By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

Subway’s US Product Ingredients Guide appears as a PDF link accessible from the right side of its Nutrition Information webpage: http://www.subway.com/en-us/menunutrition/nutrition

Based on this Product Ingredient Guide and confirmed information from Subway (see below for details), The VRG has developed this list:

Subway’s Vegan Bread Products
• Hearty Italian Bread
• Italian (White) Bread
• Roasted Garlic Bread
• Sourdough Bread
• Wrap

Please note that products and ingredients can change.

Lanette Kavachi, Corporate Dietitian at Subway, wrote to us in September 2016 that “The sugar used in the Italian, Roasted Garlic and Sourdough breads is NOT processed through cow bone char.” [VRG Note: All capitals in “not” are Lanette’s.]

Rye bread is also listed and appears to be vegan. Lanette informed us in January 2017 that “The rye bread is coming off the menu; we are just depleting inventory.” She did not provide any more information on it.

In a follow up email in which The VRG inquired whether Subway had received certificates from suppliers explicitly stating that “No cow bone char was used to process this sugar” Lanette told us that “We specifically asked our suppliers if sugar they used was processed through cow-bone char.”
We asked Lanette about the natural flavor in the Roasted Garlic Bread. We also asked if sorbitan monostearate, possibly made from animal-derived stearic acid, had been used by the manufacturer as an emulsifier in their bread yeast as it is by some other companies. Lastly we inquired if the yeast extract in some Subway breads was made with typically animal-derived L-cysteine as a reaction flavor. Her response to all of these questions was: “The Italian, Sourdough and Roasted Garlic Breads do not contain any animal-derived ingredients.”

Subway’s Wrap contains mono- and diglycerides as well as sugar. Lanette reported to us that “for the Wrap the sugar is not processed through cow bone char and the mono and di-glycerides are plant-derived.”

Subway’s Product Ingredients Guide for Sourdough Bread also lists “dextrose” (i.e, glucose, a simple sugar) as well as “sugar” as ingredients. We asked Lanette about dextrose’s source and processing method and she responded by saying: “The sourdough sugar is not processed through cow bone char.”

According to the second question on the Menu Nutrition FAQ page http://www.subway.com/en-us/menunutrition/menu/menunutritionfaqs

Q: What is the origin of the enzymes in the Italian…bread?
A: These ingredients are plant-derived.
Lanette also told us that “The enzymes in the Sourdough Bread…[are] plant-derived.”

The other breads at Subway are not vegan.

Subway breads containing honey:
• 9-Grain Wheat Bread
• Honey Oat Bread
Subway breads containing dairy:
• White Flatbread
• Multigrain Flatbread
• Italian Herbs & Cheese Bread
• Monterey Cheddar Bread
• Parmesan/Oregano Bread

Subway’s VegiMax Patty (the name as it appears on the US Products Ingredients Guide) contains egg whites and calcium caseinate (a milk derivative). Nutrition facts (e.g., calories, grams of fat, protein, etc.) about this product are found on the PDF titled Subway US Nutrition Information accessible from the right-hand menu listed on Subway’s Nutrition page after clicking on “Nutrition Data Tables”: http://www.subway.com/en-us/menunutrition/nutrition

In that PDF the VegiMax Patty (listed as “Veggie Patty”) appears under the sections titled “Limited Time Offer/Regional Subs” and “Individual Meats.”

Note: Nutrition facts about the VegiMax Patty are not located on Subway’s Nutrition webpage where an interactive Nutrition Facts data table is displayed.

As Lanette explained:
It is not on the webpage because it is a local product – we reserve the webpage for national items or optional items that are in most restaurants…The veggie patty nutrition information is located on the printer-friendly nutrition guide that is listed in the right margin of our nutrition page. It is a local/optional product and listed in that section of the PDF document. [VRG Note: There are other items especially condiments which may appear in one listing on Subway’s nutrition webpage but not in one of their PDF files or vice versa. Contact Subway if you have further questions about a particular menu item.]

The VRG noticed that The VegiMax Patty does not appear on the US Allergy and Sensitivity PDF (link also located in the right menu on Subway’s nutrition page) even though it contains two allergens: eggs and dairy. On that document a disclaimer at the top states that “This chart does not include regional or special promotional items as ingredients vary.” Interestingly, this same disclaimer appears on the US Product Ingredients PDF where the regional VegiMax Patty is listed.

Subway’s guacamole is vegan.
Black Bean Soup is offered at select Subway locations. We asked Lanette if the brown sugar in this soup as well as the sugar in its vegetarian flavor had been processed through cow bone char. She contacted her supplier on our behalf then replied to us: “I’ve just heard back from our soup supplier and the sugar in the black bean soup is not processed through cow bone char.”

The Buffalo Sauce contains “natural butter type flavor” which according to Lanette is “not animal-derived” making the Buffalo Sauce vegan. The Sweet Onion Sauce contains sugar. Lanette told us that “The sugar in the sweet onion sauce is not processed through cow bone char.” The Honey Mustard Sauce contains eggs as well as honey.

The Subway Vinaigrette contains sugar which “…is not processed through bone char.” All of the other dressings at Subway contain eggs, dairy and/or anchovies.

Subway offers a Veggie Delight® sandwich: http://www.subway.com/en-us/menunutrition/menu/product?ProductId=4267&MenuCategoryId=1
and Veggie Delight salad: http://www.subway.com/en-us/menunutrition/menu/product?ProductId=4388&MenuCategoryId=7

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

By Jeanne Yacoubou MS

The VRG received an email inquiry in October 2016 from a graduate student studying nutritional science in Germany:
Question: Do you know if there’s any resource for finding vegan alternatives to animal sourced enzymes/other laboratory “ingredients”?
For my master’s thesis I..[am] extracting cardiac glycosides from plants, separating them with chromatography (HPTLC), and then doing a bioassay directly on the HPTLC plate.

This bioassay will be with pig Na+/K+-ATPase because cardiac glycosides inhibit this enzyme specifically.

[VRG Note: Here is an animated depiction of how Na+/K+-ATPase functions in cell membranes: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/biology/bio4fv/page/atp_ann.htm]

Answer: There have been technological advances in manufacturing on a large scale some proteins such as albumin, trypsin or insulin using non-animal sources:

https://www.emdmillipore.com/US/en/products/biopharmaceutical-manufacturing/upstream-processing/cell-culture/cell-culture-ingredients-supplements/non-animal-origin-supplements/b.ib.qB.2oYAAAFD9.lUTxI9,nav?ReferrerURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&bd=1

https://tools.thermofisher.com/content/sfs/brochures/GIBCO_CC19_v3.pdf
http://www.diapedia.org/management/8104090217/animal-insulins
To the best of our knowledge there is currently no commercially available non-animal enzyme source for Na+/K+-ATPase. Major laboratory suppliers use porcine organs:

http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/a7510?lang=en&region=US

It is possible to create Na+/K+-ATPase using yeast as this article describes: http://www.jbc.org/content/271/5/2514.full.pdf

The Materials and Methods section beginning on p. 2 (in paragraph titled “Plasmid Constructions”) identifies the source of the original pig gene from a cDNA library. Libraries for many species are widely available. https://web.archive.org/web/20090303224855/http://image.hudsonalpha.org/

Genetic copies begin from an original gene from the source organism. The process is described in Step 1: http://biotechlearn.org.nz/themes/dna_lab/dna_cloning

In the case of porcine ATPase, the animal DNA, when incorporated into the genetic material of microbes such as yeast, may result in the production by the microorganism of large amounts of the protein (i.e., the ATPase enzyme) coded for by the copied gene.

Interested readers may note that enzyme research may be carried out using animal cells such as those from squid because they are large: http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms8622

Lastly, the microorganisms involved in recombinant DNA technology are often grown on broths containing the dairy protein casein ( a common ingredient in the LB medium mentioned on p. 2 of the article cited above), or on sucrose or glucose (i.e., sugar) which may have been filtered through cow bone char.

If any reader knows of a vegan source for laboratory enzymes please let us know at [email protected].

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

For more ingredient information, go to http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, donate at www.vrg.org/donate

Join at http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

Panera has a Featured Eat Well, Your Way Vegan Menu on its website where this restaurant chain’s working definition of “vegan” appears:

At Panera, [“vegan”] means no animal sources: no meat, fish, shellfish, milk, egg or honey products, and no enzymes and rennet from animal sources allowed.
https://www.panerabread.com/en-us/featured-menu/curated-menus.html#Vegan

Complete ingredient information is easily accessed under each item’s photo on Panera Bread’s website.

Sorbitan monostearate is an ingredient in Panera breads which is used in the production of the yeast in the breads. Since a part of this ingredient (i.e., the stearate) could be derived from tallow, we wanted to determine its origin. Panera told us in September 2016 that this ingredient is “vegetable-sourced.”
Here is a list compiled by The VRG of vegan bread products at Panera:

• Country
• Sourdough
• French Baguette
• Sea Salt Focaccia
• Ciabatta
• Sesame Semolina
• Rye

Sara Burnett, Director of Wellness and Food Policy at Panera Bread, confirmed that the dextrose in the French Baguette, Sea Salt Focaccia and Ciabatta “is wheat-based” (i.e., not derived from cane sugar).

Following are questions that The VRG asked Sara accompanied by her responses. The chain was
very helpful and willing to accommodate.

Q: Has the sugar and/or brown sugar in the following been filtered through cow bone char?
• Hoagie Roll
• Blueberry, Everything, Plain, and Sesame Bagels
• Steel Cut Oats with Apple Chips & Pecans
• Steel Cut Oats with Strawberries & Pecans
• White Balsamic With Apple-Flavored Vinaigrette in the Ancient Grain & Arugula Salad
• Roasted Tomato Sofrito Blend of the Modern Greek Salad with Quinoa
• Pickled red onions of the Greek Salad
• Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing of the Seasonal Greens Salad and in the Kid’s Seasonal Greens Salad

A: My understanding is that there are two types of sugar sources (beet and cane). The cane sugar producers still employ the use of bone char (natural charcoal) for filtering, while beet sugar producers do not use bone char. We source both cane and beet sugars for our menu, so we cannot guarantee for all instances the sugar used in all products from all vendors that the bone char (natural charcoal) method is not used. [VRG Note: Today, most, though not all American-processed cane sugar is whitened through a cow bone char filter.]

Looking at all of the bagels’ ingredients The VRG notes that with the exception of the Blueberry, Everything, Plain and Sesame Bagels, all of which contain sugar and/or brown sugar, all of the other bagels at Panera Bread contain dairy and/or honey.

The VRG also asked Sara several specific questions about certain menu options which could be made vegan if one or two components were left off. We wanted to determine if these dishes arrived pre-made at the restaurant or were prepared in-house such that certain components including dairy products and sugar especially in dressings or sauces could be left off. We inquired:

Q: May the Ancient Grain & Arugula Salad (specify “without chicken”) be ordered without the White Balsamic with Apple-Flavored Vinaigrette?
Q: May the Greek Salad and the Kids Greek Salad be ordered without the feta cheese? Without the pickled red onions?
Q: May the Seasonal Greens Salad and the Kids Seasonal Greens Salad be ordered without the Balsamic Vinaigrette?
Q: May the Modern Greek Salad with Quinoa be ordered without the roasted tomato sofrito blend and feta cheese?
Q: May the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich be ordered without the crumb topping and feta cheese?
Q: May the cinnamon sugar topping be left off of the Steel Cut Oatmeal with Apple Chips & Pecans and the Steel Cut Oatmeal with Strawberries & Pecans?
A: We welcome order modifications to our menu items, including those you’ve suggested…

Q: May the Power Almond Quinoa Oatmeal be ordered without honey?
A: Yes. The honey is not included in the base recipe.

Q: Is cinnamon without added sugar available in-store for your oatmeal dishes?
A: Yes.

Q: Are almond and/or soy milk options for your smoothies? Can someone purchase a fruit smoothie with almond and/or soy milk only?
A: Yes. We have almond milk available in-cafe that can be requested in a fruit smoothie…The smoothies just have to be requested as “no yogurt; add almond milk.” The smoothie bases are all dairy-free…We introduced a carrot pineapple smoothie this fall that is vegan.

Q: Is the natural flavor in the White Balsamic with Apple-Flavored Vinaigrette in the Ancient Grain & Arugula Salad all-vegetable?
A: Yes, [the natural flavor is] all-vegetable.

Q: Are the natural flavors in the smoothies, blueberry bagel and in the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich from all-vegetable sources?
A: Natural flavors are all from botanical sources.

Q: Do you offer a non-dairy cream cheese spread for the bagels?
A: As for the non-dairy, we offer peanut butter and preserves in cafe upon request. We do not have a non-dairy “cream-cheese like” spread.

Q: On your Panera Kids Menu there is a peanut butter & jelly sandwich served on Classic White Bread which contains milk. Can a non-dairy bread be substituted?
A: All of our sandwiches can be made on any other bread on the menu.
On the vegan menu page of the Panera website appears the following disclaimer:

All items are prepared in the same kitchen area where non-vegan products are prepared. We can prepare your order as you would like it to be; however, we cannot guarantee there will be no cross-contact between our ingredients.
Panera’s Director of Wellness and Food Policy provided more detail about their kitchen protocol:
We portion all our meats in the same area as fruits/vegetables; however our practice is to wash surfaces and equipment in between the different ingredients being prepped. We store meat and plant ingredients on our lines side by side, however we do our best to prevent any cross contact between any and all ingredients. Similar to allergens, if a guest is highly concerned about preparation, they should ask to speak to a manager who can do their best to address the guest’s concerns.

Readers may also be interested to know about Panera Bread’s No No List: https://www.panerabread.com/content/dam/panerabread/documents/panera-no-no-list-05-2015.pdf

Glycerides, which could be animal-derived, will be permanently removed from Panera’s menu by the end of 2016. Several animal ingredients also appear on this list but are not currently in any menu items. These are carmine/cochineal, lard and L-cysteine. Panera states that its list is not exhaustive.

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgement about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

For information on vegetarian and vegan restaurants, see http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.htm

For information on other chains, see http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.htm

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, donate at www.vrg.org/donate
Or join at http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

There are many dishes labeled as vegan at Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes. The VRG asked Jim Ruggiero, Guest Relations Manager at Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes, about their definition of “vegan” and received this email response:

We define “vegan” as any menu item not containing meat, dairy, eggs or any other animal-derived product.
For further clarification, The VRG asked if honey is present in any vegan-labeled menu item. Jim replied:
We consider honey to be animal-derived so we exclude labeling anything with honey as vegan.
We also asked Jim if the sugar used in some of their vegan dishes had been filtered through cow bone char. After checking with suppliers he stated:
I heard back from our multiple sugar vendors and currently our sugar products are not processed with bone char. However, as we move forward with purchasing products that are more locally sourced/GMO-free/gluten friendly this may change.
Concerning how the vegan dishes are labeled Jim wrote:
The vegan menu items have a label of “VE” on them. This applies to any soup, salad, dressing or bread. Items such as carrots, onions, broccoli, etc. do not have that label. Our menu on the website is also labeled and we do a blog post at the beginning of each month with allergens and dietary preferences available.
All of the vegan menu items offered at Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes are listed on the chain’s nutrition page: http://www.souplantation.com/nutritionguide/
Here is a listing of vegan menu options at Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes exactly as they appear as of October 2016. Please note: This list can and does change. In fact we noticed (and included) several updates made between the September and October drafts of this article.
Souplantation & Sweet Tomatoes also uses a vegetarian label for many other menu items. Some dishes which may be commonly prepared as vegan or vegetarian (such as Pumpkin Spice Soup or Curried Pineapple & Ginger under “Hot Pastas & Kitchen Favorites”) but are not at this restaurant chain are labeled specifically as “non-vegetarian” apparently to avoid customer regret if accidentally consumed.
Tossed Salads

Field of Greens: Citrus Vinaigrette
Italiano Fresco Mix
Mandarin Spinach w/ Carmelized Walnuts
Strawberry Fields with Caramelized Walnuts
Thai Peanut & Red Pepper
Thai Udon & Peanut
Prepared Salads

Arugula Citrus
Aunt Doris’ Red Pepper Slaw
Baja Bean & Cilantro
Bok Choy Citrus Slaw
Chipotle Mango Slaw
Chipotle, Lime & Cilantro Quinoa
Citrus Penne Pasta
Curtido
Dijon Potato w/ Garlic Dill Vinaigrette
Dill and Dijon Potato
Fall Harvest Quinoa Salad
Fresh Herb Thai Slaw
Hong Kong Pearl Barley & Green Bean
Italian White Bean
Kale & Harvest w/ Almonds
Lemon Linguine with Fresh Basil
Lemon Rice w/ Cashews
Mandarin Noodles w/ Broccoli
Mandarin Shells w/ Almonds
Mandarin Udon w/ Almonds & Snow Peas
Provencal Green Bean & Potato Salad
Roasted Potato w/ Chipotle Chile Vinaigrette
Spicy Southwestern Pasta
Summer Barley w/ Black Beans
Sweet & Sour Broccoli Slaw
Sweet & Tangy Asian Quinoa Toss
Sweet Marinated Vegetables
Sweet Onion & Yukon Gold Potatoes
Tabouli
Thai Citrus & Brown Rice
Three Bean Marinade
Tomato Cucumber Marinade
Dressings

Bell Pepper Blend
Calavo Guacamole
Corn Salsa
Solstice Harvest Blend
Spicy & Sweet Pepita Sunflower Seed Mix
Soups

Classical Minestrone
Creamy, Nutty Zucchini & Basil Bisque
Fiery Quinoa & Black Bean Chili
Hearty Harvest Mexican Stew
Indian Lentil
Roasted Ratatouille
Santa Fe Black Bean Chili
Seven Vegetable
Sizzling Sriracha Udon
Veggie Hot & Sour
Bakery

Flour Tortilla
Sourdough Bread
Hot Pastas & Kitchen Favorites

Cal Rose Rice
Cilantro Lime Rice
Jakarta Ginger Curry w/ GF Soy Sauce
Jakarta Ginger Curry w/ GF Tamari Soy Sauce
Sautéed Balsamic Vegetables
Sensational Sweet & Sour w/ GF Soy sauce
Sensational Sweet & Sour w/ GF Tamari Soy Sauce
Sizzling Shanghai Asparagus w/ GF Soy Sauce
Sizzling Shanghai Asparagus w/ Tamari GF Soy Sauce
Desserts

Baked Cinnamon Apples
Condiment – Cinnamon
Condiment – Cinnamon Sugar Topping
Condiment – Maple Syrup
Condiment – Powdered Sugar
Condiment – Strawberry Topping
Pound Cake – Strawberry Topping
Breakfast
Oatmeal

For information on other restaurant chains, see http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php
For information on vegetarian restaurants, see http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

Taco Bell released an updated version of an online guide titled How to
Eat Vegetarian and Meatless at Taco Bell:
https://www.tacobell.com/feed/how-to-eat-veggie in August 2016.
Missy Nelson, RD of Taco Bell responded to The Vegetarian Resource Group
with more detail about how Taco Bell defines “vegetarian” and “vegan.”
She told us:

Our definitions are as follows:

Lacto-ovo vegetarianism is defined by the practice of eating
grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with the use of
dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry,
game, fish, shellfish or by-products of slaughter. Any material
taken/extracted/processed-through from animals, birds, insects, marine
animals, or slaughter by- products such as gelatin, enzymes, animal
fats, or bone char are non-vegetarian.

Ms. Nelson indicated that in addition to the lacto-ovo statement above,
vegans do not eat any animal products or byproducts such as honey or
ingredients processed from fur or feathers.

Taco Bell told us that items certified as vegetarian or vegan do not
contain sugar that has been processed through bone char. The same sugar
isn’t necessarily used for items not certified as vegan or
vegetarian.

The full certified vegetarian menu can be found here
https://www.tacobell.com/food/vegetarian; however, people can customize
to fit their specific needs.

At the bottom of their Vegetarian page Taco Bell posts this disclaimer:

Taco Bell…offers…AVA-certified vegetarian food items, which
defines vegetarian as lacto-ovo, allowing the consumption of dairy and
eggs but does not include any animal byproducts. Please note that in
some restaurants we use the same frying oil to prepare menu items that
may or may not contain meat. All vegetarian ingredients are handled by
our employees in common with meat ingredients, which may not be
acceptable to certain types of vegetarian diets. We cannot guarantee
that cross contact with meat products will not occur…

On its Ingredient Statements page Taco Bell identifies its AVA-certified
vegetarian and AVA-certified vegan ingredients.
https://www.tacobell.com/food/nutrition/ingredients

Here is a partiallisting of the AVA-certified vegan ingredients:

black beans
fire sauce (hot & mild)
express nacho chips (regional)
fire roasted salsa
flour tortilla
Gordita flatbread
green chile sauce (regional)
green tomatillo sauce (regional)
Mexican pizza sauce
pico de gallo
guacamole
Latin rice
rainforest coffee
red sauce
red strips
refried beans
salsa del sol
taco shell
tostada shell

In its updated guide linked above Taco Bell lists 11 vegetarian menu
items. Of these as presented, only one is vegan (Black Beans & Rice) but
seven others can easily be made vegan by excluding for instance cheese
or sour cream:

1. Black Bean Burrito
2. Black Beans & Rice
3. Veggie Power Menu Bowl
4. Veggie Power Menu Burrito
5. Spicy Tostada
6. 7-Layer Burrito
7. Bean Burrito
8. Pintos N Cheese

From Taco Bell’s website it is possible to customize menu options with
“Tasty Upgrades” many of which are vegan. See:
https://www.tacobell.com/food/vegetarian

Patrons also have the option to “Change What’s Included.” For example on
the Pintos N Cheese page, customers could exclude the cheese and upgrade
with guacamole. The adjusted price reflecting upgrades is calculated
automatically onsite. Deletions of any included components do not result
in a reduced final price. See:
https://www.tacobell.com/food/sides/pintos-n-cheese

The VRG asked Missy for more detail on some of the ingredients in
certain menu items and in the Tasty Upgrades. We learned that the beans,
rice and red sauce of the Black Bean Burrito are not prepared with
animal broths or stocks and all of the natural flavors in this burrito
are all-vegetable. The monoglycerides and enzymes in the flour tortilla
are also non-animal.

The Veggie Power Menu Burrito lists Mexican pizza sauce as a Tasty
Upgrade. Missy told us that its natural flavors are all-vegetable. The
“beans,” also an all-vegetable Tasty Upgrade in both ingredients and
preparation, are Taco Bell’s Refried Beans (as listed in the Ingredient
Statements.)

The Spicy Tostada is served on the tostada shell with refried beans.

Taco Bell further elaborated on their frying oil in their updated online
guide:

In some of our restaurants, we use the same frying oil to prepare
menu items that may or may not contain meat. Therefore, menu items fried
in oil like hash browns, chips, cinnamon twists, potatoes and the
Fiesta taco salad shell are not acceptable to the AVA-certified
vegetarian diet because of the potential cross contact.

There is also a nutrition calculator on Taco Bell’s website. It is
different from many in that it allows a patron to adjust portions
(doubling for example) and presents the information in a familiar
nutrition facts label format:
https://www.tacobell.com/food/nutrition/calculator
On its Allergen Info page, it is possible to filter out all of the
animal products (eggs, milk, fish and shellfish) to create an
approximate vegan filter. See:
https://www.tacobell.com/food/nutrition/allergen-info
Vegan consumers should be aware that certain listings using this filter
set include hashbrowns, chips and cinnamon twists all of which contain
no animal ingredients per se but may have been fried in oil used to
prepare meat products. Interestingly the only “Vegetarian Menu” entrée
(excluding side dishes grouped in their own category) which came up was
the Black Beans & Rice dish which means it is the only
vegan-to-begin-with entrée listed on Taco Bell’s menu. Fresco meat
dishes also appeared using this approximate vegan filter since the
allergen list does not include meat.

On its FAQ page the first food-related question and answer:
https://www.tacobell.com/faq
Q: Does Taco Bell offer vegetarian-friendly options?
A: Yes…and people love it! We sell 350 million vegetarian items a year
and about 7 percent of all items ordered at Taco Bell are either
vegetarian-friendly, or made vegetarian-friendly by some type of
substitution or removal. Some of our most popular are the classic Bean
Burrito, 7-Layer Burrito, Cantina Power Veggie Bowl…Plus, you can
customize almost any item on our menu by replacing meat with beans.

Thank you to Jeanne Yacoubou, MS for her research on Taco Bell products.

The contents of this posting, website and our other publications,
including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal
medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified
health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient
information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure
about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and
mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a
product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or
confirmation on your own.

For more information on restaurant chains, see
http://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php
For information on vegetarian restaurants, see
http://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

Eat More Kale®: Chick-fil-A® Debuts Kale-Broccolini® Superfood Side
By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

Beginning in January 2016 Chick-fil-A introduced in all of its approximately 1,900 restaurants nationwide a kale-broccolini salad side dish. http://inside.chick-fil-a.com/superfood-side/

The dish consists of kale and broccolini tossed in a maple vinaigrette dressing and topped with dried sour cherries. It is served with an optional blend of roasted nuts (walnuts, almonds and pecans).

Broccolini is a trademarked hybrid of broccoli and Chinese kale. According to an article on the Chick-fil-A website http://inside.chick-fil-a.com/broccolini-the-biggest-thing-since-kale/ there is only one US grower and supplier of this cruciferous vegetable, family-owned produce supplier and Certified Women Owned® Business Mann Packing® http://veggiesmadeeasy.com/site/. The Superfood Side dish is anticipated to use 20% of the total broccolini supply in the U.S.

The Vegetarian Resource Group spoke with Leigh Jackson of a public relations firm representing Chick-fil-A. She contacted Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist on our behalf who confirmed by email that the Superfood Side is “all-vegetable.”

Superfood Side Ingredients
We followed up with Leigh by requesting more information about the ingredients in the new menu item. On the Chick-fil-A website we found this ingredient statement: https://www.chick-fil-a.com/Food/Menu-Detail/Superfood-Side#?details=ingredients

broccolini, kale, maple vinaigrette dressing (maple syrup, soybean oil, water, brown sugar, onion ([including dehydrated], distilled vinegar, apple cider vinegar, soy sauce [water, soybeans, salt, alcohol], balsamic vinegar, salt, spice, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate and sodium benzoate added as preservatives, maltodextrin, dextrose, canola oil, yeast extract, natural flavor, calcium disodium EDTA to protect flavor), dried cherries (cherries, sugar, sunflower oil), roasted nut blend (glazed walnuts [walnuts, sugar, natural flavor, canola oil], roasted almonds, glazed pecans [pecans, sugar, natural flavor, canola oil]).

Without our asking specifically about the sugar, this is what Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist relayed to us by email about the dressing when we inquired: “Is the maple vinaigrette dressing all-vegetable?”:

The maple vinaigrette dressing would be considered vegetarian in that it does not contain any meat-, poultry- or fish-derived ingredients. We would not consider this product vegan due to the possible use of the brown sugar being comprised of cane sugar that may have been filtered through bone char.

Sugar is also listed as an ingredient for the cherries and nuts. The VRG wished to know if the statement about the brown sugar also applied to the sugar on the cherries and the nuts. In other words, we asked if the sugar used on the cherries and on the nuts had been filtered through cow bone char.

After a few weeks Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist replied:
“I have good news to share regarding the sugar that we source to manufacture the roasted nut blend; it is indeed vegan. Thus, we have confirmation from the refineries that we source the sugar from that they are not using bone charcoal in any part of their processes.”

In light of this additional information about the sugar in the nut blend, The VRG wondered if the nutritionist’s earlier response about the brown sugar in the maple vinaigrette dressing needed to be reevaluated. So we asked again: Has Chick-fil-A confirmed with their brown sugar supplier that cow bone char was used to filter the sugar?

Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist replied a second time on this point: “We did confirm with the supplier on the brown sugar in the vinaigrette [that cow bone char filtration was possible].” No further information was provided.
Regarding how the sugar used in the cherries was processed, Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist originally stated: “We did confirm that the cherries are vegetarian but not vegan.”

We then asked Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist to clarify exactly what she had intended to say about the sugar in the cherries. We wanted to know if the statement above about the cherries implied that the sugar used on the cherries had definitely been filtered through cow bone char or possibly had been so whitened.

After a few more weeks, Chick-fil-A’s nutritionist responded to us a second time about the sugar on the cherries by informing us that

The sugar on the cherries would be classified as vegetarian, but not vegan, as the sugar has the potential to come into contact with animal products during the whitening process.

Q&A with Chick-fil-A’s Nutritionist
Here are several followup questions we asked Chick-fil-A and the nutritionist’s responses all relayed to us in a timely fashion:

Q: Is the maple vinaigrette dressing optional?
A: No, the dressing is applied to the kale and broccolini in larger portions, and then portioned into the salad bowls.

Q: Are the cherries and nuts optional?
A: The cherries are added to the larger portion recipe before serving it into the bowls so they are not optional. The nuts are optional.

Q: Was an animal-derived anti-foaming agent used to produce the maple syrup?
A: The maple vinaigrette does not contain any anti-foaming agents. Per the supplier, it is considered vegetarian.

We also wanted to know about the side dish’s preparation and Chick-fil-A’s kitchen protocols. The following is what we received by email as replies to our questions below:

Q: Are the kale and broccolini prepared without animal broths, animal fats, etc.?
A: The ingredients in the Superfood Salad are not cooked.

Q: Are the kale and broccolini prepared in pots never used for meat products?
A: The ingredients in the Superfood Salad are not prepared in pots.

Q: Are the kale and broccolini pre-prepared at a central location and delivered to restaurants or is the preparation onsite at each location?
A: The kale is pre-chopped while the broccolini arrives whole and is prepared in restaurant.

Q: How are the kale and broccolini cooked (sauteed, boiled, steamed, etc.?) or are they served raw like lettuce and hand-chopped at each location?
A: The Superfood Side is served raw.

Q: Are the kale and broccolini in this side dish prepared away from all meat products on a designated meat-free surface with sanitized, vegetable-only utensils?
A:We do prep the salad in a vegetable prep area where we prep all of our salads. I don’t know if the surface is specifically “meat free” but it is sanitized. I don’t know if the utensils are only used for vegetables, but they are clean and sanitized. We have separate prep areas for raw chicken vs. the salads, so there wouldn’t be any raw chicken in that area.

Taste Test
In April 2016 the writer purchased a Superfood Side at a surburban Maryland Chick-fil-A restaurant. Here are her comments.

Kale was the major component in the Side although broccolini is listed as the first ingredient on the statement given above. Both the kale and broccolini looked fresh. They were well-coated in the maple vinaigrette dressing but there was no excess liquid at the bottom except for a few isolated drops. There were approximately ten medium-sized cherries placed on the top of the kale/broccolini that easily could have been removed by a diner. The approximately one tablespoon of a nut blend came in a separate cellophane package.

The kale and broccolini’s natural taste was overpowered by the maple vinaigrette dressing which the writer found too acidic. At least the mildly maple flavor aftertaste compensated somewhat for the acidic vinaigrette.

The cherries sweetened up the entire dish too much for the writer’s taste so she removed most of them. The nuts enhanced the overall flavor of the Side.

The Side was packaged in a #5 plastic container. Made of polypropylene, #5 plastic is becoming more accepted at most recycling centers or look here for how to recycle #5 plastic: https://www.preserveproducts.com/recycle/programs/171/gimme-5-program.

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made.
To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, donate at www.vrg.org/donate

To join The Vegetarian Resource Group, join at http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Established in 1759 in Ireland Guinness has used fish-derived isinglass as a processing aid to clarify or fine (i.e., make clear) its brews. The company announced in 2015 that it will remove isinglass from its process in 2016.

Isinglass: An Unlabeled Processing Aid
As a processing aid isinglass is exempt from governmental labeling requirements. See 21CFR101.100.3.ii http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/cfrsearch.cfm?fr=101.100

More specifically on page 2 of a brochure published by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau http://www.ttb.gov/pdf/brochures/p51903.pdf there is no mention of a requirement to list fining agents on beer labels.

On its website Guinness lists only “key ingredients”: barley, hops, yeast, and water. A search for isinglass on its website showed zero results.

Here’s an overview of Guinness’ beer-making methods through a series of videos with no mention of isinglass: https://www.guinness.com/en-us/our-craft/

The closest mention of the clarification process occurs in this video: https://www.guinness.com/en-us/our-craft/guinness-nitro-ipa-video/ when brewer Feodora Heavey states “…when it’s actually finished fermentation…the yeast is all removed….” but doesn’t elaborate further on how the yeast is removed.

The Vegetarian Resource Group wondered what made isinglass such a great beer clarifying agent such that one of the oldest and most famous beer brewing companies in the world would use it. Lacking information on the Guinness website we turned to other resources.

What’s So Special about Isinglass Fining?

Isinglass fining refers to the removal of suspended particles especially yeast cells, proteins and polyphenols in beer. Isinglass is classified as a processing aid which by definition is a substance used in very small amounts leaving no residue with any technical function in the finished product.

The article Clear Beer through Finings Technology and the Wort and Beer Clarification Manual both by Ian Ward describe the function of isinglass as a clarifier in beer. Information presented in this section is adapted from these two documents:

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/Resources/CraftBrewing/PDFs/Brewing_Processes_and_Techniques/ClearBeerTechnology.pdf

https://bsgcraftbrewing.com/Resources%5CCraftBrewing%5CPDFs%5CBrewing_Processes_and_Techniques/WortandBeerFiningManual.pdf

Here are some interesting points about isinglass from Ward’s publications:

Isinglass is commonly used in the UK because “the climate does not permit natural lagering in the Bavarian style.” Clear Beer Through Finings Technology (p. 1).

Approximately 10% of the world’s production of isinglass from several fish species is used in the beer industry. Most is consumed in China as a delicacy. Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p. 16).

The various types of isinglass produce different appearances (clear, hazy, etc.) in beers. They are all forms of collagen, a protein that is the active ingredient in isinglass. Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p. 16, 22).

Most commercial isinglass products are blends of isinglass types. Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p.22).

Because isinglass fining accelerates the clarification process using it may quadruple production capacity with minimal outlay compared to unfined (i.e., natural) sedimentation that occurs very slowly. Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p. 29).

Isinglass enhances the foam stability of certain beers. Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p. 32).

Typical isinglass dosage rates for filtered beers are between 0.25 and 0.5% of beer volume. Clear Beer Through Finings Technology (p. 4).

The exact mechanism of isinglass fining is not well understood. Here are synopses of two proposed mechanisms as described in the Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p. 19):

One hypothesis states that positively charged isinglass reacts with negatively charged yeast to form a neutral floc (precipitate) which then falls out of solution. The role of auxiliary finings along with
isinglass in beer production is to interact with the positively charged protein particles which would otherwise not react with the isinglass and pull them out of solution, too.

An alternative mechanism proposes that soluble collagen (isinglass) reacts with a soluble beer component to form a precipitate (floc). Upon formation, the floc surrounds and enmeshes and then binds to the yeast and protein particles and settles out of the beer sweeping up further particulate material on its way to the bottom of the vessel. The role of auxiliary finings is to either react with positively charged soluble beer components which would compete with isinglass, or to react directly with the isinglass itself to produce the flocs required for fining.

Ward later defined “auxiliary finings” as acidified silicates and acidic polysaccharides on p. 20 of Wort and Beer Clarification Manual. These compound classes are both vegan.

According to Ward “Indeed, still today there are no effective alternatives to the use of isinglass in producing bright unfiltered beer.” Wort and Beer Clarification Manual (p.28).

Guinness Responds

In December 2015 we asked Guinness about the change from isinglass to a filtration system. Consumer relations representative Aaron of Diageo® a multinational alcoholic beverages company that owns the Guinness brand responded:

“Isinglass has been used widely within the brewing industry as a means of filtration for decades. However, because of its use we could not label Guinness as suitable for vegetarians and have been looking for an alternative solution for some time.

We are now pleased to have identified a new process through investment in a state-of-the-art filtration system at St. James’s Gate which, once in place, will remove the use of isinglass in the
brewing process.

We hope to have the new system up and running by late 2016 and [isinglass-free beer] available for purchase in stores soon after.”

The VRG still had questions for Guinness, namely:

Will you be using any other clarification agent such as Irish moss,
albumen or gelatin to replace the isinglass?

Or will the filtration system totally replace the need for a
clarifying agent that you add to the beer?

Aaron responded:
“Our Brewing Team has confirmed that the filtration system will
replace the need for a clarifying agent.”

To be absolutely sure the new filtration system was vegan The VRG asked
Guinness
Can you confirm that the filtration system is not made of an animal
product such as cow bone char used to filter sugar?

Again Aaron replied:
“Our Brewing Team has advised that the filtration system is not made
of animal products and no animal products are used in operation of
this system.”

Other Beer Companies Respond

The VRG wanted to see if other beer companies with a major presence in the U.S. market used any animal-derived clarifying agent such as isinglass. MillerCoors® responded in November 2015:
“MillerCoors does not use any animal by-products in our brewing process, nor are there any animal sources used in our packaging.Isinglass is not used in our brewing. There are five basic ingredients in all MillerCoors products. These include pure water, malted barley, corn syrup, hops, and yeast. Corn syrup is one of the basic ingredients used in most MillerCoors products as US consumers prefer its taste. Again, we do not use animal derived ingredients in our beer.

We also asked Anheiser-Busch® the same question. Here is their email reply: “We provide ingredient information about many of our beers on our global consumer information website:

The VRG looked up a few of their American beers and saw these ingredients:
Budweiser®: water, barley malt, rice, yeast, hops
Busch®: water; corn, rice and/or dextrose syrup; barley malt; hops; hop
extract; malt extract; yeast
Michelob® Ultra: water, rice, barley malt, hops, yeast

As isinglass or any other clarifying agent is not listed we scoured the website to see if anything about the filtering process could be located.

We found only this: http://www.tapintoyourbeer.com/age_check.cfm “The beer is normally filtered to make it visually bright by removing yeast and protein material, and then it’s transferred to a finishing tank. Not all beer is filtered.”

We called Anheiser-Busch in January 2016 and asked about their filtering method and if an animal-derived clarifier was used. A customer service representative repeated that “all ingredient information is listed on the website and I have no further information.”

When we explained that a clarifying agent is a processing aid not an ingredient and so does not have to be labeled, she told us that “if it’s used but not on the label then it’s proprietary” and so she would be unable to divulge any further details.

Attempting to get further clarification The VRG emailed Anheiser-Busch the response we had received from MillerCoors reprinted above and asked if they could confirm that their beer is also brewed without any animal-derived clarifying agent.

After one week and no response we called Anheiser-Busch again in February 2016. This time consumer representative Alicia typed in “isinglass” into her database and told us it was listed with this
statement: “We do not use isinglass all at in any of our products.”

She noted that only Budweiser Chelada® products contain an animal-derived ingredient: clam juice. An ingredient list containing clam juice was not evident for the Chelada beverages on the Anhueser-Busch website noted above as it was for the sample beers we chose to include here even though Alicia said it would appear on bottle labels. (“Clamato” appears on the label but is not defined.)

Isinglass Alternatives

Alternatives to animal-, egg-, or dairy-derived clarifying agents suchas isinglass, gelatin, albumen or casein include several vegan beer clarifying agents that are used by many brewers. These include the following:
Biofine® Clear http://www.brewing-solutions.com/products/?id=16
(Note: There is also a Biofine isinglass product.)
http://hbd.org/discus/messages/50162/Biofine_Clear_A3_5B06808_PDS-50553.pdf
diatomaceous earth (kieselguhr)
http://maltingandbrewing.com/kieselguhr-kg-or-diatomaceous-earth-de.html
http://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/newsreleases/2013/april/widely-used-filtering-material-adds-arsenic-to-beers.html
Divergan®
http://www.crosspure.basf.com/web/global/crosspure/en_GB/about_divergan/index
http://www.ashland.com/Ashland/Static/Documents/ASI/Reppe_to_Mola_and_Rehmanji.pdf
Irish moss
http://homebrewandchemistry.blogspot.com/2009/01/irish-moss-brief-description.html
Polyclar®
http://www.ashland.com/Ashland/Static/Documents/ASI/PC_11444_Products_for_Beer.pdf

ReGrained: Eat Beer

An aspect of the beer industry that is receiving more attention especially in urban areas with the rise of craft beers, microbreweries, and home brewers is the repurposing of brewer spent grains (BSG).
http://www.businessinsider.com/craft-beer-is-taking-over-america-2015-3

http://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2015/06/17/2014-was-another-great-year-for-american-craft-beer-infographic/#77aae3c16f01
https://www.brewersassociation.org/statistics/national-beer-sales-production-data/
http://share.iit.edu/bitstream/handle/10560/1935/AlternativeUsesForBrewers’SpentGrainIPRO340FinalReportSp11.pdf?sequence=3

This is significant because approximately 90% of the nutritional value
of grains used in beer production remains in the spent grains.
Considering the billions of pounds of grains used every year in the beer
industry as well as the energy, water and land requirements to produce
those grains this huge loss represents an enormously inefficient use of
resources.

It is still common for brewers to sell spent grains for animal feed although this practice has its problems as explained on page 3 of this article:
http://jotamac.typepad.com/jotamacs_weblog/files/no_waste_economy__gunter_pauli.pdf.

Alternatively BSG deposited in landfills contributes to the growing and costly problem of urban waste as tipping fees (A fee charged for the amount of waste) mount. Increasingly however value-added products such as xylitol derived from BSG are entering the marketplace. http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science/Scientists-make-cheap-xylitol-from-spent-grain
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0733521005000706

In 2015, two San Francisco home brewers decided to address the problems created by urban BSG by repurposing it into nutritional bars intended for human consumption.
http://www.bakeryandsnacks.com/Ingredients/ReGrained-repurposes-spent-beer-grain-as-baking-ingredient/?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=23-Dec-2015&c=yazB%2FDHFv2VDUSPbxPPEtw%3D%3D&p2=

Their company ReGrained® was launched. http://www.regrained.com/

We corresponded with ReGrained co-founders Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz about their company and products in January-February 2016. They assured us that their BSG suppliers are local craft brewers who do not use isinglass. Dan told us that their current brewery partners are 21st Amendment® Brewery http://21st-amendment.com/, Triple Voodoo® Brewery https://www.triplevoodoo.com/ and Magnolia® Brewing Company http://www.magnoliabrewing.com/. Dan wrote in an email to us: “Any clarifying agent that a brewery might use would be added to the sugary liquids (called wort) extracted from the grains…Any fining agent would be added to the liquid portion, not the grain…To my knowledge, most craft breweries (especially the small/local ones) do not filter their beers or add animal-based clarifying agents. This is in part a resources issue, and in part because in most [cases] unfiltered beer tastes better (my objective opinion 😉 )”

Chief Grainmaster Jordan added:
“As for fining agents, my understanding is that fining agents are sometimes used in the boil portion of beer making and…as part of the fermentation step. (Although I am not sure that any of our brewery partners use fining agents anyway.) Our grains come from the very first step of the process in which the only ingredients used are the grain bill itself and hot water. This hot sugary water (called wort), is drained from this tank, into another tank called a boil kettle, leaving behind the solid grain in the ‘mash tun.’…We only take the solid grains. Yeast is not introduced until much later in the brewing process. There is no clarification process, it is just water and malted barley. In my understanding, no animal products are used to make beers from our brewers…The only thing that we do to the grain is dehydrate it to dry.

One of ReGrained’s BSG suppliers further explained the process:
“Brewers use a few different methods for filtering. Some still use isinglass, but that is mostly traditional British-style brewing and some cask ales after hop or spice additions directly to the cask.The overwhelming majority use either plate and frame filtering, centrifuge…and/or Biofine. These methods are all vegan, although I think there is one version of Biofine that is not vegan… The various fining agents that you add either in the last 15 minutes of the boil (whirfloc) or on the cold side before carbonation & packaging (Biofine and the like) work by pulling/attracting matter that is chemically charged – hops, yeast, etc. The issue is all this matter is not all positively or negatively charged and the brewer sometimes needs to use a combination of agents to get the clarity they want. Plate and frame…and centrifuge do not have this issue. They work by either using a barrier to trap the matter as it passes through (plate & frame…) or by spinning it at such a velocity that the matter separates from the liquid (centrifuge).

Regrained Bars
Dan told us:
“Our Stout 2.0® bars will be released around March 2016 and will be vegan. The Honey Almond IPA® will no longer have egg but still will have honey…We’ll have future other products though that will be vegan friendly.”

The Honey Almond IPA bar ingredients:
almonds, tapioca syrup*, brown rice syrup*, honey*, brewer’s spent grain, puffed quinoa*, oats*, non-GMO canola-olive oil blend, puffed brown rice*, ground flax*, cinnamon, sea salt, xantham gum. * = organic

According to an email from Dan: The [Chocolate Coffee] Stout® bar has “fair trade/organic semi-sweet chocolate, plus the aforementioned minus honey.”

Here’s the complete ingredient list for the Chocolate Coffee Stout bar: almonds, brown rice syrup*, tapioca syrup*, brewer’s spent grain,
semi sweet chocolate [sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter], oats*, puffed quinoa*, non-GMO canola-olive oil blend, puffed brown
rice*, round flax*, coffee, sea salt, xantham gum, soy lecithin, real vanilla.* = organic

We spoke to Dan in February 2016 about the sugar in the Stout bar which he had previously described as “organic/fair trade.” He told us that although ReGrained doesn’t add either beet or cane sugar to the bars as a separate ingredient, he didn’t know if his chocolate supplier used cane sugar that had been whitened through cow bone char. We also pointed out that although he had previously described to us in an email that the chocolate was organic, the ingredient label does not use the organic qualifier for the chocolate. Since only organic sugar is never whitened by cow bone char or anything else, The VRG still questioned whether the sugar in the chocolate had been filtered through cow bone char. Dan suggested that we call his chocolate supplier to find out more information.

The VRG called ReGrained’s supplier Guittard® Chocolate Company https://www.guittard.com/ in March 2016. Without any hesitation after hearing our question about the whitening methods of the sugar used in their chocolate Nikki a Guittard employee told us “the sugar is processed through cow bone char in all chocolate including semi sweet (excluding unsweetened) for cooking and eating except the organic chocolate.”

We also asked Dan if the ReGrained bar contained any alcoholic content. He said that since the spent grains used to make the bars are removed from the beer-making process “well before” fermentation begins there is no alcoholic content. “Fermentation occurs when yeast interacts with the hopped sugary wort extracted from the grain.”

Lastly Dan informed The VRG that their new bars will be packaged in “NatureFlex® film, which will biodegrade in soil in your own backyard. This is in contrast to most ‘compostable’ wrappers that will only actually break down in industrial compost settings.”
http://www.innoviafilms.com/NatureFlex.aspx

More Information on Beer:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/hey-vegans-there-may-be-fish-bladder-in-your-guinness-2001644/?no-ist

http://www.popsci.com/how-is-guinness-going-vegan

http://www.barnivore.com/faq
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.2050-0416.2007.tb00761.x/pdf
http://www.businessinsider.com/big-beer-vs-craft-beer-battle-gets-ugly-2016-2

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal
medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgement about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, donate at www.vrg.org/donate

Or join at
http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

Introduction

Since August 2015 when The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) received confirmation from Wrigley® that it uses tallow- and lard-derived stearic acid in several flavors of its Life Savers® mints, we canvassed the mint market to identify brands containing animal-derived stearic acid or stearate compounds such as calcium stearate or magnesium stearate.

The VRG investigated 68 different mint brands in order to analyze trends in stearic acid/stearate use in mint products.

Based on our research The VRG determined that:
• Most mint brands that we researched (48/68 = 70.6%) contain one or two of the following: stearic acid, magnesium stearate or calcium stearate.
• Only 6/68 = 8.8% of all mint brands that we researched contain animal-based stearic acid or stearate compounds.
• Only three confections companies (Wrigley, Hershey’s®, and Mondelēz International®) state they use or may use animal-derived stearic acid or stearates in some of their mints. All three are very large corporations producing high product volumes.
• However, it is not correct to conclude that all large corporations use animal-derived stearic acid and stearate compounds. A notable example of a major company that uses vegetable-based stearic acid and magnesium stearate is Nestlé® UK. This company also confirmed by email that the sugar used in their products is not processed with animal ingredients.
• All smaller and/or newer companies use vegetable-sourced stearic acid an/or stearate compounds. Some of these companies use the chemically inaccurate term “vegetable stearate” on their ingredient statements highlighting their ingredient source.

Of the top five mint brands (by 2014-15 sales volume: http://www.statista.com/statistics/262572/leading-us-breath-freshener-brands-based-on-sales/),
o #1 Tic Tac® contains vegetable-derived magnesium stearate and sugar. According to an email response from Tic Tac Customer Relations their sugar has not been whitened through cow bone char.
o #2 Ice Breakers® contains magnesium stearate that according to its manufacturer Hershey’s is “usually” animal-derived.
o #3 Altoids® Original by Wrigley is non-vegetarian containing gelatin.
o #4 Breathsavers® contains magnesium stearate that according to its manufacturer Hershey’s is “usually” animal-derived.
o #5 Listerine® Pocketpacks® by Johnson & Johnson® contains no animal-derived ingredients nor sugar.

There are many vegan mint products considering both ingredients and sugar whitening methods. Look for a complete list of vegan mints in an upcoming article.
Please watch for follow-up articles!

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including The Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, join at http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php
Or donate at http://www.vrg.org/donate

The contents of this website and our other publications, including The Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

The Vegetarian Resource Group received a question about vegan-dedicated equipment (i.e., equipment that has never been in contact with animal or dairy ingredients) used to create chocolate. Our reader wondered if Divine Treasures http://dtchocolates.com/ located in Manchester, CT used this type of machinery since their chocolates are described as vegan on the website.

Divine Treasures
We spoke with Diane Wagemann the chocolatier founder and owner of Divine Treasures about her equipment. She told us that

“All of the equipment in my factory is vegan-dedicated. The equipment operated by my European suppliers to make the chocolate which I use to create my handmade divine treasures is not vegan-dedicated… My suppliers told me that they run cocoa butter by itself through their system after a milk chocolate run to ensure that any dairy residue is completely carried away.”

The chocolate Diane purchases from Europe is certified USDA Organic. The sugar is also certified USDA Organic. USDA Organic sugar has not been decolorized through cow bone char. Most non-USDA organic cane sugar is whitened through a cow bone char filter today in the United States.

Diane told us that the chocolate from her European suppliers is also “certified Fair Trade by the European community.” Diane’s chocolates do not carry this label nor the USDA Organic label because “…it is prohibitively expensive to pay the certifying agencies for use of their labels.” So Diane describes her handmade chocolates as “socially responsible.”

Divine Treasures chocolate is made from Peruvian cocoa beans shipped to and processed in Europe “the old-fashioned way…because they know chocolate.” There the chocolate is conched which means “the cocoa, sugar and other ingredients are thoroughly ground and blended producing a smooth and creamy texture…My high-quality chocolate is conched for a very long time up to three days rather than a few hours like inexpensive chocolate is.”

Here’s more information on conching: http://www.cacaochocolade.nl/main.php?lng=1&p=inhoud&h=5&g=1&s=5&z=0&sp=

From her European chocolate suppliers Diane receives “chocolate blocks containing cocoa, sugar, lecithin and vanilla…then I temper it on my machines to further enhance its mouthfeel to create my divine treasures.”

More information on chocolate tempering may be located here: http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/11/chocoloate-chemistry-cocoa-butter-crystal-structure-emulsion

Here’s a How It’s Made segment that takes viewers inside a chocolate manufacturing plant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkVlDRiB7j8

Diane commented on this video by saying:
“The video is interesting but the conching is not included. This would be done at the beginning stage before the truck delivers the chocolate. We do a lot of the same things but most things are done by hand. I would love to be able to afford the equipment and people that are doing all the chocolates. Dreaming positive and maybe someday we will be there.”

Although Diane would like to use chocolate that has been made on vegan-dedicated equipment from start to finish, she told The VRG that “it costs over one million dollars to buy equipment…there’s not a big enough market for vegan chocolate so chocolate makers run more than just vegan chocolate.” Diane told us that “I wish that vegans who complain about vegan purity issues would understand this.” A vegan herself for 16 years, Diane told The VRG that “95% of my customers are not vegan…they are people looking for high-quality chocolate.” “… “In this world we’re all trying to do the best we can.”

Allison’s Gourmet
Another hand-crafted, organic and fair trade vegan chocolatier, Allison Rivers Samson of Allison’s Gourmet http://www.allisonsgourmet.com/ echoed Diane’s frustration about the lack of vegan-dedicated equipment in her own way. She commented in 2012 at The VegNews Guide to Vegan Chocolate http://vegnews.com/articles/page.do?pageId=4371&catId=2 that

“…there are currently no manufacturers of the raw materials for organic chocolate (chocolate liquor) that have 100% dairy-free facilities. So for us, a 100% vegan company, even though the manufacturer of the base of our organic chocolate flushes the machines with thousands of gallons of organic dairy-free chocolate, we still must say “may contain traces” on the label. While this may present some confusion, there are some people (especially children) who have life-threatening allergies to dairy. In those cases, we encourage people to err on the side of safety. Another reason to eliminate dairy in the world!”

“Hopefully someday soon, the demand will be high enough that there will be facilities that produce exclusively dairy-free organic chocolate in exclusively dairy-free factories.”

The VRG asked Allison in January 2016 if there are now any chocolate liquor manufacturers who operate vegan-dedicated equipment. She replied by email:

“Thank you for checking in on this. I wish there was progress. Unfortunately, there are still currently no dairy-free, organic chocolate liquor manufacturers.”

Vegan Chocolatier Cooperative
The VRG asked Diane of Divine Treasures if she thought it ever feasible that vegan chocolatiers would create a cooperative in which they collectively purchase and use the equipment keeping it 100% dairy-free. Diane replied

“I think if everyone used high-quality chocolate it could work… It’s coming… It may not be because of vegans but [as someone told me] because of the demand for dairy-free products by people who are allergic to dairy.”

Daren Hayes, founder of Stirs the Soul, is a chocolatier who makes his own organic and fair trade raw chocolate starting from stone-grounding raw cocoa beans all done on his own equipment. http://www.stirsthesoul.com/about.htm Daren agrees that a vegan chocolatier cooperative would be a great way to ensure the production of vegan chocolate on truly vegan-dedicated equipment and he would be interested in participating. (Note: All of Daren’s products are vegan except four flavors of one variety which contain honey.)

As consumer demand for vegan chocolate and other vegan products grows, it becomes more likely that one day there will be vegan businesses using their own exclusively dairy-free equipment. Mintel Group Ltd. market research suggests this in a late 2014 report: http://www.mintel.com/press-centre/food-and-drink/number-of-global-vegetarian-food-and-drink-product-launches-doubles-between-2009-and-2013

Specifically with respect to vegan chocolate this report revealed:

“…there has also been considerable growth in the number of chocolate and sugar confectionery products launched carrying a ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’ claim. Whilst just 4% of chocolate or sugar products launched in 2009 carried a vegetarian claim, this rose to 9% in 2013. The proportion of these products launched with a vegan claim similarly rose from 1% in 2009 to 2% in 2013.
Further to this, the number of chocolate and sugar confectionery products using a glazing agent boasted even larger growth with 32% of these products carrying a ‘vegetarian’ or ‘vegan’ claim in 2013, up from 13% in 2009.”

“Among chocolate and sugar confectionery products there is increasingly demand for vegetarian ingredients, reflected by the increasing use of both vegetarian and vegan claims on new product launches. Ingredients will continue to be scrutinized by consumers and manufacturers need to be responsive and proactive to quell any consumer concerns,” concluded Laura Jones Mintel Global Food Science Analyst.

More on Cocoa Butter as a Dairy Sanitizer
Intrigued by the use of cocoa butter as a dairy sanitizer for equipment The VRG sought out more information. We discovered a patent application for this use: http://www.google.com/patents/WO2012167873A1?cl=en suggesting that cocoa butter cleaning of chocolate-making equipment occurs in industry.

The VRG spoke with Claus Davids of Koco, Inc. a supplier of processing and packaging systems specifically for the food, cocoa, confectionery and baking industries. Claus discussed the use of cocoa butter to clean equipment by describing it as “the go-to” substance to flush machinery runs during changeovers and referring to it as a common practice. He said cocoa butter flushing would require “large amounts” of cocoa butter and be a very time- and labor-intensive process. He thought it would be difficult to thoroughly clean the equipment because of all the piping connections in the equipment’s lines. He further cautioned by email:

“I’d like to note, for clarification here, that cocoa butter is not a miraculous cleaner for dairy or anything of that sort. It does not guarantee elimination of dairy, at least not that I know. The only way to guarantee 100% dairy-free chocolate is to have a dedicated line of equipment where dairy is not used. We see this in kosher facilities, where they will not even consider making milk chocolate because it is so hard to eliminate dairy from the machinery and pipework. I would be hesitant to trust any company that claims to be dairy-free… In order to do this, they would have to tear down every piece of machinery and hardware and clean it completely.”

The reason cocoa butter is used as a cleaner is that you cannot bring water into a chocolate making operation – it breeds bacteria and puts the entire line at risk for contamination.

Interested readers may find information on kosher concerns in chocolate production: http://www.ok.org/v1/Content.asp?ID=171

Daren the chocolatier from Stirs the Soul was also doubtful of cocoa butter as a dairy residue remover from chocolate equipment saying its effectiveness “is subject to the equipment and the kitchen.”

When The VRG asked Allison of Allison’s Gourmet if her chocolate supplier uses cocoa butter to run through potential dairy residue on equipment she replied

“Our chocolate supplier processes their chocolate liquor where it’s grown, thus Peru and Ecuador. As stated on our website, thousands of pounds of dairy-free chocolate are flushed though the machines after processing milk chocolate. This is our allergen statement about dairy, which appears on each page that contains chocolate:

“Due to the limited demand for 100% dairy-free organic chocolate, the raw ingredients for organic, fair-trade chocolate are processed on equipment also used to process milk chocolate. The machines are cleaned meticulously between runs, and thousands of pounds of dairy-free chocolate are flushed through the machines.”

“For safety and legality, we must state that there could be a chance that chocolate items may contain traces of dairy, even though dairy is never an intended ingredient.”

The contents of this posting, our website and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

For more ingredient information, see http://www.vrg.org/ingredients/index.php

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, join at http://www.vrg.org/member/2013sv.php

Or Donate at www.vrg.org/donate

White Castle, the oldest American hamburger chain begun in 1921 now with nearly 400 locations in twelve states, introduced a Veggie Slider in December 2014. http://www.whitecastle.com/about/company/news/white-castle-unveils-veggie-slider

At that time and as late as early October 2015 when we checked White Castle’s website ingredient list, the bun on which it was served was not vegan. It contained sodium stearoyl lactylate (SSL); diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono- and diglycerides (DATEM); enzymes and L-cysteine, all of which could be animal-derived. It also contained sugar which could have been processed through cow bone char. Here is the complete ingredient statement of the original White Castle bun:

Bun Ingredients: (bleached enriched wheat flour (malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, sugar, soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: yeast, salt, sodium stearoyl lactylate, diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides (DATEM), calcium sulfate, enzymes, ascorbic acid, potassium iodate, L-cysteine, azodicarbonamide (ADA).

White Castle stated that the original bun for their Veggie Slider was not vegan: http://static-whitecastle-com.s3.amazonaws.com/HowVeggieSlidersarePrepared.pdf

In response to vegans’ requests, White Castle changed its bun formulation. White Castle’s website stated it this way:

“We received great feedback from some in the vegetarian community requesting this. Since then we’ve been working on just that—a vegan bun. We made the decision to go ahead with the Veggie Slider with the possibility of a vegan bun and hope to offer one soon!”

Here’s White Castle’s Twitter feed on this topic at the Veggie Slider’s debut showing several vegan bun requests and the restaurant chain’s intention to create a vegan bun: https://twitter.com/WhiteCastle/status/550064410568708097

Here are the first online mentions of the vegan bun’s debut in restaurants. White Castle responded in the second link:

https://twitter.com/veganxpress

https://twitter.com/LazyGirlVegan/statuses/651583250046001152

In December 2015 when The VRG reviewed the White Castle website for this article, the ingredient statement (posted with an effective date of October 2015) for the only bun appearing in the entire ingredient list read as follows:

Traditional Bun:

enriched bleached wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, high fructose corn syrup, salt, soybean oil, contains 2% or less of each of the following: yeast, calcium stearoyl lactylate (CSL), guar gum, monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, sodium alginate, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), enzymes.

We note the absence of L-cysteine and sugar in the new bun in comparison with the original bun. L-cysteine is most often derived from duck feathers although non-animal-derived L-cysteine is commercially available. Sugar may be of concern to vegans who avoid cane sugar that had been whitened using cow bone char. Most cane sugar processed today in the US is processed this way. Sugar beets and USDA Organic cane sugar are not.

Knowing that monoglycerides and enzymes could be animal-derived and calcium stearoyl lactylate could be animal- and/or dairy-derived, The VRG called White Castle specifically about these ingredients.

Monique on the customer service line in December 2015 confirmed that the “Traditional Bun” listed in the ingredient statement is the bun used for the Veggie Slider. She told us that she didn’t have more ingredient source information but would research it and get back to us.

The next day we received an email reply from Jason Suitt Quality Assurance and Research & Development Manager at White Castle. He wrote:

“Thank you for your recent inquiry as to whether the enzymes in our buns used on our Veggie Sliders are derived from animal sources. Back in August of this year, we reformulated our buns to remove all animal byproducts, so that they now may be considered vegan. That said, please keep in mind that the buns and veggie patties are prepared in a common kitchen, so they may occasionally come into contact with non-vegan items. Thank you again for your inquiry, and please let me know if you have any other questions.”

Since Jason didn’t refer to the monoglycerides and calcium stearoyl lactylate in his reply, we left him a phone message about them. He replied promptly by phone stating that: “No animal byproducts including dairy are in the new formula bun…Our bakery division carefully researched all ingredient sources for our bun so it is vegan.”

Readers may also note that the French fries, onion chips, onion rings, and home-style onion rings are all “cooked in the same oil as items that may contain wheat, eggs, milk, soy, fish, shellfish.” According to the White Castle ingredient list the French fries and home-style onion rings appear all-vegetable. The onion rings contain milk and the onion chips contain egg and milk. Not all of these items are available in all locations. See http://static-whitecastle-com.s3.amazonaws.com/WCIngListSept.2015.pdf for more information.

For a White Castle location near you, visit: http://www.whitecastle.com/locations

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.

To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, join at http://www.vrg.org/party/index.php

Or donate at www.vrg.org/donate