Castoreum is a beaver gland secretion that the internet loves to put in your vanilla ice cream. It is an animal product, and also almost never in your ice cream anymore.
Made fromBeaver castor-sac secretion
Labelled asNatural flavouring (historically)
VerdictNot vegan
Where it hides
Perfume and fragrance
Rare historical flavourings
Some tinctures
Almost never in modern food
What it is
Castoreum comes from the castor sacs near the base of a beaver's tail, which the animal uses to scent-mark. Harvesting it means the animal, so it is unambiguously not vegan.
Primary source 01 / 01
Castoreum is a yellowish exudate from the castor sacs of mature beavers used in combination with urine to scent mark their territory.
A popular claim says castoreum hides in most vanilla flavouring. It does not. Harvesting it is labour-intensive and expensive, so its food use has dwindled to almost nothing, and today's vanilla flavour is nearly always vanilla extract or synthetic vanillin. Castoreum is still an animal product, worth knowing, just not worth the panic.
Natural flavours / natural flavorsMost 'natural flavours' really are plants and microbes. But the legal box is big enough to hold meat, dairy, eggs and even a secretion from a beaver, and the label almost never says which.
VanillinVanillin is the molecule that makes vanilla taste like vanilla, and most of it is made in a factory or from wood. Despite the internet's favourite rumour, it is not beaver.
HoneyHoney is made by bees, and bees are animals, so honey is not vegan. Maple syrup, agave and date syrup are the usual swaps.
Frequently asked
Is castoreum in vanilla ice cream?
Almost never today. Castoreum is expensive and difficult to collect, so its use in food is very rare, and vanilla flavour is nearly always from vanilla extract or synthetic vanillin. When castoreum is used, it is an animal product and not vegan.
How would I spot castoreum on a label?
It would fall under natural flavouring rather than being named, which is one reason certified-vegan labelling is useful if this concerns you. In practice it is very seldom used.
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