Whether you’ll be serving lollies to trick-or-treaters or bringing snacks to a spooky party, there’s no reason to contribute to animal suffering this Halloween.

What to Buy

Always be sure to double-check the ingredients before purchasing anything on this list, as manufacturers are at liberty to change them at any time.

What to Avoid

It’s probably no coincidence that “gelatine” rhymes with “skeleton”, because that’s exactly what it is – animal bones, along with skin, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage, all boiled together with water into a goo. It’s usually obtained from cows or pigs.

Dairy is heartbreaking. On Australian dairy farms, cows are repeatedly impregnated and then separated from their newborn calves so their milk can be sold and fed to humans instead of to their own babies. Cows are often artificially inseminated to ensure that they give birth every 13 months in order to keep their milk production as high as possible. When cows’ bodies wear out and their milk production wanes, they are sent to slaughter.

Chickens used by the egg industry endure unimaginable cruelty. Crammed into sheds which are woefully inadequate in size and denied the opportunity to do anything that is natural and important to them, hens are then sent to be killed as soon as their egg production drops.

Show compassion for insects by avoiding beeswax, and anything coloured with carmine, cochineal extract, or natural red 4 (which are made from ground-up beetles – yuck)!

Try Something Homemade