Veggie wine, and not a carrot in sight

[Daily Mail, 15 March 2016] ONE of the most bizarre modern food fads to hit the supermarket shelves is ‘vegetarian wine’. More than half of Waitrose’s wines, some 735 labels, are vegetarian-approved, with 545 being vegan. Marks and Spencer has 549 approved types, while Sainsbury offers 230 and Tesco 142. Being veggie, what these drinks don’t contain are animal-derived products which are widely used in the finishing process to make wine look clear and lower the risk that it will take on unwanted flavours and aromas before the bottle is opened. These products include EU-approved substances such as chitin (crustacean shell fibre), gelatin (from bones), fish oil, isinglass (fish bladders), casein (milk protein) and albumen (egg whites). Veggie friendly alternatives include bentonite — a type of clay. Most supermarkets use the vegan and/or vegetarian pictogram symbol (a green circle) on the label at the back of the bottle. But, of course, the label itself may be a problem — because animal based glues could have been used to stick it to the bottle!