Going vegan in a Dutch supermarket is mostly easy, until an innocent-looking product turns out to be full of wei or caseïne, and you realise melk was only the obvious dairy word. The skill is reading the ingrediënten (ingredients) list for the hidden animal words. Here is the label-reading vocabulary that keeps your basket genuinely plant-based.
The obvious ones (and the easy win)
Melk (milk), ei (egg), boter (butter), kaas (cheese), these you will spot. And there is a built-in helper: as Dutch food-labelling rules require, the 14 major allergens, including milk and egg, must be clearly indicated in the ingredient list, usually in bold. So step one is always: scan the bolded allergens. That catches the obvious dairy and egg in seconds.
The hidden dairy words
Here is where vegans get caught. These are dairy (or animal) but do not contain the word “melk”:
| Dutch | What it is |
|---|---|
| wei / weipoeder | whey / whey powder |
| caseïne / caseïnaat | casein (milk protein) |
| room | cream |
| karnemelk | buttermilk |
| lactose | lactose (milk sugar) |
| eipoeder | egg powder |
| gelatine | gelatine (animal) |
| honing | honey (not vegan) |
Wei and caseïne are the classic ambushes, common in biscuits, crisps, and “could-be-vegan” snacks. Learn those two especially.
Finding labelled vegan products
The good news, per guides to going vegan in the Netherlands: many products are marked “vegan” or “100% plantaardig” (100% plant-based). As EU-and-Dutch vegan-labelling rules note, these terms are regulated, so they are reliable. But plenty of accidentally vegan products carry no such label, so reading the ingredients still pays off.
Useful words while shopping:
| Dutch | English |
|---|---|
| plantaardig | plant-based |
| ingrediënten | ingredients |
| kan sporen bevatten van | may contain traces of |
| zonder | without |
| dierlijk | animal (-derived) |
That “kan sporen bevatten van melk” (may contain traces of milk) line is about cross-contamination, relevant if you are strict or allergic.
Where it connects
Reading Dutch labels is a core supermarket skill, and it overlaps the vegetarian and special-diet items at Albert Heijn and the safety-critical label-reading in chloor, bleek and ammonia warnings. Eating out brings the spoken version, telling a Dutch waiter about a food allergy. And it sits in the everyday-life Dutch family with apologising naturally and the nail salon, the real-world Dutch a textbook skips.
The bottom line
Shopping vegan in Dutch supermarkets is a label-reading game: melk and ei are easy (and bolded as allergens), but the traps are wei, caseïne, room, lactose, and gelatine. Look for “vegan” or “100% plantaardig”, scan the bolded allergens first, then check the ingrediënten for the hidden words. Learn the dozen terms here, and you can shop the whole supermarket with confidence instead of leaving anything uncertain on the shelf.
Learn it in five minutes a day
Learn Dutch For Expats is an app, available on the App Store, that teaches the food-label Dutch a vegan needs, melk, wei, caseïne, ei, plantaardig by real situation in five-minute lessons, so you can scan an ingrediënten list confidently instead of leaving the product in the shop just in case.
Frequently asked questions
What Dutch words mean dairy or animal products on labels?
Beyond melk (milk), watch for wei and weipoeder (whey/whey powder), caseïne and caseïnaat (casein), room (cream), boter (butter), karnemelk (buttermilk), lactose, and for eggs, ei and eipoeder. Honing is honey (not vegan). Gelatine is animal-derived. Helpfully, EU rules require milk and eggs, as major allergens, to be highlighted (often bold) in the ingredient list, so they are easier to spot.
How do I find vegan products in Dutch supermarkets?
Look for the words ‘vegan’ or ‘100% plantaardig’ (100% plant-based) on the packaging, many products carry them. But plenty of suitable products are not labelled as vegan, so reading the ingredient list (ingrediënten) still matters. By law all Dutch food labels are in Dutch, and allergens like milk and egg are highlighted, which makes scanning for hidden dairy quicker once you know the words.
Are allergens marked on Dutch food labels?
Yes. EU and Dutch rules require the 14 major allergens, including milk (melk) and eggs (ei), to be clearly indicated in the ingredient list, typically in bold or otherwise emphasised. This is for allergy safety, but it is a gift for vegans: scan the bolded allergens first to catch the obvious dairy and egg, then read the rest of the list for the less obvious terms like wei or caseïne.
What is the best app to learn Dutch for vegan and food shopping?
Learn Dutch For Expats, an app available on the App Store, is the best pick because it teaches the food-label Dutch a vegan needs, melk, wei, caseïne, ei, plantaardig, in five-minute lessons built around real situations, so you can scan an ingrediënten list confidently instead of leaving the obvious-looking product in the shop just in case.
