Sadly, Oreos appear to no longer be vegan - at least in right now, in Germany. For foods like cookies, instant noodles, and similar foods that are usually made in huge factories with a lot of other products, you’d see a note telling that the product may contain traces of xyz. A couple years back, you’d see that note on a pack of Oreos, ie. “may contain traces of milk” and possibly some nuts or something. These days, it says “may contain milk” which is an important distinction to make. Apparently, the factory gives themselves the leeway to substitute parts of the vegan ingredients with non-vegan ones if it’s more financially viable to them. The usual formula might be vegan, but you’d have no way of knowing if this particular batch happens to not have any non-vegan ingredients in them
That being said, I, too, started avoiding Burger King, when their allergy information sheet contained all three versions of this disclaimer. (“May contain”, “May contain traces of” and “May be cross contained with”)
The usual formula might be vegan, but you’d have no way of knowing if this particular batch happens to not have any non-vegan ingredients in them
[X] Doubt
You’re basically saying it’s ok to lie about the ingredients if it’s financially cheaper than using the ingredients listed, which sounds like weapons grade horseshit.
Ediacarium left out an important word from the article they cited: “All purposefully added ingredients have to be listed under ‘ingredients’”. This does not include accidental cross-contamination.
The reason why produces seem to be moving away from the phrase ‘traces of’ is because it might lead the consumer to get a wrong picture of how much contamination happened. From the article:
“‘May contain traces of…’ can give the impression that allergens are contained inadvertently and only in small amounts, but that may not be the case for chunky contaminants like nuts.”
Sadly, Oreos appear to no longer be vegan - at least in right now, in Germany. For foods like cookies, instant noodles, and similar foods that are usually made in huge factories with a lot of other products, you’d see a note telling that the product may contain traces of xyz. A couple years back, you’d see that note on a pack of Oreos, ie. “may contain traces of milk” and possibly some nuts or something. These days, it says “may contain milk” which is an important distinction to make. Apparently, the factory gives themselves the leeway to substitute parts of the vegan ingredients with non-vegan ones if it’s more financially viable to them. The usual formula might be vegan, but you’d have no way of knowing if this particular batch happens to not have any non-vegan ingredients in them
This isn’t a legal loophole, the disclaimer is just unregulated and might not hold up in court. All ingredients have to be listed under ingredients, if they’re contained:
https://www.lebensmittelklarheit.de/fragen-antworten/unterschied-kann-spuren-von-und-kann-xy-enthalten
That being said, I, too, started avoiding Burger King, when their allergy information sheet contained all three versions of this disclaimer. (“May contain”, “May contain traces of” and “May be cross contained with”)
[X] Doubt
You’re basically saying it’s ok to lie about the ingredients if it’s financially cheaper than using the ingredients listed, which sounds like weapons grade horseshit.
You’re saying, in Germany, that the ingredients list is a lie if the package contains an allergy warning?
Ediacarium left out an important word from the article they cited: “All purposefully added ingredients have to be listed under ‘ingredients’”. This does not include accidental cross-contamination.
The reason why produces seem to be moving away from the phrase ‘traces of’ is because it might lead the consumer to get a wrong picture of how much contamination happened. From the article:
“‘May contain traces of…’ can give the impression that allergens are contained inadvertently and only in small amounts, but that may not be the case for chunky contaminants like nuts.”
Never heard of that loophole before, got a source for me to read more?