Doritos Crisps/Chips - Not Suitable for Vegetarians

Hare Krishna

In my family/me we eat non-prasadam items now & again, but avoid meat/fish & eggs as far as we can

, ahem, the reason i laugh is well, i find foods that have no need for meat products contain them, so if we un-intentionally eat these items is that a considered a sin? I just found out Doritos Cool Original Flavour contains non-vegi substance, i have no idea what though..

Corn, vegetable oil, cool original flavour (milk proteins, flavourings, flavour enhancers (monosodium glutamate, disodium 5'-ribonucleotide), cheese solids, colour (annatto), soya oil), salt.

Bloody sudras.

We should carefully study the package of the stuff we buy to eat. According to my Gurudeva eating prasad is the best, second best is eating non offered things that are vegetarian (in case no prasad is available, during travel f.i.) - non veg food is strictly forbidden for Vaishnavas though.

One thing I've paid attention to lately is that many export products which have the list of ingredients in many languages have differences in the listing between the languages. Take for example some some potato chips that mention onions in Swedish and English, but not in Finnish. So, in export products with the ingredients list in several languages, if the product is something that you suspect of having something strange inside, do take the time to check both English and your native language.

Govindaramji,

I am pretty sure that it is the cheese solids that are not vegetarian in the Doritos. Last time I checked in 1999 every flavour in the Doritos range was not suitable for vegetarians. Generally, if anything claims to have cheese or cheese flavourings in it, be very careful! Here in England you'll often find that many manufacturers provide a customer service phone number - ringing them up is always very helpful, and they are usually able to send out lists and factsheets regarding other products that they and their affiliates manufacture.

Also, bear in mind that it is not just food that we have to be careful with - drinks are just as bad. Try and stick to pure fruit juices, as others may contain animal ingredients. For example, fish gelatine may be found in 'Lilt' and 'Fanta'. There are others also. Soaps and toothpastes are also just as problematic, and are in fact even more difficult to investigate.

Finally check where a product is manufactured. Often you'll find that products manufactured in Europe will not be vegetarian, whereas the same product manufactured in England will be. I know, strange but true.

The bottom line is that we're best off sticking to things that we make ourselves with raw ingredients. However in this day and age, where we are all reliant upon manufactured products to some extent, all we can do is check everything as thoroughly as circumstances, and then rely on Radha-Shyam to take care of the rest.

Jaya Radhe Govinda!

Jai Nitai
I would like to understand what is the ethical background for us vaishnavas why we should not eat anything contaminated with non-veg ingredients. Of course, I avoid any possible connection, but it is so difficult that you can practically forget 100% purity, unless you allow for a certain grey-zone. Even if you eat only prasad made from scratch, you are likely to have some ingredient that has come in touch with non-veg substances, esp if you include also the process of cultivation (animal ingredients in fertilizers used). If you buy flour to make bread, there are anti-clumping ingredients made of cow-bone. Even if you buy organic wheat, it is likely to have been grown with some kind of fish-bone ingredient in the fertilizer etc.

Cow bone is not only in the food, it's also in the paper we use, in the clothes, in colour, in everything.

So the ethical questions are of importance:

Is it that we are participating in the slaughter process, that such food should or could not be offered to the Lord, that it is impure, or which other consideration?

Another reason why I am asking is that as a society we are totally dependent on the system of cow slaughter. Milk products would have to be forbidden for us too, only Vegan life-style would be an option. Even then we continue to implicitely support the agro-policy of cow-slaughter. If you look thoroughly at how the agri-business works and how our societies are dependent on the policies operating in it, we cannot close our eyes from the fact that we are also in the net of its interdependences.
Jai Nitai