Ingredient Translation Cheat Sheet (Animal-Derived Words in 8 Languages)

When you cannot read a label, you do not need the whole language. You need the handful of words that signal an animal product. This cheat sheet covers the most important ones across the languages a traveling vegetarian is most likely to face.

Key Takeaways

Learn the words for milk, egg, meat, fish, gelatin and butter, and you will catch most animal ingredients.

Fish and gelatin are the two that hide in the most unexpected places.

The allergen section usually bolds milk, egg and fish, which helps when the ingredient list is dense.

A scanner app translates the whole label and flags the animal ingredients for you.

TL;DR: Memorize a short list of animal words per language, and you can read a foreign label well enough to eat safely. A scanner does the same job automatically.

The core words

English	German	French	Dutch	Indonesian	Spanish	Italian	Japanese
Milk	Milch	Lait	Melk	Susu	Leche	Latte	Gyūnyū (牛乳)
Egg	Ei	Oeuf	Ei	Telur	Huevo	Uovo	Tamago (卵)
Meat	Fleisch	Viande	Vlees	Daging	Carne	Carne	Niku (肉)
Fish	Fisch	Poisson	Vis	Ikan	Pescado	Pesce	Sakana (魚)
Gelatin	Gelatine	Gélatine	Gelatine	Gelatin	Gelatina	Gelatina	Zerachin (ゼラチン)
Butter	Butter	Beurre	Boter	Mentega	Mantequilla	Burro	Batā (バター)

These six cover most of what hides in packaged food. If a label contains one of these and the product is not otherwise marked vegan, it is not vegetarian.

The second tier

English	German	French	Dutch	Indonesian	Spanish	Italian	Japanese
Honey	Honig	Miel	Honing	Madu	Miel	Miele	Hachimitsu (蜂蜜)
Cheese	Käse	Fromage	Kaas	Keju	Queso	Formaggio	Chīzu (チーズ)
Cream	Sahne	Crème	Room	Krim	Nata	Panna	Kurīmu (クリーム)
Lard	Schmalz	Saindoux	Reuzel	Lemak babi	Manteca	Strutto	Rādo (ラード)
Rennet	Lab	Présure	Stremsel	Renet	Cuajo	Caglio	Rennetto
Shellac	Schellack	Gomme laque	Schellak	Lak	Goma laca	Gommalacca	Sherakku (シェラック)

These are less common but still worth knowing, especially lard and rennet, which hide in baked goods and cheese.

The allergen-section shortcut

In many countries, the allergen section bolds or lists milk, egg, fish and other allergens separately from the full ingredient list. Scan that section first, because it is designed to be readable at a glance, and it catches most of the words above without you having to find them in a long list.

The scanner shortcut

The fastest approach is to skip the memorization entirely. Point your phone at a barcode or an ingredient list, and a scanner app translates the text and flags the animal-derived ingredients against your diet. It works offline after you download a language, which matters in a store with no signal.

The bottom line

You can read a foreign label with a dozen words per language. Memorize the core six, check the allergen section, and use a scanner for everything else. That turns an unreadable label into a clear, five-second answer.

Check before you eat. The Verify Veg app scans a barcode or reads an ingredient list from a photo, translates it, and flags ingredients against your diet (vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, Jain and more). Download on the App Store - Android is coming soon.

Written by Samir Narain, founder of Verify Veg. Verify Veg helps people check packaged food against their diet by scanning barcodes and reading ingredient lists from photos.

Note: Verify Veg provides ingredient-based compatibility checks, not certification. Ingredient sources can vary by manufacturer, so always confirm with the brand or vendor.