Excerpt:
The DOH will also start implementing its new labelling system for vegetarian food. It has divided vegetarian food into five categories, including food containing eggs, milk, or both milk and eggs, as well as those containing green onions, garlic, green leeks, red leeks and white onions, and those containing none of the ingredients above.
Food manufacturers must follow the categories and label their products appropriately.
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This is good news for the growing number of vegans in Taiwan (growing mostly due to the growing numbers of the "Supreme Master" Ching Hai), who run a number of great vegan restaurants, which will be the topic of another post shortly.
The traditional label 全素 (quan2 su4, lit. "totally vegetarian") theoretically should be vegan, and also not contain any onion garlic or leek. It is very similar to "Jeh"/"Jey" food from SE Asia, or Jain food in India. However, from my experience, since Buddhists (who the label has traditionally been used by) consume milk products, most chefs will use it for food containing dairy, especially if it is a 'hidden' ingredient, such as whey or casein in fake meat . The label 純素 (chun2 su4 - lit. "pure vegetarian") is, by definition, vegan, and can include onion and garlic and is as close to a vegan guarantee as there is, but while it is becoming increasingly common, it is still used much less often than 全素.
For anyone new to Taiwan and searching for packaged foods, three related labels are:
奶素 ( contains milk, otherwise vegetarian) and 蛋素 (contains egg, otherwise vegetarian) and sometimes 奶蛋素 (contains both).
Other characters which can appear with them are: 可(can) and 用(lit. use, in this case eat) and 食 (food) and 者(person) eg 素食者可用 ("vegetarian people can eat this.") 可用食者 can all be ignored.
Summary:
全素 = probably vegan and no onion, garlic or leek (but double check for dairy).
純素 = vegan :)
奶 and/or 蛋 = not vegan
This "vegetarian" label is on its way out, since it does not specify whether or not it contains dairy or egg (or onion/garlic/alcohol).
This soy sauce producer is kind enough to label vegan in English.
The Loving Hut company (run by Ching Hai followers) produces a good and ever-growing range of vegan baking, including a range of cookies. The (enlarged) layer reads:top row: "without milk without egg"
bottom row: "vegans can eat"
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