We’re sure many of you have seen all the different varieties
of vegan milks available in stores today. The Vegetarian Resource Group has
been comparing vegan milks for many years and recently began updating our
comparative charts. The first category we examined is soy milks. The chart
reports nutritional information for a 1 cup (8-ounce serving) including
calories, protein, fat, sodium, calcium, vitamin D, and vitamin B12. We also
list the type of sweetener if used and whether or not the package or company’s
website mentions if the soy milk is vegan, gluten-free, and/or organic.
If you’re in the mood for creative vegan Chinese food, then
Mr. Chan restaurant in Pikesville, Maryland is a good place to visit. They
offer veggie sushi, vegan soups, main dishes featuring yuba, tempeh, tofu, and
seitan, as well as many vegetable and noodle options.
We recently sampled their vegan hot and sour soup, pan-fried
yuba and green beans with black bean sauce, and tofu with spinach. They serve
large portions and the food is delicious.
Vance Lehmkuhl is a vegan journalist and in the latest issue
of Vegetarian Journal he shares an article he wrote on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s
centuries of vegetarian activism. Learn about Benjamin Lay, Benjamin Franklin,
The Bible Christians, Sylvester Graham, Bronson and Louisa May Alcott, Angelina
and Sarah Grimke, and The American Vegetarian Society.
We had the opportunity to enjoy brunch for the second time
in two years at Sacred Chow in the Greenwich Village section of New York City,
New York. The food and service at this cozy vegan café is spectacular.
We dined on vegan Belgian waffles with fruit on top and their
Soy Buttermilk Biscuit Po’ Boy dish
consisting of tofu scramble, seitan medallions, steamed collards, coconut white
gravy, and home fries along with a biscuit. They also offer non-breakfast items
during their brunch including salads, soups, tapas, bowls, Paninis, and
burgers.
Sacred Chow is open Tuesday through Sunday for brunch and
dinner. They can be busy, so you may want to make a reservation. For more
information, see: https://sacredchow.com/
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) investigated toilet paper brands in November & December 2018 at the request of an online reader. Here is what we learned.
Charmin® by Proctor & Gamble® The following FAQ appears on Charmin’s website:
Q: Does Charmin contain animal derived ingredients?
A: Charmin may contain animal derived ingredients. Whenever possible, P&G uses plant-derived or synthetically-derived ingredients to substitute for animal derived materials (ADMs). In those cases where ADMs are necessary for product performance, P&G requires that all our suppliers provide ADMs that are safe and compliant with all regulations and industry guidelines.
Of all companies we asked, only P&G told us explicitly that there are “animal-derived materials” (ADMs) in all of their toilet tissue.
A Consumer Care Rep told The VRG: “Trace amounts of ADMs are in all Charmin bathroom tissue. There is no bathroom tissue without it…What the ADMs are is proprietary.”
The VRG then pursued a different line of inquiry. We asked Charmin if the company could reveal what the ADMs are NOT. We specifically asked if gelatin could be ruled out. We asked the question in this way to see if we could learn anything at all about the identity of their animal-derived materials.
For further clarification, we also asked two more questions:
Is Charmin toilet tissue kosher?
Which animal(s) is the source of the animal-derived materials?
Their Consumer Care Rep told us:
“We can’t confirm whether our bath tissue is kosher or not. Beef or pork is the source of the ADMs.”
We asked again whether gelatin could be the animal-derived material. The rep stated that she had received no direct response about this nor any more information from the Charmin department which fields consumer questions that the reps can’t answer.
VRG speculation: Given the “beef or pork” answer from Charmin, an answer that we’ve received many times from other companies selling various products, an educated guess would be that Charmin’s ADM is most likely gelatin, stearic acid or a stearic acid derivative. These are the animal-derived ingredients which make many other products non-vegan.
Today, gelatin, stearic acid and stearic acid derivatives are the most common ingredients derived from beef and pork. They are used in many food or personal care products. All three serve as “glue” in holding together other ingredients in all sorts of edible products like confections, desserts and pharmaceutical pills. In the case of toilet paper, the “glue” is needed to keep the paper fibers together.
Cottonelle® & Scott® Toilet Paper by Kimberly-Clarke®
There is nothing that we could locate on the Kimberly-Clarke website about animal-derived ingredients in Cottonelle toilet tissue.
Here’s the email we received:
“We would like to inform you that our products are composed of 100% virgin fibers along with processing aids. The processing aids are not directly manufactured from animal ingredients and none are intentionally added.
Some manufacturers of the raw materials use processing aids, fillers, or additives that may be synthesized from animal derived components.
Since these components may be present in trace amounts, and furthermore, are subjected to such intense processing heat, any possible animal derived component would be of no biological significance.
After reading this email, The VRG called KCC again for clarification. We were confused by the suggestion that the paper fibers are the sole “raw material” although a later sentence suggests there are “raw materials” (that is, more than one) in the final product.
Furthermore, it appeared that the raw materials had possibly been processed with ADMs.
Unfortunately, upon followup, we received the exact same email with no additional information.
Until we receive a definitive reply from KCC, The VRG cannot be absolutely sure that no ADMs were ever used at some point in the manufacture of the raw materials used to make their toilet tissue.
Quilted Northern® and Angel Soft® by Georgia-Pacific® We learned from the Quilted Northern website that the three plies in their toilet paper are held together by pressure using “…a proprietary mechanical bonding process…” Furthermore, the FAQ states that the toilet tissue is “primarily made of virgin wood pulp.”
The Angel Soft website did not give ingredient or processing information. When we called both companies, we spoke with the same person. He assured us: “There are no animal ingredients at all in our toilet tissue. There are no animal products in the glue.”
We chatted online. Here is our Q&A:
The VRG: Does your toilet paper contain animal-derived materials like gelatin?
Seventh Generation: We do not use any animal-derived ingredients in any of our products!
The VRG: Including the glues?
Seventh Generation: Including the adhesives
The VRG: Just the paper products or all of your products?
Seventh Generation: All of our products!
The VRG: So you’re a vegan company?
Seventh Generation: Yes. All of our products are considered vegan.
Grove Collaborative® Tree-Free Bath Tissue Grove offers an alternative to virgin or recycled wood pulp with its bamboo-sugar cane product.
We corresponded with Grove. Here is our Q&A:
The VRG: Are there any animal-derived materials in your toilet paper? Maybe to hold fibers together? Or maybe in the adhesive? Like gelatin?
Grove: There are no animal-derived materials that we are aware of. In reviewing the ingredients of the adhesive used… there was nothing like gelatin listed.
The VRG: For those concerned about the environmental degradation due to sugar plantations, from where do you source your sugar cane fibers?
Grove: The sugarcane we use for our product is actually a byproduct from sugar manufacturing in China that we upcycle to make paper products.
The VRG: How much sugar cane material is in the product versus bamboo? A ballpark percentage is fine.
Grove: Currently it’s about 50/50 bamboo/sugarcane.
The VRG: Are you thinking of making an all-bamboo product? Or with something other than sugar cane materials? Like what?
Grove: Yes, we are exploring the option of using 100% bamboo for a couple products. Given the need for a long fiber and a short fiber, not all product can successfully be made using 100% bamboo.
The VRG: Is your product certified pesticide-free? Like USDA Organic certified?
Grove: It is not officially certified pesticide-free, but bamboo naturally has anti-fungal and antibacterial properties deeming pesticides unnecessary.
Related VRG Articles
Here are some VRG articles on gelatin, stearic acid or stearic acid derivatives in other products: • Mint Table
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.
Ingredient information is not meant to discourage people from being vegetarian, to say someone is or is not vegetarian, or to give company staff and businesses a hard time. That would defeat the goal of vegetarians and vegans trying to create a kinder world. We live in an imperfect world, do the best we can, and strive to do better. We each make different decisions about what is appropriate for ourselves, where to draw lines, and what is practical for our situation. However, ingredient research can be used as an aid in meeting your needs or the needs of your clients and customers. To label items vegetarian and vegan, it’s best for full disclosure and to make sure all the ingredients are vegetarian and vegan.
Enter the 2019 Vegetarian Resource Group Kid’s Essay
Contest! The deadline is May 1, 2019 and details on the contest can be found
here: https://www.vrg.org/essay/
In the latest issue of Vegetarian Journal, The Vegetarian Resource Group’s Nutrition Advisor Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, reviews recent scientific papers related to vegetarianism. Some of the topics covered include:
Eat More Plant Foods to Reduce Cancer Risk Says Expert Panel
Linking Dietary Choices to Climate Change (this update was
written by former VRG intern Amy Dell with assistance from Reed)
In addition to The Vegetarian Resource Group’s quarterly vegan magazine (Vegetarian Journal), VRG publishes a national email newsletter called VRG-News each month, as well as a separate monthly Maryland email newsletter (focusing on Maryland activities). Vegan news is so vast these days that we saw the need to publish more than can fit in our quarterly magazine.
In the latest issue of Vegetarian Journal, the Nutrition Hotline column by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD, answers this question: “Are flaxseeds and other seeds good to eat? How much should I be eating? My doctor told me to eat more seeds so I’ve cut down on beans and have been eating seeds instead.”
Dr. Mangels starts her response with “Seeds are a good choice with a few caveats…They have less protein and much more fat than you’d get from a serving of beans providing a similar amount of calories. Seeds, for the most part, are somewhat lower in iron and higher or similar in zinc compared to beans on an amount per calorie basis…If you replaced beans with seeds, you’d end up eating more calories and fat to get the same amount of protein. On the other hand, including some seeds will give you a boost of zinc, copper, magnesium, and other essential minerals.”
Saturday, March 23, 2019, at 7pm , Congregation Beit Tikvah Corner Community Center, Roland Park 5802 Roland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21210
Learn to prepare vegan hamentashen and a variety of fillings. Marcia will also give ideas for vegan Passover dishes. Each attendee will receive a copy of Vegan Passover Recipes by Chef Nancy Berkoff, RD. Free for Beit Tikvah, Vegetarian Resource Group, Baltimore Vegan Drinks, and Jewish Veg members. $5 donation suggested for others. Please let us know if you are coming at https://www.facebook.com/events/347058466085887/ Or email [email protected]
Marcy Schveibinz became interested in food and nutrition when growing up in Buffalo, NY with her Dad who became a “health nut,” and started eating “whole wheat bagels” which weren’t easy to get in the ’70s! Marcy has a degree in nutrition from Buffalo State College. She is a national board certified health and wellness coach and did her training through the Mayo clinic. She has two vegan children.
Vegetarianism is not eating meat, fish, or fowl. Vegans are vegetarians who also don’t eat dairy, eggs, or other animal products.
In Genesis 1:29, God said, “Behold, I have given you every seed bearing herb, which is upon the surface of the entire earth, and every tree that has seed bearing fruit; it will be yours for food.
We were instructed in the first conversation with a human to eat plants, not animals (that is being vegan). Isaiah revisited these instructions in the most iconic verse of his written prophecy. In imagining the Messianic era, Isaiah wrote: “ ‘The wolf and the lamb shall dwell together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,’ saith the LORD.” Thousands of years ago, Isaiah realized that the trailhead on the path to peaceful coexistence is found in our stomachs, in our dietary choices.
According to the Jewish Veg society, “The prohibition on killing animals for food remained in place for 1,000 years. Only after the Flood … did God permit meat-eating for the first time, and even then only with severe restrictions and deep reservations. None other than Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik, one of the founders of Modern Orthodoxy, described meat-eating as the most reluctantly granted permission in all the Torah:”
For more information on the Jewish vegan cooking demo, call 9am to 5pm Monday through Friday (410) 366-8343.
The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public on veganism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics, and world hunger. We have been helping health professionals, food services, businesses, educators, students, vegans, and vegetarians since 1982. In addition to publishing the Vegan Journal, VRG produces and sells a number of books.
Sign up for our newsletter to receive recipes, ingredient information, reviews of new products, announcements of new books, free samples of products, and other VRG materials.
