Accidentally Vegan – a discovery
- Shellac or lac resin is a product that is imported from India and is used in waxes for citrus fruits, apples and pears. It is a product that is derived from the secretions of the tiny lac insect. The lac insect secretes “lac-resin” from its glands onto a host tree.
Many accidentally vegan products are made in a facility that processes allergen foods, which are usually nuts, milk and egg. Being an animal-free chef and a product reviewer, I buy those products to try. I fully understand and applaud those who refuse to participate, since some animal product will invariably end up in the finished product – mostly due to workers who cut corners and bosses who don’t want to waste one minute of time, since time is money. Whatever the reason, doesn’t matter at this point, I’m going to purchase those products.
The animal-freer world needs both of us – the strict vegans who refuse to financially support that which isn’t 100% vegan, and those animal-freers who focus on the contents of a recipe, regardless of the sloppy process. I strive to bring the Big Players of food production into our animal-free recipes by focusing on what they do right in the recipes that they already have in their product line that do not contain animal products.
Today it’s Junior Mints – my childhood favorite. My shopper brought back four packs today and I was so surprised and happy at once that I get to try again after all these decades a product that as a kid I thought was the best candy ever made.
130 calories per 12 pieces. Minimum 35 pieces.
Junior Mints were introduced in 1949 by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based James O. Welch Company. The company also manufactured candies and candy bars such as Sugar Babies, Welch’s Fudge, and Pom Poms.”
Just as I thought I was in the clear, lo and behold confectioner’s glaze (an ingredient in Junior Mints) pops up as a coating on these little devils containing goo (also called shellac) from insects collected in Asia and sold globally as confectioner’s glaze. Come to find out further, this same goo is used to coat/preserve many of the fresh fruits we commonly buy in the market. So, each time you eat an apple that looks polished, you are more than likely eating the goo from these Asian bugs.
- Shellac or lac resin is a product that is imported from India and is used in waxes for citrus fruits, apples and pears. It is a product that is derived from the secretions of the tiny lac insect. The lac insect secretes “lac-resin” from its glands onto a host tree.
Where there’s a conflict, there is a solution and so it was today as I accidentally landed upon a site selling vegan confectioner’s glaze.
FloZein Products
A Flo Chemical Corp Company
World Leading Manufacturer of Vegan Coatings Since 1976
MasterCoat Glaze and Polish for Confectionery
FloZein Products offers ready-to-use MasterCoat® glazes and polishes, which reduce materials requirements and production time across a host of current product lines. The MasterCoat® product line provides a clean label, plant plant-based alternative to shellac and hydrocarbon-based synthetic coatings for use in food and confectionery products. All MasterCoat® products are:
• Vegan
• GMO-free
• Ⓤ Kosher and Halal-compliant
• Gluten, lactose, and sugar free
• Clean label and biodegradable
So, since this goo from India is part of the recipe and didn’t occur accidentally by someone not washing vats thoroughly or at all between vegan and non-vegan product made in factories, then I must decline to eat further any of these little devils until such time we stop buying insect goo from India. That’s probably not going to happen in my lifetime unless India gets a conscience and stops selling insect goo. Who would even think to make something of the goo on trees that evidently is the habitat of these sought after insects. Leave the critters alone. I do not want them in my food, period.
There’s worse news here than Junior Mints containing Indian goo derived from “lac” insects.
India has just made true every vegan’s worst nightmare. Apples in the produce section are no longer vegan. Once you put a recipe onto a fresh anything, it becomes open to an animal-free or not interpretation. If the glaze on the fruit contains insects purposely applied, then it is not animal-free.
WHOA.
https://www.zeinproducts.com/mastercoat-glaze-and-polish
AFC BULL MARKET KITCHEN™ FREEDOM ON A PLATE 