Labels that say things like: ”may contain milk”
cause a lot of confusion for new Vegans
Just to give some context to the concept of ”may contain”,
until the 1980s products could contain allergens like nuts
but as long as they were made of less than 5% of the product,
the company could hide them without stating it on the packaging
By the 1990s regular has made food companies declare the presence of peanuts and then all other allergens
Following this ”may contain” labeling was introduced for products that are at risk of cross contamination
As an example, a processing line might produce both chocolate coated peanuts and
chocolate coated raisins
While it will be cleaned between making the different ones,
there is a possibility of traces of peanut material being present in the packs of chocolate covered raisins
Due to situations when people have had severe allergic reactions to traces of certain allergens,
there have been companies getting sued
The ”may contain” label has become vague and overused
The reason why most processed products have a number of many ”may contain” ingredients
is because manufacturers are just covering themselves legally
In most cases this ”may contain” means:
”Produced in a facility also handling or
produced on equipment also handling
something like milk or eggs or fish
For a lot of Vegans the idea of their food touching dead flesh,
salmonella in eggs and pus filled cow secretions is disgusting
and we discourage them from eating it
But the machinery is usually thoroughly washed before making the Vegan products
And these products are very unlikely to contain any milk, eggs or fish at all
But when you put it into perspective, these products are still Vegan
When you see it from the animal's point of view, being fussy doesn't help end the injustice
You're not supporting the dairy industry when you buy something that ”may contain” milk
So there should never be an ethical objection
If you have a severe allergy to ingredients like dairy and eggs, be mindful of the cross contamination,
but for majority of Vegans,
”may” is ok