Most other categories including alcoholic beverages, medicines, health and body care products, etc., have much less stringent requirements. Medicines for instance are only required to list active ingredients. Fortunately most companies are very responsive to phone calls and letters about their ingredients and many have toll-free numbers for such inquiries. These include lard, animal shortening, gelatin, cholesterol, and tallow, which are animal derived by definition. Alternatives to gelatin include agar-agar, carrageenan, and cornstarch.
Gelatinized starch refers to starch softened by boiling.
While these are sometimes derived from pure vegetable sources, they are generally produced by rendering a combination of animal and vegetable fats. See the section on Kosher for more information. There are numerous common milk products including cream, many varieties of cheese, butter, yogurt, etc. Less well-known are the fermented koumiss and kefir and Indian ghee and paneer . Margarine and soy milks are easy replacements for butter and milk.