Travelling as a vegan can be amazing, but it also comes with its little challenges. And one of the biggest is standing in a foreign supermarket, holding a snack that looks vegan, staring at the ingredients list, and wondering what on earth half of the words mean.

Sometimes labels look familiar enough to guess. Other times you feel like you’re trying to solve a puzzle before you get your dinner.

And in some European countries, things like milk powder, egg white or honey appear in foods you wouldn’t expect: crisps, biscuits, even bread. So having a simple guide to ingredient translations makes vegan travel so much easier and takes the stress out of food shopping.

This guide pulls everything into one place. A quick reference list of common non-vegan ingredients, plus translations in several popular European languages including French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch, Greek, Polish and Scandinavian languages.

Whether you’re self-catering in an apartment, travelling with kids, road tripping as vegans, or just hoping to pick up an easy snack while exploring a city, this should help make shopping quicker, easier and more confident.

Why Reading Labels Abroad Can Be Confusing

Food labelling laws vary across Europe. While allergens are often highlighted or bold, words and phrasing still differ, and some ingredients are disguised under technical names or additives.

A few things that can make it tricky:

• Milk can appear as whey, casein or lactose
• Egg ingredients are sometimes listed using scientific terms
• E numbers don’t always explain their origin (for example, E120 = carmine = insects)
• Some packaging lists ingredients in multiple languages, others only one
• Some local products don’t include an English translation at all

So having a few key words to look out for helps massively.

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Common Non-Vegan Ingredients In English

This is the main list to be aware of when scanning labels in any country. If you learn just a few, these are the ones that appear most often.

• Milk
• Dairy
• Whey
• Casein
• Lactose
• Butter
• Egg / albumen
• Honey
• Gelatin / gelatine
• Shellac (often used on sweets and shiny coatings)
• Carmine / cochineal (red colouring from crushed insects, often listed as E120)
• Fish oil
• Anchovy extract
• Beef or chicken stock
• Collagen
• Lard
• Rennet (enzyme used in cheese production, often animal-derived)
• Beeswax (sometimes written as E901)

Not all E numbers are non-vegan, but some commonly avoided ones include:

• E120 (carmine, insects)
• E441 (gelatin)
• E904 (shellac, insects)
• E901 (beeswax)

If in doubt, scanning with a translation app or searching the additive number helps.

Non-Vegan Ingredients To Avoid In Different European Languages

Below is a simple breakdown by language. You don’t need to memorise everything. Even recognising just one or two words can make shopping much easier. Why not bookmark this blog post and refer when it when travelling to these countries?

Having travelled through many of these countries, most of the main or larger supermarkets have vegan/vegetarian sections, and most have clear “vegan” labelling on packaging in English, making it easy to spot.

However, many breads, as an example, and other foodstuffs don’t have such labelling, and many contain egg and other ingredients you want to avoid as a vegan, so check these lists to know what to avoid.

French

France has an amazing vegan scene in cities, but traditional packaged foods still often contain milk powder or eggs.

Look out for:

• Lait (milk)
• Beurre (butter)
• Crème / crème fraîche (cream)
• Œuf / blancs d’œufs (egg / egg white)
• Miel (honey)
• Gélatine (gelatin)
• Fromage / présure (cheese / rennet)
• Lactose
• Caséine (casein)
• Cochenille (carmine, insects)

Helpful vegan words:
• Végétalien (vegan)
• 100% végétal / Sans produits animaux

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Spanish

Self-catering in Spain is usually straightforward once you know the key words.

Ingredients to avoid:

• Leche (milk)
• Huevos (eggs)
• Miel (honey)
• Mantequilla (butter)
• Lactosa (lactose)
• Gelatina (gelatin)
• Queso / cuajo (cheese / rennet)
• Cochinilla (carmine)

Vegan terms:
• Vegano / sin ingredientes animales

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Portuguese

Useful for mainland Portugal and Madeira.

Avoid:

• Leite (milk)
• Ovo / claras de ovo (egg / egg white)
• Mel (honey)
• Manteiga (butter)
• Lactose
• Gelatina
• Queijo / coalho (cheese / rennet)
• Cochonila (carmine)

Vegan terms:
• Vegano / 100% vegetal

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Italian

Italy has brilliant vegan food if you know what to avoid.

• Latte (milk)
• Burro (butter)
• Uova / albume (eggs / egg white)
• Miele (honey)
• Gelatina
• Formaggio / caglio (cheese / rennet)
• Lattosio (lactose)
• Cochineale (carmine)

Vegan word to look for:
• Vegano / vegetale

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German

Germany is one of the easiest countries for vegan products, but labels can look scientific.

Words to avoid:

• Milch
• Butter
• Eier (eggs)
• Honig
• Gelatine
• Lab (rennet)
• Käse (cheese)
• Molke (whey)
• Sahne (cream)

Vegan markers:
• Vegan
• Pflanzlich

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Dutch (Netherlands)

Great vegan options in supermarkets like Albert Heijn.

Avoid:

• Melk
• Boter
• Ei (egg)
• Honing
• Gelatine
• Kaas (cheese)

Look for:
• Veganistisch / plantaardig

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Greek

Greek can look intimidating on labels but spotting a few key terms in Greece helps.

Avoid:

• Γάλα (gala – milk)
• Βούτυρο (voutyro – butter)
• Αυγά (avga – eggs)
• Μέλι (meli – honey)
• Τυρί (tyri – cheese)
• Γιαούρτι (yoghurt)
• Ζελατίνη (gelatin)

Vegan-friendly words:
• Νηστίσιμο (often used for fasting foods; many are vegan, but double-check)

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Polish

Poland is surprisingly vegan-friendly, especially in cities.

Avoid:

• Mleko
• Masło (butter)
• Jajka (eggs)
• Miód (honey)
• Ser / podpuszczka (cheese / rennet)
• Żelatyna
• Laktoza

Look for:
• Wegańskie

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Scandinavian (Swedish, Danish, Norwegian)

Labels are often clear, but here are key words:

• Mælk / mjölk / melk (milk)
• Smør / smör (butter)
• Æg / ägg / egg (egg)
• Honning / honung (honey)
• Gelatine / gelatin
• Ost (cheese)

Vegan markers:
• Vegansk / vegansk mat / växtbaserad

Helpful Vegan Certifications And Symbols To Look For

Many European brands use labels such as:

• The Vegan Society trademark
• European V-Label certification
• 100% plant-based
• “Suitable for vegans”
• “Sans lait / sin leche / senza latte” (often helpful on snacks)

Packaging with allergy icons is also useful, especially if you don’t speak the language. Milk is usually marked clearly due to allergen laws.

Practical Tips For Vegan Food Shopping Abroad

These simple habits can make everything easier:

1. Take a translation app with photo scan. Google Translate can scan labels instantly, which is incredibly helpful with long lists of ingredients.
2. Check local supermarkets. Many large supermarket chains have dedicated vegan sections.
3. Use apps. HappyCow is brilliant for restaurant and supermarket finds.
4. Expect milk powder in odd places. It’s common in biscuits, cakes, crisps and even some breads across Europe.

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Final Thoughts

Travelling as a vegan in Europe can be incredibly enjoyable and full of great food, as long as you know what to look for. Once you recognise the most common non-vegan ingredients and can spot key translations, shopping becomes quick and easy.

And every time you travel, you learn a little more.

So whether you’re heading to a supermarket in Lisbon, a bakery in Paris, a petrol station in Austria or a small village shop in Greece, this guide should help make label reading simpler, faster and far less confusing.

Quick Article Roundup:

If you’re eating vegan in Europe, look for common ingredients like milk, eggs, honey, gelatin, whey and casein, which appear under different translations. Learning a few keywords in French, Spanish, Italian, German and Greek helps make label reading much easier, especially when shopping in local supermarkets abroad.