Are Sour Patch Kids vegan? This is a question every vegan sweet and sour candy enthusiast has likely pondered at one time or another.
Read on to find out which versions of this popular candy are vegan in Europe and the USA, and which ones to avoid.
Table of contents
- What are Sour Patch Kids?
- Are Sour Patch Kids vegan in the US?
- Are European Sour Patch Kids vegan?
- Vegan alternatives to Sour Patch Kids
- Making vegan Sour Patch Kids at home
What are Sour Patch Kids?
Sour Patch Kids is a popular brand of sweet and sour candy. It was originally created in the early 1970s in the USA, and is now sold worldwide.
The original five flavors included lemon, orange, lime, berry, and grape. That said, new flavors and colors are developed continuously.
The ingredient list of the basic Sour Patch Kids can vary slightly depending on which area of the world they are being produced in. That said, the basic Sour Patch Kids recipe remained largely unchanged.
This results in a sweet chewy candy that’s coated in a sour sugar layer. Hence the brand’s slogan “First they’re sour. Then they’re sweet.”
In Sum: Sour Patch Kids is a popular, USA-based brand of sweet and sour candy developed back in the 1970s, and now available worldwide.
Are American Sour Patch Kids vegan?
Because Sour Patch Kids are chewy, you may assume that they contain gelatin.
Gelatin is a protein made from animal bones, usually from cows and pigs. It is used as a thickener and found in many chewy candies. This is why most chewy candies are not suitable for vegans.
Interestingly, the original Sour Patch Kids flavors in the US do not contain any gelatin.
However, they do contain other ingredients that may concern you, as a vegan.
Sugar may not be vegan
Sugar is most commonly sourced from either sugar cane or beets.
Sugar processed from sugar cane is sometimes filtered through crushed and burned animal bones – more commonly referred to as bone char.
Bone char helps give sugar its bright white color and is most commonly used in the processing of non-organic cane sugar.
Beet sugar and organic sugar is typically not processed with bone char. Interestingly, sugar that’s refined in Europe is in most instances also refined without the use of bone char.
The only way to know whether products containing non-organic sugar use sugar that is processed with bone char is to ask the food manufacturer directly.
This is exactly what Bree did. Her direct conversation with the company that owns Sour Patch Kids reveals that some of the sugar suppliers for Sour Patch Kids do use bone char in their sugar cane refining process.
Some vegans choose not to worry about the bone char used to process sugar while others do.
By definition, veganism is a way of living that seeks to exclude as far as possible all forms of animal exploitation or cruelty.
How strictly you abide by this definition remains a matter of personal circumstance and choice.
Natural flavors may contain animal-derived ingredients
Unless a candy is certified vegan, the natural flavors it contains can be derived from either plants or animals.
Sour Patch Kids isn’t certified vegan. Hence, the only way to find out whether the natural flavors used in its recipe are plant-based is to directly ask the manufacturer.
Unfortunately, Mondelez International – the company that owns Sour Patch Kids – cannot confirm whether the natural flavors in Sour Patch Kids are vegan or not.
Certain ingredients may have been tested on animals
The food dyes used in Sour Patch Kids are derived from synthetic ingredients. This means that they are not derived from animals.
One thing to note however, is that all synthetic ingredients had to be tested on animals at some point or another before gaining FDA or EFSA approval.
Because of this, some vegans prefer to avoid foods containing synthetic dyes.
That said, continued animal testing is not required after the initial FDA or EFSA approval is gained. Hence, consuming foods containing synthetic dyes does no longer harm laboratory animals.
Because of this, many vegans consider synthetic food dyes okay to consume. Again, whether you personally feel comfortable with this or not remains a matter of personal cicumstance and choice.
In Sum: In the USA, Sour Patch Kids contains only vegan ingredients. However, some vegans may choose to avoid them due to the animal exploitation or cruelty associated with the sugar, natural flavors and synthetic food dyes they contain.
Are Sour Patch Kids vegan in Europe?
Unlike the USA, most Sour Patch Kids available in the UK contain gelatin, an animal-derived ingredient.
The exception to this rule is the watermelon-flavored Sour Patch Kids, which does not contain any gelatin.
In the rest of Europe, Sour Patch Kids may or may not contain gelatin, depending on the country they are produced in or imported from.
Whether vegans residing in Europe choose to eat non-gelatin containing Sour Patch Kids will depend on their views regarding the issues surrounding the sugar, natural flavors and synthetic food dyes they contain.
In Sum: Many Sour Patch Kids varieties in Europe contain gelatin, and are thus not considered vegan. The ones that do not are subject to some of the same issues as those produced in the USA.
Vegan alternatives to Sour Patch Kids
It can be pretty challenging to find sour candies that contain sugar who we know for sure hasn’t been processed using bone char.
Just as it can be challenging to find out whether the natural flavorings listed on their label actually contain any animal-derived ingredients.
You can of course filter through ingredient labels, looking for organic sugar and plant-based flavorings. However, an even simpler way to go about this is to choose candy that is already certified vegan by the Vegan society.
Here are a few brands that contain only plant-based ingredients and do not raise any of the three concerns mentioned above.
- Not Guilty hug me organic and Kiss me softly
- SunRidge farms organic sour gummy cubes
- Funday sour vegan gummy bears
- Beauty sweeties sour cats
- Yum Earth organic sour beans
Making vegan Sour Patch Kids at home
If you like spending time in the kitchen and are up for a challenge, consider making your own Sour Patch Kids from scratch.
Here’s a super simple recipe that requires only citrus fruits, sugar, and citric acid. Or an interesting alternative that consists of making sour patch kid grapes.
Feel free to get the kiddos involved while you’re at it!
In Sum: The easiest way to ensure that your sour candy is truly vegan is to opt for a certified vegan brand. Or simply make your own!
To sum it all up
So, are Sour Patch Kids vegan?
Going by the ingredients list, most US- and some European varieties are “accidentally” vegan-friendly.
However, if you consider the unknown processing of sugar and natural flavors, as well as the initial animal-testing of its synthetic dyes, Sour Patch Kids may be considered not so vegan-friendly.
The bottom line comes down to a matter of ethics and informed decision-making. It remains up to you to decide where you fit on the spectrum regarding these vegan-related issues.