Vegan Restaurants and Vegan Meats Sometimes Not Quite Vegan

quarrygirl.com recently went through Operation Pancake, in which they undercover investigated nearly two dozen vegan restaurants in Los Angeles looking for traces of eggs, milk and shellfish in a selection of takeout foods; what they discovered is that most fake meats used in vegan cuisine usually contains amounts of egg and/or milk, due to most of it coming from Taiwan -- which has a slightly different definition of what "vegetarian" entails. Not all ingredients are listed on Taiwanese products, and additionally, the translation process of ingredients from Chinese to English isn't always complete.

In Taiwan, the bulk of the vegetarian meat market are Buddhists, who don't eat meat or onions; products from animals such as eggs and milk are still allowed to be consumed. Taiwan, being one the major manufacturer of mock meats, has decided to enact new legislation which will label vegetarian foods more strictly. They will be classified into five types:

• Pure Vegetarian -- this is for the Buddhists -- no meat, garlic or onions.
• Contains No Meat, No Egg
• Contains No Meat, No Milk
• Vegetarian - Contains No Meat
• Vegan - Contains No Meat, No Egg and No Milk