Sour Patch Kids are a popular candy, as seen by the large number of vegans who question if they are vegan, as well as Google Trends.
Sour Patch Kids, unlike other sweets of the same sort, do not appear to include gelatin, which is generally what gives these candies away. On the ingredient list, there are no other apparent animal products.
It is easy to assume that Sour Patch Kids are vegan just by looking at the label and seeing that there are no obvious animal components.
However, I can see several ingredients that are frowned upon by the vegan community, such as sugar, artificial flavors, and color.
Sour Patch Kids: Ingredients
Sour Patch Kids are made up of a variety of ingredients, including plant-based sugar and man-made additives that give the candies their texture, form, and various colors.
While a label might seem to be vegan-friendly, certain ingredients are contentious, which some people may not be aware of (for example, new vegans).
Looking at the label of this product, I see the following components that are controversial:
- Artificial colors
- Artificial flavors
- Sugar
Even though they are fundamentally plant-based, these ingredients are frequently linked to animal suffering.
Why The Sugar In Sour Patch Kids Might Not Be Vegan
Sugar is derived from either sugarcane or sugarbeets, both of which are used in comparable quantities in the US.
Their refining processes are extremely different, despite their identical flavor and texture.
Cane sugar is usually processed, filtered, and bleached with bone char — a non-vegan characteristic — while beet sugar is being extracted using a diffuser and combined with additives to crystallize.
What Is Bone Char?
Bone char, according to PETA, is produced from the bones of animals from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Argentina, and India. The bones are sold to sugar suppliers in the United States after being sold to traders in Scotland, Brazil, and Egypt.
Bone char, also known as natural carbon, is a decolorizing chemical used in the sugar business, which is why sugar has such a clean, white color.
Is Sour Patch Kids Sugar Vegan?
Because different vendors supply both types of sugar (cane and beet sugar), companies like Oreo make use of both, making it impossible to trace the sugar back to its source.
However, Mondelez International, the global corporation that controls Oreos and Sour Patch Kids, has acknowledged that its suppliers utilize bone char.
As a result, Sugar Patch Kids cannot be considered vegan.
Other Controversial Ingredients In Sour Patch Kids
Other ingredients, aside from sugar, are the subject of much controversy in the vegan community, and they should be taken into account by anybody following a vegan diet.
Artificial Flavors & Colors
Despite being listed separately on labels, both artificial colors and artificial flavors are likely to be non-vegan for the same reason.
Blue 1, yellow 5, and 6 are sourced from petroleum, whereas Red 40 is derived from coal. Although not the most delightful finding, those are vegan sources.
The issue emerges when you learn that artificial ingredients are tested extensively on animals in general (mainly rats, mice, and occasionally dogs).
These animals are given dyes in particular to monitor the formation of possible health concerns, which might manifest themselves in the form of tumors from time to time. Even if they do not die as a result of the dyes' adverse effects, they are killed during the testing.
While I'm not sure how often artificial flavor testing is done, I have learned that artificial colors are examined on a regular basis owing to potential health hazards.
These tests, which were done in 2017 and 2018, are now available on the internet.
Most vegans may not mind, and I'm sure many vegans and vegetarians, like myself, have ingested items containing artificial colors or flavors. If you're a more rigid person, though, it's reasonable that you'd want to avoid these ingredients at all costs.
Even if you choose not to avoid any of these ingredients that have been tested on mice, there's no disputing that someone who takes a more rigid approach has good reasons to avoid them.
Vegan Alternatives To Sour Patch Kids
While I can locate some alternatives that do not contain animal-based ingredients, finding alternatives that don't contain the aforementioned "questionable" elements is nearly difficult.
However, I was able to discover items that explicitly state that they are vegan-friendly on their labels, which is why I've included them below:
Sour Viking by Candy People
Smart Sweets Sweet Fish (Does not contain questionable ingredients)
Yum Earth: Organic Sour Beans
While they may not taste or give the same flavor sensation as the Sour Patch Kids, they are still worth a try!
Verdict: Sour Patch Kids Are Not Vegan
Sour Patch Kids cannot be termed vegan, as we just learned in this article since at least a portion of the sugar in the product has been filtered with the use of a non-vegan decolorizing process called bone char.
Furthermore, we may deduce that some of the contentious ingredients, like artificial colors and artificial flavors, are results of extensive experimentation on animal species such as rats, mice, and, sometimes, dogs.
More significantly, artificial colors (specifically, the color Red #40) are examined on a regular basis to guarantee that no potential health concerns arise.
However, because these components (particularly sugar) are included in nearly every sweet-tasting food, it's true that they're tough to avoid. As a result, I wouldn't judge someone who chose to eat such a product since I realize how tough it may be to find suitable alternatives at times.
For those that adhere to stricter "vegan" ideals, I've included several Amazon US options that are quite comparable to Sour Patch Kids