Sour Patch Kids are a very popular candy with a distinctive tangy and sour flavor that has been enjoyed by children for several decades, especially in the USA and UK. However, for people on a vegan diet, it can be difficult to know whether or not these candies are safe to consume. In this article by Veggiepedia, we’ll take a closer look at the list of ingredients in Sour Patch Kids to determine if they are vegan-friendly or not.
Sour Patch Kids In The USA Are 100% Vegan
This candy, coated in a sour and tangy sugar mixture, comes in a wide variety of flavors, including lemon, lime, cherry, grape, orange, raspberry, and blue raspberry. The US version of Sour Patch Kids (which is not the same as the UK version) have these ingredients listed on Amazon.com:
Sugar, Invert Sugar, Corn Syrup, Modified Corn Starch, Contains Less Than 2% Of Tartaric Acid, Citric Acid, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1.
As you can see, the Sour Patch sold in the USA are vegan because they don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients such as milk, eggs, or gelatin, which are commonly found in other candy brands.
.. But Sour Patch Kids In The UK Has Gelatine!
But here’s bad news for British vegans, the UK version of Sour Patch Kids is not vegan because it contains gelatine, ingredient derived from the skins of pigs or cows or demineralized animal bones.
The full list of ingredients from Amazon.co.uk is here:
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Water, Starch, Gelatine, Acid (Malic Acid), Concentrated Apple Juice, Colours, (Anthocyanins, Vegetable Carbon, Paprika Extract, Lutein, Curcumin), Acidity Regulator (Calcium, Citrates), Palm Oil, Flavourings
Do SPK Contain Confectioner’s Glaze?
Ever wondered why apples and pears in grocery stores are so shiny? Have you heard someone say something on the lines of “they put some wax on it?” Well, glaze is what they were actually talking about, which is not that far from wax. Glaze is commonly used as a coating material. When used in food and confections, it is also known as confectioner’s glaze, pure food glaze, natural glaze, or confectioner’s resin. When used on medicines, it is sometimes called pharmaceutical glaze.
Some people write on the internet that some varieties of Sour Patch Kids may contain confectioner’s glaze, also known as resinuous glaze, and so it’s not vegan. Let’s investigate.
First, where does this glaze come from? Confectioner’s glaze, also known as resinous glaze, is an alcohol-based solution of various types of food-grade shellac, which is derived from the raw material sticklac, which is a resin scraped from the branches of trees left from when a small insect originating from India and Southeast Asia called Kerria lacca, creates a hard, waterproof cocoon. The insects produce the resinous excretions to protect their eggs, but the resin is collected by humans and processed to make the glaze. Therefore, some vegans choose to avoid it.
But which variants of Sour Patch candy contain it? We have researched the internet, and it looks good, so far the only variant we found to contain the glaze is “Sour Patch Kids Watermelon Jelly Beans”. That’s basically a different product! So this question is not as much about the glaze, but mainly about the gelatine.
Conclusion
Sour Patch Kids are vegan-friendly in the United States because they don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients there. But the version sold in the UK is not vegan because it contains gelatine. We don’t know how about other countries, so please, when you are next in a grocery store shopping, double check the ingredient list on the packet. And be sure to email us the picture of the product, the name of the supermerket, city and country, if you have found a version of Sour Patch that is not vegan. Let’s help vegan & veg-curious people all around the world to make the right shopping choices together!
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