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6 Min
30/10/2025Surprising Foods You Think Are Vegan But Aren't
Quick Summary
What do French fries, bananas and refined sugar have in common? They aren’t vegan. While the ingredients at the heart of them – potatoes and sugar – are vegan and vegetarian, there are other bits where animal and dairy products come in. It’s a reminder that sometimes, it’s not what goes in the food that makes it non-vegan, but what happens to it along the way.
Deep Dive
It’s easy to assume that if something doesn’t look or taste meaty, it must be vegan, but the reality is far trickier. Turned vegan recently or researching veganism and learning the ropes of it for the first time? This International Vegan Day, here’s helping you make better informed choices for some ‘hidden’ ingredients that turn even the most innocent banana into a non-vegan product. There's a lot more on this list, from candies, French fries, to even your favourite bottle of wine.
Gelatin
The beauty industry is obsessed with collagen, a protein which is found in animal skin and bones, and what does it have to do with gelatin? Gelatin is collagen. This product is used in desserts like panna cotta, marshmallows, gummy worms and jellies. This does not mean you stop enjoying squishy and jiggly delights like these sweet confections and desserts. There is a vegan or vegetarian alternative – agar agar, made from seaweed that the East has been using for centuries to make their own jellies, be it savoury or sweet.
Candy
Sweet treats can hide plenty of non-vegan surprises. There's gelatin, shellac (from lac insects), carmine or cochineal (from crushed beetles) and dairy-derived additives in the different flavours that are used in these sweet treats. Talking about hard candies, especially the glossy coatings, they tend to use shellac, and the red or pink colouring may use carmine. There’s also sugar in it (more about it below) that also tends not to be vegan.
Sugar
Sweets are synonymous with this country, and for every sweet, sugar is a given addition. However, not all sugar is vegan. In several places (especially in the US), refined sugar is processed using bone char (yes, from animal bones) to achieve that pristine white colour. While this practice is less common in India (and even Europe, in today’s day and and time), it’s always a good habit to check the sugar being used. You can look for unrefined, organic sugar like beet sugar and monk fruit sugar, as plant-based alternatives.
French Fries
Golden, crispy, and seemingly safe for a vegan diet, but not always. Many fast-food chains use certain flavourings or oils – like cooking the French fries in beef tallow, for that impeccable flavour. Places like the U.S McDonald's have the ‘world’s best fries’, because they use this trick (Indian chains might not use it). Some fries are also cooked in the same oil used for meat or animal products, or in animal fat directly. Unless specified, ask the servers if they cook vegetarian and vegan dishes with plant-based ingredients.
Bread
You’d think bread would be a simple mix of flour, water, and yeast (yeast is a fungus, which is vegan), but hidden ingredients can make it non-vegan. Some varieties tend to add milk, butter, or honey, while others rely on L-cysteine, an amino acid often derived from duck feathers, hog hair or even human hair. All of these are added to improve texture. Reading the label or buying from bakeries that clearly mark vegan loaves can help you avoid the rude shock.
Chocolate
Most chocolate starts as vegan (pure cocoa, sugar, cocoa butter), but many chocolate bars include dairy or other animal-derived ingredients. Milk chocolate or white chocolate almost always contains milk solids, fats from butter or whey. Even dark chocolate might include non-vegan additives or use equipment shared with other dairy products, so there’s the risk of contamination. So if you want chocolate that’s vegan, pick ones explicitly labelled vegan or check the ingredient list for milk, whey, or other dairy derivatives.
Bananas
The banana inside its peel is definitely vegan, with no animal products in there, but the exterior might have non-vegan elements. Some commercially-sprayed or coated bananas are treated with substances like chitosan, which is derived from crab and shrimp shells, and is said to extend their shelf-life. While less common in many markets, it’s possible, so if you’re buying heavily processed bananas (pre-peeled or packaged), it helps to check.
Potato Chips
Crunchy, snackable, but not always vegan - that’s potato chips for you! The plain-salted ones are often vegan, but other flavourings include dairy (whey, milk powder, buttermilk), honey, or even meat-derived seasonings. Some chips may also share equipment or frying oil with animal-based foods, which concerns vegans. To pick vegan chips: check the ‘flavour’ section for dairy and milk products, look for vegan certification, or pick simple flavours you can verify without much hassle.
Beers And Wine
That frothy pint might not be cruelty-free. Traditional beer brewing sometimes uses isinglass, a clarifying agent derived from fish bladders, to make the beverage appear clear. Some beers might include honey or lactose, too. Thankfully, many breweries now label their products as vegan, and plenty of brands use plant-based fining agents like moss instead. Wine too can be a surprise, using the same ingredient as beer to refine it. Some winemakers also use gelatin (animal collagen), casein (milk protein) or egg whites in the process.
The Fry’s the Limit
The deeper you dig, the more you realise how often animal products sneak into everyday foods, not for flavour, but convenience. Each swap, whether it’s asking what oil your fries are cooked in or picking unrefined sugar, becomes a quiet act of intention. Small choices, big impact. The fries might still be golden, but your conscience gets to stay that way, too.
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