the recipes we need to make our own.

Great list, thanks!

I'd also like to point out that gelatin is in marshmellows.
I had been a vegetarian for a looooong time before someone pointed that out to me. I wish I had known sooner.

Excellent warning! It's so easy to overlook some things - who reads the ingredients list on marshamallows anyway!! But I understand that there are vegan marshamallows available now. I haven't tried them because it's never a taste I acquired, but I have been told they're very very good!

I had a list going in another group of juice companies that don't use gelatin in their process, but the thread disappeared.  I hope its ok if I post the information here. I know a lot of you juice your own fruit and that's great, but I thought some of us could use this information.

Companies that don't use gelatin:
Juicy Juice
R.W. Knudsen
Nantucket Nectars

Companies that DO use gelatin:
treetop
great value/sam's club juices

Response from minute maid:
"Dear Amalthea,

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your question.

Except the products that contain cochineal (which is listed on the label) and the
products that contain milk (which is also indicated on the label), brands of The
Coca-Cola Company in the United States do not contain any ingredient derived
from animals.

However, some of our juice products contain Vitamin D3, which is derived
from lanolin. Lanolin is a natural oil in the fiber of sheep's wool. It is
separated from the wool after the sheep's hair is cut (sheered). Lanolin
oil is obtainable without harming the sheep, but may be an issue for
strict vegetarians.

Additionally, some of our suppliers use a common industry practice for grape
juice clarification that does involve animal by-products. This practice is
becoming increasingly less common as ultra-filtration systems are gradually
replacing the gelatin used in this process. However, you may be interested
to know that because our juices are certified kosher, the gelatin used to
clarify the juice is made from fish."

Thanks, Amalthea! Good info. (Why on earth did they think that the fact that it was fish gelatin would make a difference?!  Damned fish-eating 'vegetarians'. They just confuse people.)

Fish-eating vegetarians???? They DO confuse people and they're wrong in thinking they're veggie   They are, however, pescotarians

I understand that Jewish dietary laws explain why some manufacturers are okay with saying something is derived from fish, since provided the water creature is kosher to begin with (fins and scales) it may be allowable. This complicates things for those who are actually vegetarian or vegan for reasons other than religion rather than those following a nearly vegetarian diet in order to conform to religious requirements. (Noted that other religions may also have similar but not exact requirements.)

Wikipedia explains the gelatin/gelatine issue  under its article on kosher foods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods

"One of the main methods of avoiding non-kosher gelatin is to substitute gelatin-like materials in its place; substances with a similar chemical behaviour include food starch from tapioca, chemically modified pectins, and carrageenan combined with certain vegetable gums — guar gum, locust bean gum, xanthan gum, gum acacia, agar, and others. Although gelatin is used for several purposes by a wide variety of manufacturers, it has started to be replaced with these substitutes in a number of products, due to the use of gelatin also being a significant concern to vegans."

Well oh joy oh sweet delight, it seems we funny vegans are being heard!

Why oh why do we need a degree in chemistry to be able to eat according to our convictions!!!

Something I avoid (due to allergies to tomatoes and dairy) is anything that says "natural flavours" since there's no telling what they're hiding behind that term! Glad I have a BlackBerry so I can look up ingredients even while I shop B)

Agreed on the 'natural flavours' - makes one cross-eyed to think what flavouring would be unnatural, of course! That Blackberry comes in pretty handy, eh? Got one myself just a few weeks ago - still learning!