I work for a nutritional analysis software company, dealing daily with food labels, labeling laws, and my own strong beliefs in "truth in advertising." I have a very hard time justifying the labeling laws that allow food manufacturers to round data, thus concealing important information by changing the serving sizes to "hide" nutritional content that would make their products look bad. This is especially true for the Trans Fat labeling law which allows a manufacturer to have up to 2 grams of Trans Fat in a cookie, round their label data for Trans Fat down to 0 grams and actually report on their packaging that their cookies are Trans Fat Free. If something is stated as having zero trans fat, it should definitely not have ANY partially hydrogenated oil in the ingredients list. If there is partially hydrogenated oil in a food item, then it will have trans fat, and how many people do you know who only eat one cookie? I spend a lot of time determining food characteristics from ingredient lists and wishing that the food industry was as concerned as I am by these inconsistencies.
So by now you must be wondering why am dusting off my personal soapbox and ranting about food and labeling laws. "What does this have to do with jewelry and my blog you ask?" Well here is the long convoluted explanation....
I have a friend who is vegan. And although there is no way in this lifetime that I will ever be able to turn my guys (my husband and two sons who are very much meat eaters in every possible way, shape, and form) towards a fully vegetarian lifestyle, let alone have them go vegan; I personally was raised in a vegetarian household, prefer a vegetarian lifestyle, throw as many vegetarian meat products into our diet as I possibly can (I never cook actual meat, leaving that up to my husband and restaurant cooks), and would actually embrace the vegan lifestyle whole-heartedly if our kitchen only had to provide for me. Therefore, I appreciate my vegan friend and try hard to be supportive and more conscientious about my own purchases whether it is food, clothing, or household items.
Because of this growing awareness of the vegan lifestyle and the challenges of finding vegan friendly everyday items, I have begun to mark all of my jewelry and fiber arts as "Vegan Friendly" when applicable. I have also noticed that I am no longer buying new supplies that are not vegan friendly. Unfortunately, in some cases I am not even sure anymore about the fiber content of some of the yarns in my huge (and I mean huge) stash. I am unable to just throw away all the supplies I have purchased over the years, because I really can't afford to do so at this time. So, I will still be using them until they are gone, however I have noticed that I no longer buy jewelry or art/fiber supplies that are not vegan friendly.
All of my products have an "ingredient list" in their listing if at all possible, and if the item is indeed vegan friendly, I am now posting a statement in the listing that says: "This piece is vegan-friendly, meaning no animal products (pearls, silk, leather, wool, etc.) were used in its construction." Plus I am adding Vegan as a tag for these items.
I hope this is helpful to all you wonderful vegans out there.
Slainte!
So by now you must be wondering why am dusting off my personal soapbox and ranting about food and labeling laws. "What does this have to do with jewelry and my blog you ask?" Well here is the long convoluted explanation....
I have a friend who is vegan. And although there is no way in this lifetime that I will ever be able to turn my guys (my husband and two sons who are very much meat eaters in every possible way, shape, and form) towards a fully vegetarian lifestyle, let alone have them go vegan; I personally was raised in a vegetarian household, prefer a vegetarian lifestyle, throw as many vegetarian meat products into our diet as I possibly can (I never cook actual meat, leaving that up to my husband and restaurant cooks), and would actually embrace the vegan lifestyle whole-heartedly if our kitchen only had to provide for me. Therefore, I appreciate my vegan friend and try hard to be supportive and more conscientious about my own purchases whether it is food, clothing, or household items.
Because of this growing awareness of the vegan lifestyle and the challenges of finding vegan friendly everyday items, I have begun to mark all of my jewelry and fiber arts as "Vegan Friendly" when applicable. I have also noticed that I am no longer buying new supplies that are not vegan friendly. Unfortunately, in some cases I am not even sure anymore about the fiber content of some of the yarns in my huge (and I mean huge) stash. I am unable to just throw away all the supplies I have purchased over the years, because I really can't afford to do so at this time. So, I will still be using them until they are gone, however I have noticed that I no longer buy jewelry or art/fiber supplies that are not vegan friendly.
All of my products have an "ingredient list" in their listing if at all possible, and if the item is indeed vegan friendly, I am now posting a statement in the listing that says: "This piece is vegan-friendly, meaning no animal products (pearls, silk, leather, wool, etc.) were used in its construction." Plus I am adding Vegan as a tag for these items.
I hope this is helpful to all you wonderful vegans out there.
Slainte!
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