Veggie options at quick-service restaurant chains: an update on menu items at popular fast food and quick casual restaurant chains

Domino's Pizza Sauce remains free of animal ingredients, although it contains sugar. The Thin Crust at Domino's is free of animal ingredients. The Hand-Tossed Crust contains whey and L-cysteine of a non-animal source. The Deep Dish Crust contains several dairy products, as well as natural flavors and mono- and diglycerides of non-reported sources.

The Garlic Dipping Sauce appears free of animal ingredients. The Marinara Dipping Sauce contains natural flavors of non-reported sources and sugar.

Domino's offers salads that can be customized to suit vegetarians and vegans. For example, Domino's told us that the Garden Salad may be purchased without the cheese. The Golden Italian Dressing and the Light Italian Dressing appear to be free of animal ingredients. All of the other salad dressings at Domino's contain fish, eggs, and/or dairy.

The 'butter base 20' and 'natural butter flavor' listed in Domino's Deep Dish Crust are vegetable oil-derived. The banana and jalapeno peppers are listed as containing natural flavors and polysorbate 80 of non-reported sources.

We asked about all of the natural flavors in Domino's products, but Domino's was unable to give The VRG any information about them. Harvey said, "Domino's does not specify the source of the [natural] flavors used in our products. It would require a great deal of time to research."

When asked about the source of the L-cysteine in several of its products, Harvey told us that L-cysteine is "non-animal derived" in its Hand-Tossed Crust, the Breadsticks, the Cheesy Bread, and the Cinna Stix. The Breadsticks and Cinna Stix contain whey and natural flavors of non-reported sources. The Cheesy Bread contains cheese and other milk products in addition to natural flavors of non-reported sources. The Sweet Icing Dipping Cup used with the Cinna Stix contains mono- and diglycerides of a non-reported source.

The Oreo[R] Thin Dessert Style Crust contains natural flavors of a non-reported source. The Vanilla Sauce contains sugar, polysorbate 60, and natural flavors of non-reported sources. The White Icing is listed as having mono- and diglycerides and natural flavors, also of non-reported sources.

McDonald's

McDonald's states that it makes no claims about its food items being vegetarian or vegan: "No products are certified as vegetarian; all products may contain trace amounts of ingredients derived from animals. If you wish further information or have special sensitivities or dietary concerns regarding specific ingredients in specific menu items, please call us."

This fast food chain also states that it will "gladly accommodate customer requests to custom-order items without meat.... Note that even though we provide the flexibility to order items without meat, we cannot guarantee that during preparation the item does not come into contact with meat or poultry."

Although McDonald's has tested veggie burgers in the recent past, there are none that are currently offered. McDonald's states, "After testing several types of veggie hamburgers in different parts of the country, we've chosen not to offer one on our national menu at this time.... Ultimately, however, it's our customers who choose what's on our menu. We'll continue to offer those menu items that are most popular with a majority of our customers."