Vegan is the stricter claim, so people assume a vegetarian label is simply "vegan plus dairy and eggs". It is not. Vegetarian has its own list of banned ingredients, and several of them are not obvious from the name: gelatin, animal rennet, isinglass, carmine, shellac, lard and tallow all disqualify a product from a vegetarian claim, and all of them turn up in foods that look meat-free on the front.
We searched the ingredient lists of 35,549 products for each of these. The counts below are products where the word appears in the list, and each name links to an example page where you can read the label in full.
Gelatin: 1,106 products
Gelatin is collagen from pork or beef skin and bone. It sets gummy sweets, marshmallows, jelly and some yogurts and mousses. It appears in 1,106 products in our database, far more than any other item on this list, and almost all of them are sweets.
Examples: Haribo Goldbears (glucose syrup, sugar, gelatin, then beeswax further down), Haribo Chamallow, Black Forest Gummy Bears, Trolli Gummi Candy and Dr. Oetker Götterspeise, the German jelly powder.
The label does not say what animal the gelatin came from, which is also why gelatin sits on the halal and kosher watch lists. Some brands now use pectin or starch instead; the ingredient list is the only way to tell.
Rennet: 85 products, 21 of them vegetarian
Rennet is the enzyme that curdles milk into cheese. Traditional rennet comes from the stomach lining of calves. Microbial and "vegetarian" rennet does the same job without the animal. On labels the word "rennet" alone usually means the traditional kind, while "vegetarian rennet", "microbial rennet" or "vegetable rennet" means the alternative.
Of the 85 products in our data that mention rennet, 21 specify a vegetarian source. Babybel reads "pasteurised milk, salt, lactic ferments, vegetarian rennet". Comté reads "raw milk, salt, lactic ferments, rennet", and Comté's protected designation calls for traditional animal rennet. Tillamook Whole Milk Mozzarella says "animal rennet" outright.
Most cheese labels do not mention rennet at all; "enzymes" or "cultures" is the usual wording, especially in the US, and it leaves the question open. Parmesan, Grana Padano, Gorgonzola and Comté are protected names whose rules require animal rennet, so those are never vegetarian whatever the wording.
Isinglass: 0 products
Isinglass is a fish-bladder gelatin used to clarify beer and wine. It appears on zero ingredient lists in our data, for a simple reason: it is a processing aid, not an ingredient, and processing aids do not have to be declared. A beer or wine can be fined with isinglass and carry a clean label. Only the producer knows, which is why vegan beer databases rely on brewers' statements rather than labels.
Carmine, E120: 233 products
Carmine, also written cochineal, carminic acid or E120, is a red pigment made from crushed scale insects. It colours red sweets, some yogurts, drinks and cured meats. We found it in 233 products, among them Haribo Chamallows Choco, Hacendado Gelatina Sandía and Chivers raspberry jelly. It is neither vegetarian nor vegan, and it is one of the few E numbers that is never either.
Shellac, E904: 115 products
Shellac is a resin secreted by the lac insect, used as a glossy coating on sweets, chocolate-coated nuts, sprinkles and some fruit. Written as "glazing agent (shellac)" or E904. We found it in 115 products, for example Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Creations and Dr. Oetker Rainbow Magic sprinkles. Not vegan; whether it is vegetarian is debated, since the insects are harvested with the resin, and most vegetarian certification bodies exclude it.
Beeswax, E901: 292 products
Beeswax coats gummy sweets so they do not stick, and glazes some fruit and chocolate. E901 appears in 292 products in our data, most of them gummies from Haribo, Fini and their supermarket equivalents. It is vegetarian and not vegan, the same status as honey.
L-cysteine, E920: 105 products
L-cysteine is a dough conditioner that softens bread and makes it easier to machine. Historically it was made from feathers, hog hair or human hair; today it is mostly made by fermentation, but the label does not say which. It appears in 105 products in our data, nearly all bread: Warburtons Baker's Bloomer, Deli Kitchen Carb Lite Wraps, and bagels from Gadoua. We show these as "not sure" rather than as a fail, because the source is unknown from the label.
Lard and tallow: 24 and 16 products
Pork fat and beef fat, written plainly, in pastry, refried beans, some tortillas and, in North America, cake mixes and snack cakes. Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix lists lard; Hostess Cupcakes list beef tallow. These are rare in our data because most bakers switched to palm and rapeseed decades ago, which is a separate story we cover in our palm oil posts.
Anchovy and fish sauce: 124 products
Worcestershire sauce contains anchovies, and it is in a lot of things: barbecue sauces, baked beans, marinades, savoury snacks. We found anchovy, fish sauce or Worcester in 124 products, including Calvé Honey BBQ and H-E-B BBQ Beans. Some labels only say "Worcester sauce" as a sub-ingredient without listing the anchovies inside it, so the word Worcester is itself the signal.
What the crowd says versus what the label says
Open Food Facts, whose product data we use, lets contributors tag whether a product is vegetarian. In our 35,549 products the tags read: vegetarian 8,348; maybe vegetarian 4,832; not vegetarian 4,378; unknown 17,945. Half the database has no answer at all, and the "maybe" group is the gray zone this post is about: products where a word like "rennet", "flavouring" or "E471" leaves the question open.
That gray zone is real and it is not going away. A label that says "enzymes" or "glazing agent" is following the law and still not telling you what you want to know. The practical rule: a certified vegetarian or vegan mark on the front settles it; without a mark, the ingredient list settles it only when it is specific.
FAQ
Is gelatin vegetarian?
No. Gelatin is made from animal skin and bone, usually pork or beef. Products that set with pectin, agar or starch are the vegetarian alternatives, and the ingredient list will name them.
Is cheese vegetarian?
Only if the rennet is vegetarian or microbial. Labels that say "vegetarian rennet" or carry a vegetarian mark are safe. Labels that say "rennet" or "enzymes" without qualification usually mean animal rennet, and protected cheeses like Parmesan and Comté always use it.
Why is isinglass never on the label?
Because it is a processing aid used to clear beer and wine, and processing aids are exempt from ingredient labelling. The finished drink contains almost none of it, but the process is not vegetarian, so vegan drinkers rely on producer statements.
Which E numbers are never vegetarian?
Carmine (E120) and shellac (E904) come from insects and are excluded by all major vegetarian certifiers. Beeswax (E901) is vegetarian but not vegan. For the full list see our post on E numbers that are always, sometimes and never vegan.