[Mia82]

Being a devoted vegan for over 2 months now, I was horrified while eating a container of soy yoghurt last night to discover that one of the ingredients was a strain of bacteria derived from milk. I would have thought that I could take it for granted that if a food was a substitute for dairy that it wouldn't contain dairy! I've also learned to be careful of faux meats, as many of their ingredient lists include dairy. Not to mention many over the counter medications which contain dairy, beauty products containing lanolin, etc.

Anything else we should be on the lookout for?

 

[FatVegan1980]

Be very careful with Cheese. Those Veggie Cheese Slices that are usually near the Tofu at supermarkets are not Vegan because they contain Casein. Oh yeah, and always ask if they use vegan cheese when ordering a cheese pizza that deems itself "vegetarian" or "vegan". I got burned by that a few weeks ago.

 

[greenish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mia82

I was horrified while eating a container of soy yoghurt last night to discover that one of the ingredients was a strain of bacteria derived from milk.

What brand?

 

[Mia82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FatVegan1980

Be very careful with Cheese. Those Veggie Cheese Slices that are usually near the Tofu at supermarkets are not Vegan because they contain Casein. Oh yeah, and always ask if they use vegan cheese when ordering a cheese pizza that deems itself "vegetarian" or "vegan". I got burned by that a few weeks ago.

Yikes, thanks! So far, the only brand I have bought has been Daiya, which I understand to be vegan friendly. Haven't tried making a pizza with it yet, but that is definitely on my to-do list!

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenish

What brand?

O'Soy

 

[greenish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mia82

O'Soy

I know I've picked that up too. Thanks for the heads up. I'll watch out for it in the future.

 

[Mia82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenish

I know I've picked that up too. Thanks for the heads up. I'll watch out for it in the future.

No problem! I'm a bit surprised about what all we do need to watch out for, it would make life a lot easier if we had a better "suitable for vegans" or similar labelling scheme.

 

[JenTAM]

The brand I eat is Vegan (I had to double check), it's Wildwood - http://www.pulmuonewildwood.com/soyogurt.asp

 

[Kimberlily1983]

I eat Yoso, which is vegan, as that's the only brand the stores back home carry. Although I think they may have stopped stocking it, which is too bad. Such an excellent source of calcium and omega-3s.

 

[Mia82]

I'm pretty sure that Ezekiel, my brand of bread, is vegan as well. Their tortilla wraps are fantastic!

Haven't seen Yoso in the stores here. At my local supermarket anyway, it was just that brand and SoDelicious (made of coconut milk), but the one I was eating was 1/3 of the price of the other. So might have to give up on yoghurt as a snack food untill after I move.

 

[runnerveggie]

FWIW, here is the statement from Stonyfield farms:

About our soy yogurt:
Quote:

Since July 2008, the messages printed on our OSoy cups have included the following allergen statement: CONTAINS SOY AND MILK (OUR LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES ARE MILK BASED). Wed like to explain what this means. While we dont add any milk to OSoy, the reason for the CONTAINSMILK statement is that the cultures we use in OSoy are grown in milk by our culture supplier. The overall milk content of OSoy is extremely low, and its in the form of milk protein. For people highly allergic to dairy, we dont recommend OSoy.

It sounds like the statement is largely for allergen purposes, and that the actual amount of milk might be really insignificant. Perhaps if soy yogurt became a bigger part of their business, they might switch to dairy free cultures. I had stopped buying this brand, but now I'm on the fence.

 

[Vermicelli]

Still milk directly used in the supply chain of that product... but that's an understandable one to let slide. It is very frustrating how much stuff is *almost* vegan.

 

[Almeria]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RunnerVeggie

FWIW, here is the statement from Stonyfield farms:

About our soy yogurt:

It sounds like the statement is largely for allergen purposes, and that the actual amount of milk might be really insignificant. Perhaps if soy yogurt became a bigger part of their business, they might switch to dairy free cultures. I had stopped buying this brand, but now I'm on the fence.

It's still not vegan since they are using milk for one of their ingredients which makes it animal-derived.

When I was vegetarian transitioning to vegan I bought this also and noticed that. At first I didn't think it was a big deal but the more I thought on it the more I realized it wasn't vegan and stopped buying it. I love So Delicious coconut milk yogurt when I want yogurt (which is like once a year anyway.)

 

[runnerveggie]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Almeria

It's still not vegan since they are using milk for one of their ingredients which makes it animal-derived.

Yeah, I wouldn't slap a vegan label on it. But, I'm talking about whether or not I would eat it. I'm not so worried about labels.

 

[Mia82]

Fair enough, although the main idea of my going vegan is to stop using my money to sponsor industries which eventually lead to slaughter. This certainly wouldn't be sponsoring them as much as, say, buying milk, but it still feels like something. Then again, I have 2 cats to whom I have to feed meat in order to not kill them, which means that my money is still kind of supporting the slaughter industry, just not for my benefit.

I've been vegan for 2 months, but this is like getting my head around my own sense of morality all over again.

 

[creep]

Try Whole Soy Co.

 

[veganmama884]

Try coconut milk yogurt. Its got the vegan stamp on it and its a million times better tasting than soy.