Mono- and Diglycerides
Posted by Heidi Moore on Dec 06, 2008 · Member since Jul 2007 · 1 posts
A while ago I was told that anything containing Mono- and Diglycerides isn't vegan. I tried looking up what exactly Mono- and Diglycerides are, and haven't really been able to put my finger on what makes it not vegan.
Will someone please tell me what Mono- and Diglycerides are, and what is non-vegan about it. After my friend told me about it, I realized it's in a zillion things. Grocery shopping has been very stressful lately :'(.lol
I've been wondering this too! Alright, it says in the garden of vegan that monoglycerides are from animal fat. in margarines, cake mixes, candies, foods etc. in cosmetics. alternative (vegetable glycerides).
Glycerin. a byproduct of soap manufacture (normally uses animal fat). alternative: vegetable glycerin.
so as long as it has the word vegetable in front of it, its ok, and i've seen that sometimes.
just my two cents, its really difficult to find certain things totally vegan because of all of these little things. Sometimes, I will buy some bread that has honey in it because all of the other breads have sodium sterol lactate, you just have to pick your battles i guess. should you worry about the little things? its up to you!
I have understanding that if it is not specified, it can be either veg or animal based .
I will not eat anything with mono/di-glycerides.
But will if it is specified as vegetable..
From The Vegan Sourcebook by Jo. Stepaniak, pg. 202-203:
Glycerides: "These emulsifying and defoaming agents, obtained from glycerol found in animal or plant sources, are used in numerous processed foods such as commercial baked goods, peanut butter, shortening, chocolate, whipped toppings, jelly, frozen desserts, margarine, and candy, to preserve, sweeten, emulsify, and improve moisture retention. Outside the food industry, glycerides and glycerol (aka glycerin and glycerine) are used in the manufacture of cosmetics, perfumes, skin emollients, inks, certain glues and cements, solvents, and automobile antifreeze."
glyceraldehydes are fats, they're a glyerol molecule and a combination of fatty acids and mono or di just indicates the number of fatty acids on a glycerol molecule, so it could be plant or animal.
*edit* I can't remeber how to spell glyceraldehyde, and my browser won't let the spell check pop up.