What to do when you accidentally eat animal products

Taylor

May 1

So I was all prepared to talk to you about the special edition Eid doughnut that Krispee Kreme brought out, because it was new and I of course had to try it. It was labelled as accidentally vegan, as it had no milk or eggs in it and when I checked the allergen menu online it looked good to go. So I bought it and had it as a very nice treat after my 8km run last weekend.

But later that night I was reading a post on one of my online Facebook Groups where someone had shared a sweet treat that was covered in sprinkles. Someone had commented to ask what the sprinkles were made out of and it was at this moment that I was reminded about shellac.

Shellac is an ingredient that is derived from animals. Shellac is actually a resin that is secreted by the female lac bug from Thailand. It is used in baking and cooking to give sprinkles and other such foods its glossy and crunchy covering. Now I don't know why I didn't think to check. I wasn't certain that the little gold stars on this doughnut were indeed sprinkles so the whole issue just slipped my mind entirely. It was only when I saw this conversation thread that I finally checked the actual ingredient list. And yes...the gold stars were made with shellac.

I also checked some of the other sprinkles that were on the other doughnuts, and whilst they did not contain shellac, they did still contain beeswax. To say I felt guilty is an understatement. I felt so annoyed at myself for forgetting about these little ingredients that would not show up as an allergen, so they wouldn't be listed in plain view in most shops. I am always trying to be so careful and the one time I just didn't check ahead of time I ended up eating an animal product.

I was really in quite a funk for the rest of the evening, feeling as though I had failed in some way. But then I tried to remember how I would deal with this had it happened to someone else. Now if this happened to anyone else, I would tell them to not beat themselves up. Accidents happen all the time and it doesn't mean you're a 'bad vegan' because of something you didn't even know about. I have sprinkles at home that I use for baking that are vegan friendly, so I guess it just slipped my mind that many products out there still use non-vegan ingredients.

Mistakes happen and accidents happen. There is no such thing as a 'perfect vegan' so it is perfectly ok to make a mistake, especially when it relates to something that you wouldn't even think to check if it's vegan or not. The main ethos of veganism is to do as little harm as possible, and if you were not intending to eat something with animal product in, then you can't really be blamed for doing so accidentally. It's also not like this is a bacon butty, or a steak. It is an ingredient that is very rarely spoken about and again, if you weren't able to check ingredient lists prior to ordering then you wouldn't know any different just by looking at it all. If anything, I am glad that I did have this little slip up in some way as it has reminded me that I do not know everything. Next time a new product is released, I should remember to fully check the ingredients of a product and not just the allergens on display, so that I can avoid any other little mishap like this.

Regarding the doughnut, I think it was even worse to me because it was actually a very mediocre doughnut. It was basically just an original glaze but with green icing and golden stars on it. Nothing that great, and I was disappointed that I had to eat animal product, and didn't even get a surprisingly wonderful meal out of it. Felt like another little kick to myself to be a bit more vigilant moving forward.