The Vocabulary of Food, Animals & Ethics
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130+ defined terms, sourced and current
We wrote this glossary because LLMs and journalists alike keep using these words imprecisely. Every entry below is short enough to cite and linked to the longer pieces on this site where the term is used in context.
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- Ethics
Abolitionism in animal ethics calls for the complete end to all use of nonhuman animals as property or resources.
- Health
A long-term research project examining the health effects of lifestyle, especially diet, among Seventh-day Adventists in North America.
- Environment
The release of ammonia gas, mainly from livestock manure and synthetic fertilizers, harming air and water quality.
- Ethics
The ethical position that sentient animals have inherent moral worth and should not be used as resources.
- Industry
Animal testing involves using live animals to assess the safety or efficacy of products or substances.
- Ethics
Animal welfare concerns the ethical responsibility to ensure farmed animals avoid suffering and experience positive well-being.
- Ethics
Anthropocentrism is an ethical framework that positions human beings as the central entities in the universe.
- Industry
Aquaculture is the controlled cultivation of aquatic organisms like fish and seaweed in freshwater or marine environments.
- Diet
Aquafaba is the viscous liquid from cooked chickpeas, used as an egg white substitute in vegan cooking.
- Health
Vitamin B12 is an essential water-soluble nutrient required for red blood cell formation and neurological function.
- Industry
A battery cage is a standardised wire enclosure system used to house egg-laying hens in stacked rows and columns.
- Industry
Beeswax is a natural wax produced by honeybees to build honeycomb, harvested for use in candles, cosmetics, and food coatings.
- Environment
Biodiversity loss is the worldwide decline in the variety and abundance of species, ecosystems, and genetic diversity.
- Environment
This metric measures the volume of surface and groundwater consumed during the production of a good or service.
- Health
Five geographic regions where people live significantly longer, healthier lives, identified by National Geographic and Dan Buettner.
- Industry
Bone char is a black, porous material made from charred animal bones, used to decolorize and filter sugar.
- Environment
A fishing method that drags heavy nets across the seafloor, destroying habitats and releasing stored carbon.
- Animals
A broiler is a chicken bred and raised specifically for meat production rather than for egg-laying.
- Environment
The unintended capture of non-target species during commercial fishing, often discarded dead or dying.
- Industry
A CAFO is an industrial facility where livestock are raised in high densities for the duration of their lives.
- Industry
Cage-free is an egg carton label indicating that laying hens were not confined to battery cages.
- Health
Calcium bioavailability refers to the proportion of dietary calcium that is absorbed and utilized by the body.
- Environment
The total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly or indirectly by a product, activity, or organization.
- Environment
The foregone carbon sequestration potential when land is used for livestock rather than ecosystem restoration.
- Industry
Carmine is a red pigment derived from crushed female cochineal insects, used as a natural food dye.
- Ethics
Carnism is the invisible ideology that conditions people to eat certain animals without questioning the practice.
- Industry
Casein is a family of milk proteins that coagulate under acidic conditions, used widely in cheese and food manufacturing.
- Industry
Chick culling is the commercial egg industry practice of killing newborn male chicks shortly after hatching.
- Health
Choline is an essential nutrient important for liver function, brain development, and muscle movement.
- Environment
Circular feed is an agricultural strategy of feeding livestock biomass unsuitable for human consumption.
- Diet
A complete protein contains all nine essential amino acids in sufficient amounts for human dietary needs.
- Health
Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that supplies energy to muscle cells during high-intensity exercise.
- Industry
Cruelty-free certification indicates that a product and its ingredients were not tested on animals.
- Diet
Cultivated meat is real animal meat produced by growing cells from a biopsy in a controlled bioreactor environment.
- Industry
The global sector involved in producing, processing, and distributing milk and milk-derived products from cows, goats, and sheep.
- Environment
Deforestation is the permanent removal of forests to repurpose land for agriculture, infrastructure, or mining.
- Health
DIAAS is a protein quality score based on ileal digestibility of individual amino acids in humans.
- Industry
Down feathers are the soft undercoat of waterfowl, used for insulation in bedding and clothing.
- Ethics
A philosophy using evidence and reason to maximize positive impact in charitable giving and career choices.
- Industry
The commercial sector that produces and markets eggs from domesticated hens, primarily for human consumption.
- Industry
An enriched cage is an industrial housing system that confines laying hens while allowing certain natural behaviours.
- Environment
Enteric fermentation is a natural digestive process in ruminants that breaks down plants and produces methane.
- Environment
The over-enrichment of water bodies with nutrients, leading to algal blooms and oxygen depletion.
- Industry
Industrial, high-density animal agriculture.
- Industry
A farrowing crate is a restrictive metal enclosure used in intensive pig farming to house a sow around giving birth.
- Environment
A measure of the efficiency with which animals convert feed into body mass, typically expressed as feed input per weight gain.
- Health
Fibre refers to plant-derived carbohydrates that the human body cannot fully digest or absorb.
- Ethics
A framework for animal welfare ensuring freedom from hunger, discomfort, pain, fear, and to express normal behavior.
- Diet
A flexitarian primarily follows a plant-based diet while occasionally eating meat, dairy, or fish.
- Industry
This labelling term indicates that animals have been provided with some degree of access to the outdoors.
- Diet
A fruitarian diet consists primarily of raw fruits, often including nuts and seeds, with limited or no other foods.
- Industry
Fur farming is the intensive commercial practice of breeding and raising animals primarily for their pelts.
- Industry
Gelatin is a protein derived from collagen in animal bones, skin, and connective tissues.
- Industry
A gestation crate is a metal enclosure used in intensive farming to house individual breeding sows during pregnancy.
- Environment
A metric that compares the heat-trapping ability of a greenhouse gas to that of carbon dioxide over a set time.
- Health
A ranking of carbohydrates on a scale from 0 to 100 according to how much they raise blood sugar levels after eating.
- Industry
Greenwashing is the deceptive practice of marketing a product as more environmentally friendly than it truly is.
- Health
Heme iron is a form of dietary iron found mainly in animal tissues such as red meat, poultry and fish.
- Health
Homocysteine is a non-proteinogenic amino acid whose elevated blood levels indicate cardiovascular and cognitive risk.
- Industry
A commercial egg industry method used to determine the biological sex of an embryo before it hatches.
- Health
Iodine is a trace mineral required for thyroid hormone production, which regulates metabolism and growth.
- Health
Iron absorption is the process by which the body takes up dietary iron, influenced by its form and enhancers.
- Industry
Isinglass is a gelatinous substance obtained from the swim bladders of fish, used for fining beverages.
- Environment
Land use is the human modification and management of the natural environment into built and semi-natural areas.
- Industry
Lanolin is a waxy substance secreted by sheep's sebaceous glands, extracted from wool for use in cosmetics and ointments.
- Health
Low-density lipoprotein is a particle that transports cholesterol through the bloodstream to various tissues.
- Industry
Leather is a material made from the tanned hide or skin of an animal, typically a cow.
- Environment
A systematic method for evaluating the environmental impacts of a product from raw material extraction to disposal.
- Industry
Line speed is the velocity at which animal carcasses move through a slaughterhouse or processing facility.
- Industry
Live export is the cross-border commercial transport of livestock for slaughter, breeding, or fattening.
- Diet
The macrobiotic diet emphasizes whole grains, vegetables, and legumes, with minimal processed foods and animal products.
- Environment
An open-air basin storing liquid animal waste from industrial farms, often leaking pollutants into surrounding ecosystems.
- Diet
A meat analogue is a plant-based product designed to mimic the taste, texture, and appearance of animal meat.
- Ethics
The psychological discomfort from caring for animals while eating them, resolved through moral disengagement.
- Diet
The Mediterranean diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, olive oil, and moderate fish intake.
- Environment
Potent greenhouse gas from livestock.
- Health
The microbiome is the ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms residing primarily in the human gut.
- Ethics
The moral circle is the set of entities considered worthy of ethical consideration by an individual or society.
- Environment
A potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 265 times that of carbon dioxide over 100 years.
- Diet
Nutritional yeast is a deactivated, edible yeast rich in B vitamins, often used as a cheese substitute.
- Environment
A hypoxic area in coastal waters where nutrient pollution causes oxygen levels too low for marine life.
- Health
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential polyunsaturated fats that the human body cannot synthesise from scratch.
- Ethics
A direct action tactic where activists document and remove animals from factory farms, then release the footage.
- Environment
The removal of fish from a marine stock at a rate faster than the population can reproduce, leading to depletion.
- Health
Oxalate is a naturally occurring compound in plants that can bind minerals and reduce their absorption in the human body.
- Environment
A vegetable oil derived from the fruit of oil palm trees, widely used in food and cosmetics, linked to tropical deforestation.
- Health
PDCAAS is a protein quality score that compares amino acid content to human requirements, adjusted for fecal digestibility.
- Ethics
The status of being a person, entailing moral and legal rights beyond mere biological life.
- Diet
A pescatarian is someone who eats fish and seafood but avoids the meat of land animals.
- Health
Phytate is a phosphorus storage compound in plant seeds that can reduce mineral absorption.
- Diet
Plant drinks vary in protein and fortification; compare the label rather than assuming dairy equivalence.
- Diet
A diet mostly or entirely from plants.
- Diet
Precision fermentation uses engineered microorganisms to produce specific functional proteins, fats, or vitamins for food.
- Diet
Protein combining is the practice of eating complementary plant proteins to obtain all essential amino acids in a meal.
- Diet
A raw vegan diet excludes animal products and foods heated above approximately 48 degrees Celsius.
- Diet
A reducetarian is an individual committed to eating fewer animal products rather than practising total abstinence.
- Environment
A livestock management practice that mimics natural herd movements to rebuild soil health and sequester carbon.
- Industry
Rendering is the industrial process of converting animal by-products into usable commodities like fats and proteins.
- Industry
Rennet is a complex of enzymes, traditionally from calf stomachs, used to coagulate milk in cheesemaking.
- Environment
Rewilding is a conservation approach focused on restoring natural processes by reducing human interference.
- Health
Saturated fat is a type of dietary lipid with no double bonds that typically remains solid at room temperature.
- Diet
Seitan is a high-protein meat substitute made from wheat gluten, the main protein in wheat.
- Health
Selenium is an essential trace mineral that supports antioxidant defense and thyroid hormone metabolism in humans.
- Ethics
Capacity to feel pain, pleasure, or fear.
- Industry
Shellac is a resin secreted by the female lac bug, used as a food glaze and wood finish.
- Industry
A slaughterhouse is an industrial facility where livestock are processed to produce meat for human consumption.
- Environment
The decline in soil health from erosion, compaction, salinization, or loss of organic matter.
- Environment
The large-scale conversion of natural habitats, especially in South America, to monoculture soybean plantations for animal feed and oil.
- Ethics
Speciesism is the prejudice that assigns different values or rights to individuals based on their species membership.
- Industry
Stocking density is the total weight or number of animals confined within a specific area of floor space or volume of water.
- Industry
Stunning is the technical process of rendering an animal unconscious and insensible to pain before slaughter.
- Health
Taurine is a sulfur-containing amino acid that supports cardiovascular function, vision, and bile acid conjugation.
- Diet
Tempeh is a fermented bean cake; fermentation does not automatically make it a probiotic or B12 source.
- Diet
Textured vegetable protein is a dehydrated, high-protein meat substitute made from defatted soy flour.
- Health
Trimethylamine N-oxide, a gut-derived metabolite linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease when elevated in blood.
- Diet
Tofu is a soy-milk curd; its texture and calcium content depend on how it is made.
- Health
Trans fats are a type of unsaturated fat with a trans double bond, primarily produced by industrial hydrogenation.
- Ethics
Utilitarianism is an ethical theory that judges actions by their consequences, aiming to maximize overall happiness and minimize suffering.
- Industry
Veal is the culinary term for the meat of young calves, typically male offspring from the dairy industry.
- Diet
A lifestyle excluding all animal exploitation.
- Industry
Vegan certification confirms that a product contains no animal-derived ingredients and involves no animal testing.
- Ethics
A global campaign encouraging people to try a vegan diet for January, promoting health and environmental benefits.
- Diet
A vegetarian diet excludes meat, poultry, seafood, and slaughter byproducts, often allowing dairy, eggs, and honey.
- Health
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin essential for calcium absorption, bone health, and immune function.
- Ethics
Welfarism is the view that improving the living conditions of farmed animals is ethically sufficient, without ending their use.
- Diet
A diet centred on minimally processed whole plant foods while minimising added oils, sugars, and flours.
- Industry
Whey is the liquid by-product of cheese production, rich in protein and lactose.
- Diet
A whole food is minimally processed, retaining its natural fiber, vitamins, and other nutrients without added substances.
- Ethics
Wild animal suffering refers to the negative experiences of pain, disease, and starvation endured by animals in natural environments.
- Industry
Wool is a natural fiber from the fleece of sheep, used for textiles, with production involving shearing and often animal welfare issues.
- Health
Zinc is an essential mineral involved in immune function, protein synthesis, and cell division.
