green olives

[Jillene]

I love green olives. But a year or two ago I actually looked at the ingredients, which I figured would just say, "olives". Nope. Everyone of them included lactic acid. Does anyone know of a brand that is lactic acid free?
Thanks!!

[beth]

Not all lactic acid comes from animals. Much of it is vegetable derived, like in olives and pickles. You might want to check on that.

[annie7]

Ditto what Beth said. Contact the company.

[duckie1978]

Don't you wish the companies would put dairy derived or nondairy derived to make life a lot easier? Instead we have to waste all this time by contacting them and often times the customer serviced people have no clue what you are talking about!

[Jillene]

Thanks for your quick replies.

I know that some lactic acid is not animal derived, but I just can't bring myself to call the company and talk to people who will probably just blow me off and think I'm crazy.

Apparently some people think I'm crazy for caring anyway. I don't really find it difficult to read the ingredients on my foods and it makes me feel good to actually take a look at what's in there.
I was very disappointed when I recently wrote to Peta asking them about their I Can't Believe It's Vegan site. I was so excited to see that certain items were vegan so I wrote to ask them if they had actually checked into the items that had certain ingredients (ie, mono- and diglycerides) that could be animal or veg derived. I had assumed that they had checked since they were basically advertising for those products. Anyway, I was not happy with the response, which follows:

Thank you for contacting PETA about the products that appear on our "I Can’t Believe It’s Vegan!" list. We understand your concern that some of these products may contain ingredients, such as monoglycerides, stearoyl lactylic acid, and natural flavors, that are derived from animals. We also appreciate this chance to explain our position.

Since you’re checking out lists of animal ingredients in the first place, we’re betting that you’re trying to root them out of your diet, and we applaud you for going vegan—without question, it is the best thing that you can do for animals, yourself, and the Earth. However, it’s important to remember that veganism isn’t a dogma but rather an animal-friendly lifestyle.

We want to offer as many options as possible to people who are trying to make the switch to a more compassionate way of living. We prepared the list of vegan foods in order to demonstrate how easy it can be to become a vegan. We want all those who currently believe that vegans have "nothing to eat" to realize that veganism is a feasible, realistic option for everyone. Adopting a vegan diet should not be regarded as a chore; we want to help people make the switch to a compassionate diet with as little effort as possible.

Unfortunately, it is virtually impossible to make absolutely sure that nothing that we eat has ever come into contact with animal-derived products. Let’s not pretend that even "pure" vegan food hasn’t been processed with electricity that destroys habitat, delivered in gas-fueled vehicles, and so on. Sadly, everything that we eat involves some degree of animal suffering. Indeed, there are many "pure" vegan foods that surely cause more suffering (to animals who are caught in combines, who eat pesticides or herbicides, etc.) than foods that contain minuscule amounts of some product that may be animal-derived. Our goal is to reduce animal suffering as much as possible.

For a further discussion of this topic, please check out the essay on the following Web page: http://www.CaringConsumer.com/labels.html.

We respect your views and realize that the issues that you raise are complex. As animal activists, we face similar issues and decisions every day. Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for doing all you can to help animals.

Sincerely,

Alexandra Arbogast
Vegan Campaigns Administrative Assistant
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
757-962-8257 | Fax: 757-628-0784 | GoVeg.com

(I know this is getting really long.)
But when I wrote back to say that I was disappointed that they were advertising products as vegan that may not be vegan, she wrote back again. Personally, I don't feel that I am doing more harm than good by being a "pure" vegan. Email follows:

I'm sorry to hear that you do not understand our position on this. Many of us here at PETA attempted to be "pure" vegans until we realized that, in so many ways, we were doing the animals more harm than good. We believe that being vegan is about what's best for animals (what will create the most change to alleviate their suffering), rather than our personal purity (which is impossible anyways).

Thanks for your time,


Alexandra Arbogast
Vegan Campaigns Administrative Assistant
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
757-962-8257 | Fax: 757-628-0784 | GoVeg.com

[annie7]

Wow. Thanks for posting all that. I had no idea :eek: .

[beth]

You could email them, rather than calling them. That's always easier for me, and every company I have contacted has been polite about it.

[Christa]

Sorry about the PETA thing - that's a bummer. Although I sometimes take the same view that they are (I can't check every derivative in every food), I do try for the most part to avoid anything that could be animal derived.

While I do agree that one can still call him/herself vegan and be as "flexible" about natural colors, etc. as s/he is comfortable being, I don't think that it is fair for PETA to imply that you are actually harming more animals by being less flexible. Sounds kind of defensive to me.

Back to the OP, Jillene, I did find the same thing in many kalamata olives a while back (I love those!). I find that email works well, too. If you do call, and don't want to get labeled as a weirdo, tell the cs rep that you are deathly allergic to lactose (only the kind that comes from cow's milk, though;) ) & they will likely take you seriously! Most cs reps don't know that true allergies are usually to a protein (like casein in milk, not lactose). They won't want to get sued, so they should be able to get the info correct.

[Jillene]

That's funny, Christa. I'll try the allergic thing...
thanks!

[PikkuMyy]

Every single food with lactic acid I've come across comes from beets. It's the cheapest thing so I'm sure that is what's used.