What ingredients should i be looking out for on a vegan diet?

I'm slowly changing to a vegan diet and apart from the obvious meat and dairy produce, what other ingredients have animal derivatives in? and where can i find a list of safe vegan foods? :)What ingredients should i be looking out for on a vegan diet?
In terms of food, it's not that hard:

basically, any PROCESSED food you buy off the shelf, even if it's labeled vegan, could still contain animal ingredients. Check out the story of the fake "vegan" marshmallows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi6FcFPg2鈥?/a>



Try to stick to whole foods as much as possible, i.e., fresh/frozen veggies %26amp; fruits, whole grains %26amp; legumes, etc. Eating this way is much healthier for you anyways.



Brace yourself, the list of hidden animal ingredients is long, as the animal agri-business has infiltrated every market to profit off of their slaughters. (Ugh, check out what's in some folks' perfume bottles: castorium, the anal sex gland of a farmed beaver! I'll stick to essential oils, thanks. Plus, any ingredient w/ the prefix "cetyl," which is practically every mainstream cosmetic/toiletry out there, is derived of whales.)



The list of animal ingredients to watch out for (it's not just in food!): http://www.vegetarian.ie/productpage.htmWhat ingredients should i be looking out for on a vegan diet?
gelatine, lactose, whey, albumen and rennet are all animal derivatives
Try www.vegcooking.com for recipes and ingredients for vegan diets.What ingredients should i be looking out for on a vegan diet?
Meat
I would stick with whole foods and very minimally processed foods. Items like fruits, veggies, nuts, beans, grains etc.What ingredients should i be looking out for on a vegan diet?
Lots of information for you here...

http://www.vegansociety.com/html/
Anything with gelatin in it would be an animal derivitive, like jello or marshmallows.



And on a related note, if you're going vegan make sure you get enough complete proteins; you can get those from combining different foods. This website explains a bit: http://www.bodyforlife2.com/incompletpro鈥?/a>
One nobody mentioned is confectioner's glaze, which is found VERY often in candies. It consists mainly of crushed bugs. Watch out for that one.
Stock up on tofu... if you don't like it on it's own then get the soft type you can make into sauces, dips and smoothies. Tofu actually has a higher percentage of digestable protein in than meat so it's a vegan's god-send. I have about 30 cartons in my cupboard!



If you want to be truly vegan then you should avoid honey and be careful when you go to asian restaurants as a lot of there sauces have bonito or fish stock in.



Being vegan can be annoying when eating out but it makes cooking at home fun... never thought I'd say that because I hated cooking but now that I have the challenge of making nutritional vegan meals for myself it really isn't too bad.



Good luck with everything... you should feel really good about yourself for being compassionate enough to try veganism.
cochineal, gelatine
look for the vegan society logo on processed foods. unfortunately manufacturers don't seem to make their labels very clear but at a quick glance the allergy advice part of the label should indicate if it contains milk or eggs or a derivative of them. I find it easier to make a lot of my foods from scratch, that way I avoid any hidden animal products and unnecessary preservatives etc.