Hidden Animal Products in Food

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Hidden Animal Products in Food

 

By Julie Marshall, Camera Staff Writer

September 3, 2003

 

http://bouldernews.com/bdc/foodfidyl/article/0,1713,BDC_2517_2214493,

00.html

 

Natasha Sawicki read about it on a vegetarian Web site. Jackie Miller

heard the news while on a cheese tour in Vermont.

 

What they discovered is probably the most overlooked, hidden animal

product in food otherwise considered vegetarian, says Boulder Co-op

Market cheese manager Chris Hill.

 

The mystery ingredient, still being discovered by many vegetarians

‹ even in a veggie savvy place like Boulder ‹ is something called

rennet, also called rennin.

 

Rennin, according to the Barron's cooking guide, Food Lover's

Companion, is " a coagulating enzyme obtained from a young animal's

(usually a calf's) stomach. " It's used to curdle milk in foods such

as cheese.

 

The knowledge made Sawicki, a vegetarian of five years, think twice

about so-called vegetarian foods.

 

" I've found that a lot of things have hidden animal products, " she

says. On a particularly sad day, she discovered that gelatin, a

protein from bones, cartilage, tendons and skin of pigs or other

animals, is an ingredient in marshmallows. Gelatin is also the " glue "

that binds the wheat cereal she used to eat.

 

" I miss that cereal a lot. "

 

Discovering hidden animal products in food considered to be meat-free

is part of the lifelong, often complex journey of making conscious

food choices, vegetarians say.

 

It's not enough to stop eating hamburger, often followed by poultry

and fish. Those who embark on this path, largely motivated by ethics,

soon awaken to the fact that animal products and byproducts are found

in foods as seemingly innocent as chewing gum. (Some brands contain

stearic acid, an animal fat, or lanolin, the waxy fat from sheep's

wool.)

 

" The two biggest things people overlook are supplements with gel caps

and cheese with rennet, " says Hill at the Co-op. " It's a real shock

to people. "

 

The Boulder Co-op, an organic vegetarian market, stocks products from

at least 25 companies that offer either rennetless cheese, or cheese

made with vegetarian or microbial rennet. The refrigerated aisle is

flush with colorful cheese, including blocks of sharp cheddar,

triangles of Parmesan, tubs of fresh mozzarella, and packages of

sliced pepper jack. Haystack, a local maker of goat cheese, doesn't

use animal-based rennet, Hill says.

 

But do the cheeses taste good?

 

" Yes, you can't really tell the difference, " Hill says, " unless you

are a cheese connoisseur. "

 

You can find vegetarian cheeses at most health food markets, too.

 

The Co-op, located on Pearl Street, as well as Pharmaca and health

food markets sell supplements ‹ anything from basic multivitamins

to popular items such as flax seed oil ‹ in vegetarian gel caps

made of cotton and tree fiber.

 

Shopping for vegetarian alternatives is important, says Sarah Clark,

who didn't know what rennet was, although she's been a vegetarian for

seven years.

 

" I try to be more aware of what's in my food, " she says. " I just got

back from a year in Mexico and that was really hard because

everything was cooked in lard. "

 

The quest for animal-free products gets a bit trickier for vegans,

who don't eat eggs, milk or anything that requires the use of animals

in the process.

 

Whey is a deceptive ingredient, says Amy Wyatt, a vegan who works at

the Co-op. It sounds fidyl innocent enough, but whey, often used in

crackers, breads and cakes, is milk solids.

 

" That's a classic hidden animal ingredient for vegans. "

 

Add casein, a milk protein, to the list. It's an additive in dairy

products.

 

" It's used to make soy cheese melt, " Wyatt says.

 

Vegan or vegetarian, industry lingo makes it tough to know what one

is eating. The label says natural flavoring? Well that could mean any

sort of unspecified meat or animal product. Some cheese labels read,

" enzyme " which could be an animal product, Hill says.

 

And going out to eat? That's tough, says Sawicki.

 

" I still eat in restaurants, but I don't go into the kitchen to check

on the rennet in their cheese, " she says. " I just try to hope for the

best. "

 

But hoping for the best can backfire. A simple salad is not

necessarily vegetarian because Caesar salad dressing is made with

anchovies ‹ so is, by the way, Worcestershire sauce.

 

(The Co-op offers vegetarian alternatives for both. Capers make a

salty, tangy substitute for anchovies, Wyatt says.)

 

Don't be afraid to ask your server questions, says Culinary School of

the Rockies chef Gallit Sammon. Make sure your vegetarian soup, for

instance, does not contain chicken stock.

 

One unsuspecting vegetarian was more than a little surprised to

discover anchovies in his marinara sauce at Pasta Jay's. The

controversy sparked an editorial in the Daily Camera in 1995, about a

vegetarian's right to know.

 

In the end, it may just be unrealistic to perfect the quest for an

animal-free lifestyle, says Hampton Islan, the Co-op's wellness

manager for supplements, hair and body products.

 

" We try to do our best, " he says. When a vegan patron complained that

a skin wrinkle cream was made with glucosamine ‹ an amino acid

extracted from the shells of shellfish ‹ it was swiftly removed

from the shelf.

 

The Co-op market does not carry sea sponges, considered animals,

however primitive.

 

Islan points to bottle of coral calcium supplement still on the

shelf.

 

" OK, so coral is considered a living thing, but this was not made

from living coral, " he says. The supplement is derived from calcium

carbonate, a mineral that once was part of a sea organism. " So where

does this fall? It's an endless puzzle. "

 

Don't get discouraged, however, says Sammon, a vegan for many years,

who has had to adjust her own diet to teach courses at Boulder's

cooking school.

 

" You can definitely do it. It just depends on what level you want to

take it to, " Sammon says. " Look things up in a food encyclopedia or

go online and punch in an ingredient to get a whole history. You will

probably have to cook for yourself more. The world is no longer your

buffet table. "

 

And you will have to start eating more healthy, whole foods, rather

than processed foods that contain numerous, often mysterious

ingredients.

 

Above all, be forgiving of yourself, Sammon says. " If you

accidentally eat rennet, don't freak out, it's a learning process. "

 

Contact Julie Marshall at (303) 473-1305 or marshallj