The Criterion Collection of junk food: 19 snacks and sodas we wish were still on the market

Don’t worry, this is not going to become a home for vegan smugness. i knew to avoid gelatin and  rennet, but some of these others i wasn’t aware of.

From TheGirlieGirl Army (they also have a list of “vegan-friendly” halloween snacks if that is your thing; it isn’t really specific though (ie. “lays potato chips”):

BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY: You won’t want to give these disgusting hidden animal ingredients the time of day.  Take a good look at the ingredient list below so you know what to avoid in all your food stuffs, particularly your sweets.

• Casein-Whey’s cousin, casein is made from curdled milk. Yuck!
• Gelatin-Rhymes with “skeleton.” Coincidence? I think not. Gelatin is a protein made by boiling cows’ and pigs’ skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Jell-O? Heck, no!
• Honey-Sure, honey tastes sweet, but you’ll get a bad taste in your mouth when you learn how it’s “harvested.” From a former beekeeper: “[T]ypically, beekeepers are gloved and netted to avoid stings (nearly every bee who stings will die due to her entrails being pulled from her body attached to her stinger.) Then the hives are opened as quickly as possible and the bees are ‘smoked.’ Smoke from a smoldering fire carried in a ‘smoker’ is pumped into the hive and the bees are ‘calmed.’ In spite of this, the combs are pulled quickly and many bees are crushed in the process. When a bee is hurt, she releases a chemical message that alerts and activates the hive members who proceed to attack the intruder-giving their lives in the process.”
• Lard-Lard is such a gross word, it almost makes you wonder why they just don’t call it what it is: “Fat from hog abdomens.”
• Pepsin-If the thought of eating lard turns your stomach, stay away from pepsin, a clotting agent from pigs’ stomachs, used in some cheeses and vitamins.
• Rennet-Certain words just make you cringe, like coagulate, congeal, clot-which is what rennet, an enzyme taken from baby calves’ stomachs, is used for in cheese production.
• Stearic Acid-It may sound less gross than “lard,” but stearic acid, which often rears its ugly head in chocolate and vitamins, comes from a fatty substance taken from slaughtered pigs’ stomachs-or from cows, sheep, or dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters. Still want to chew on that piece of Fido?
• Cetyl Palmitate-Check your head if you’re using margarine that contains cetyl palmitate, the fancy term for the waxy oil derived from sperm whales’ heads or from dolphins. “I can’t believe it’s not ” oh, wait. It is” Whale head wax”?
• Urea-Urea comes from urine and other “bodily fluids.” It’s used to “brown” baked goods, like pretzels. Um, yeah. And the oven is for ??