Vegan Candy Is Dandy! Would you believe that some candies contain animal ingredients? It's true! Some candies are made from things like gelatin, which is mashed up cow skin, cartilage, and bones. And carmine, the red coloring used in some candies, is made from ground-up bugs. Can you believe that? Bugs! Blecch!
Wondering if some of your favorite sweets are animal-friendly? No worries鈥攃heck out the list below and satisfy your sweet tooth with these vegan treats:
Candy Airheads taffy
Atkins peanut butter bars
Blow Pops
Brach鈥檚 Cinnamon Hard Candy
Charms lollipops
Chick-o-Sticks
Cracker Jack
Cry Babies
Dem Bones
Dots
Dum-Dums
Fireballs
Goldenberg's Peanut Chews
Hubba Bubba bubblegum
Jolly Ranchers (lollipops and hard candy)
Jujubees
Jujyfruits
Lemonheads
Mambas
Mary Janes (regular and peanut butter kisses)
Now and Later
Pez
Ring Pop lollipops
Smarties (U.S. Brand)
Sour Patch Kids
Super Bubble
Swedish Fish
Sweet Tarts
Tropical Source mini chocolate bags
Twizzlers
Zotz
Snacks
Bean dip (make sure it鈥檚 lard-free)
Cracker Jack
Fritos
Lance鈥檚 Toasty Crackers
Lay's Stax
Lay's WOW! potato chips
Microwave popcorn (minus the real butter flavor)
Munchos
Peanuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, and Pistachios
Pretzels
Salsa
Skittles鈥?Mints
Tostitos
Trail mix
Triscuits
Wheat Thins
Watch Your Mouth Not what comes out but what goes in. Sure, you might follow the two-second rule when you drop your Tofutti Cutie on your kitchen floor, but you won鈥檛 want to give these disgusting hidden animal ingredients the time of day.
Casein鈥擶hey鈥檚 cousin, casein is made from curdled milk. Yuck!
Gelatin鈥擱hymes with "skeleton." Coincidence? I think not. Gelatin is a protein made by boiling cows鈥?and pigs鈥?skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Jell-O? Heck, no!
Honey鈥擲ure, honey tastes sweet, but you鈥檒l get a bad taste in your mouth when you learn how it鈥檚 "harvested."
From a former beekeeper: "[T]ypically, beekeepers are gloved and netted to avoid stings (nearly every bee who stings will die due to her entrails being pulled from her body attached to her stinger.) Then the hives are opened as quickly as possible and the bees are 鈥榮moked.鈥?Smoke from a smoldering fire carried in a 鈥榮moker鈥?is pumped into the hive and the bees are 鈥榗almed.鈥?In spite of this, the combs are pulled quickly and many bees are crushed in the process. When a bee is hurt, she releases a chemical message that alerts and activates the hive members who proceed to attack the intruder鈥攇iving their lives in the process."
Lard鈥擫ard is such a gross word, it almost makes you wonder why they just don鈥檛 call it what it is: "Fat from hog abdomens."
Pepsin鈥擨f the thought of eating lard turns your stomach, stay away from pepsin, a clotting agent from pigs鈥?stomachs, used in some cheeses and vitamins.
Rennet鈥擟ertain words just make you cringe, like coagulate, congeal, clot鈥攚hich is what rennet, an enzyme taken from baby calves鈥?stomachs, is used for in cheese production.
Stearic Acid鈥擨t may sound less gross than "lard," but stearic acid, which often rears its ugly head in chocolate and vitamins, comes from a fatty substance taken from slaughtered pigs鈥?stomachs鈥攐r from cows, sheep, or dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters. Still want to chew on that piece of Fido?
Cetyl Palmitate鈥擟heck your head if you鈥檙e using margarine that contains cetyl palmitate, the fancy term for the waxy oil derived from sperm whales鈥?heads or from dolphins. "I can鈥檛 believe it鈥檚 not " oh, wait. It is" Whale head wax"?
Urea鈥擴rea comes from urine and other "bodily fluids." It鈥檚 used to "brown" baked goods, like pretzels. Um, yeah. And the oven is for ??
When going to any convenience store, take a look around and see what other food services they offer. Often, you can get made-to-order sandwiches and salads. For instance, Speedway gas stations can make up MTO veggie wraps and sandwiches, and you can also snag bagels, garlic fries (minus the cheese), and cheese-free nachos.
PETA