[Moogle]

I have a recipe that calls for olives (which I never buy cuz I don't really like) but when I went out and actually read the label (I'm a new vegan just learning which hidden ingredients to look for), every single jar of olives I picked up contained lactic acid.

Are there vegan olives out there? Is it only certain brands, or just the ones in jars that contain lactic acid?

 

[remilard]

lactic acid is vegan per VRG

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm#lac

 

[kpickell]

The sardine-stuffed olives are not vegan.

Every other brand and type I've looked at has been vegan.

There was a rumor that pickles aren't vegan because they contain lactic acid, but as remilard pointed out, lactic acid isn't derived from animals.

 

[troub]

lactose / lactic acid / lactase ... it can be confusing at first on what is vegan and whats not. but the many ingredient lists out there help alot.

 

[Gita]

Artical about creating lactic acid from potatos--

"Lactic acid is a colourless compound, commonly used as a food additive for flavour and preservation. It is usually produced chemically from coal, petroleum, and natural gas, or biologically from the bioconversion of carbohydrates and plant biomass." quoted from http://www.foodnavigator.com/news/ng...ic-acid-chitin

 

[Moogle]

Oh! Well that is strange... I own "Animal Ingredients A to Z (3rd ed.)" and in its words:

Lactic Acid: a by-product of the slaughterhouse. Produced by the fermentation of lactose when milk sours or from sucrose and some other carbohydrates by the action of certain micrcoorganisms. Can be found in blood and muscle tissue (etc. etc.)

It's listed under "animal ingredients" as well as "possibly animal derived". Well now I'm just plain confused. But I guess it is okay then? @[email protected]

 

[Elena99]

It seems to be both, according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_Acid

Quote:

Lactic acid is used in a variety of food stuffs to act as an acidity regulator. Although it can be fermented from lactose (milk sugar), most commercially used lactic acid is derived from bacteria such as Bacillus acidilacti, Lactobacillus delbueckii or L. bulgaricuswhey to ferment carbohydrates from sources such as the cornstarch, potatoes or molasses. Thus, although it is commonly known as "milk acid", products claiming to be vegan do sometimes feature lactic acid as an ingredient.

 

[Elena99]

It seems to be both, according to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_Acid

Quote:

Lactic acid is used in a variety of food stuffs to act as an acidity regulator. Although it can be fermented from lactose (milk sugar), most commercially used lactic acid is derived from bacteria such as Bacillus acidilacti, Lactobacillus delbueckii or L. bulgaricuswhey to ferment carbohydrates from sources such as the cornstarch, potatoes or molasses. Thus, although it is commonly known as "milk acid", products claiming to be vegan do sometimes feature lactic acid as an ingredient.

 

[Tesseract]

When I read the thread title, I was like, "There are non-vegan olives? WTF??"

 

[Tesseract]

When I read the thread title, I was like, "There are non-vegan olives? WTF??"

IMHO, if one is going to research ingredients at that level of detail, one is going to spend a lot of time confused, because when you get down to those ingredients, you'll find that lots and lots of them CAN be animal derived but often aren't, and there's no way to know if a given brand is safe short of calling them and asking. Even then, some companies may change suppliers from time to time and the answer will change. If you are going to proceed, you'll want to keep detailed notes.

 

[kpickell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moogle

Oh! Well that is strange... I own "Animal Ingredients A to Z (3rd ed.)" and in its words:

Lactic Acid: a by-product of the slaughterhouse. Produced by the fermentation of lactose when milk sours or from sucrose and some other carbohydrates by the action of certain micrcoorganisms. Can be found in blood and muscle tissue (etc. etc.)

It's listed under "animal ingredients" as well as "possibly animal derived". Well now I'm just plain confused. But I guess it is okay then? @[email protected]

The longer those lists are the less accurate they become. They really start grasping at straws eventually. There's a 0.00001% someone could find a way to derive this ingredient from an animal so we better include it in our book to make it even more complete and bigger than all the rest! If you find a manufacturer that gets lactic acid from milk I'll eat my shoe. But I could be wrong (thankfully I have a spare shoe in case I am) so don't take my word for it, and ask the companies.

 

[isowish]

lactic acid is vegan?

that would have made my day. If my day hadn't already been made by me buying mock duck in a can.

 

[GhostUser]

kalamata olives

 

[GhostUser]

kalamata olives

 

[jaynesh]

This whole lactic acid discussion makes me happy. This whole time I was thinking I was being a bad vegan because I was still eating olives and pickles which I love. I am glad to find there are some who believe it to be vegan. I am scared of the mock duck in a can though.

 

[madder]

Quote:

Originally Posted by isowish

lactic acid is vegan?

that would have made my day. If my day hadn't already been made by me buying mock duck in a can.

In one asian market around here, I can get not only mock duck in a can, but also mock chicken, mock pork, and mock abalone!

I had a basket full of mock dead animals that day, let me tell you

 

[berrykat]

how 'bout mock mocking bird in a can?