Halloween Candy Containing Animal Products: A List For Vegans To Avoid

Candy is probably the last place you would expect to find animal products, right? Turns out, our favorite sweets aren't always animal-friendly.

Delving further into the ingredients list of some well-known sweets reveals them as the gelatinous goodies they really are.

According to the Gelatin Manufacturers Institute of America, gelatin is defined as "product obtained from partial hydrolysis of collagen derived from natural sources such as skin, connective tissue, and bones of animals."

The site says gelatin is "widely used in confections because it foams, gels, or solidifies into a piece that dissolves slowly or melts in the mouth."

PETA offers some vegan alternatives on their website, including agar agar, which is derived from seaweed.

PETAKids also offers a list of vegan sweets that can be consumed on Halloween. The site warns to avoid ingredients such as lard, and suggest alternative ingredients such as vegetable oil.

Another scary and buggy additive to know about is carmine, which is made from the cochineal beetle and generally used as a red food dye, according to LiveScience.

Check out some of the sweet treats that different groups suggest you avoid this Halloween if you're looking to celebrate in vegan style:

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Comments

[inkongirl]

08:24 AM on 10/31/2011

I can't give up Altoids, although I'll skip the Wintergreen ones.

[sabelmouse]

05:39 AM on 10/29/2011

i'm much more concerned about cocoa slavery .

[Adam Dray]

02:37 AM on 10/29/2011

Well since being vegan is a FAD if you ask me, seems like they just need to get off their high horse and EAT since you're not 'saving' your body at all considering what process involves to raising MOST crops.........

[SMC281]

04:01 PM on 10/29/2011

Did somebody ask you?

[rclewis1]

11:31 PM on 10/28/2011

vegans prove the old adage...you ARE what you eat.....turnips and taters.

[Danielle Kichler]

11:31 PM on 10/28/2011

For gummy candies, Edward & Sons make vegan "gummi" candies. Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish are vegan.

An alternative to Starburst is Mamba fruit chews, and I have seen them at Target and at 7-11.

Newman's Own and VerMints both make excellent types of mints. I also like B-Fresh, as it has vitamin B-12 in its vegan gum and mints.

There are vegan chocolates out there but most conventional candy companies feel compelled to put dairy in the dark chocolate.

A Florida company called Angel Mint makes vegan melt-in-your-mouth mints in peppermint and chocolate mint and makes egg-free salt water taffy that's pretty good.

It pays to read the label; I can't stress that enough.

[latoussaint]

02:32 AM on 10/29/2011

Thanks, and all these years I have had a Jr. Mint from time to time! Yuck. Do you know of any marshmallow brands?

[wilray]

08:20 PM on 10/28/2011

You mean there might be animal products in my chocolate covered bacon?

http://www.baconfreak.com/bacon-chocolate.html?gclid=CP21vo3PjKwCFccbQgodI2wZmA

[peegan]

07:44 PM on 10/28/2011

Ah, the holidays. The season in which my vegan hubby will sift through my kids goodies saying," do you know what's in this ch_+?" Good times.

[rclewis1]

11:32 PM on 10/28/2011

I know an excellent divorce lawyer I can recommend for a solution to your hubby problem.

[Oneandoneandone]

07:22 PM on 10/28/2011

Oh man, some of the meat-eaters I know would freak out over the beetle ingredients. Not because of the death of beetles, but because they think it's gross.

[oberlinkay91]

10:02 PM on 10/28/2011

They are tasty treats and healthy meals in some counties. Chocolate covered grasshppers anyone?

[rclewis1]

11:33 PM on 10/28/2011

solient green is my Thanksgiving Turkey choice

[MaybeMilo]

06:39 PM on 10/28/2011

We're doomed.

[rennycat]

06:30 PM on 10/28/2011

Best not to eat candy at all. None of it is any good for you except maybe dark chocolate made with 70% cocoa. Bad for the teeth, bad for the waistline.

[peegan]

07:38 PM on 10/28/2011

Good for your happiness, in small quantities.

[rclewis1]

11:33 PM on 10/28/2011

What a mother!

[rennycat]

10:16 AM on 10/29/2011

Yes, and a good mother. My kids have no rotting teeth and are slim, fit, healthy and very smart. We eat no meat and no dairy products, and for sweets, we eat fresh fruit that we grow, and we grow our own organic vegetables. We're very happy....remember health is wealth in both body, mind and spirit. Wonder if you can say the say about yours? Probably not.

[Barbara0817]

06:30 PM on 10/28/2011

So what Now We cant eat Jello? WHo cares Just enjoy , Think of kids in poor countries that dont even know what candy is, and If Kids come to Your house trick or treating for unicef give them some money its to feerd hungry kids, one good thing You can add to haloween. I will never stop eating jello , its one of the best desserts and its also good for Your bones

[sdterp]

06:22 PM on 10/28/2011

I always marvel at how few vegan/vegetarian options are on a typical snack machine. I've long known to avoid Starbursts, Skittles, anything with marshmallow, gummy candies, Altoids (most), Skittles (most), Some types of licorice candies, etc. Two days ago I bought gum and only noticed gelatin in the ingredients after I opened it. Grrr.

[rclewis1]

11:35 PM on 10/28/2011

There are LOTS of vegan snack machine options at ALL mental hospital operations. Lots of demand there.

[sdterp]

11:50 PM on 10/28/2011

Thanks for the helpful advice. Glad to see your in-patient time wasn't a total loss.

[latoussaint]

02:33 AM on 10/29/2011

Ha ha, sdterp gotcha!

[TomP100]

10:43 AM on 10/29/2011

Why would you marvel? Since less than1% of the population is vegan, why would they market to such a small share? Sorry, but people are under no obligation to cater to vegans.

[sdterp]

08:11 PM on 10/29/2011

Well, vegans, yes. But about another 3% are vegetarian and an additional 10% who tend to have a "vegetarian inclined" diet, meaning they may eat meat on rare occasion but not typically. And that's just nationally. Certain parts of the US have much higher percentages and others have less.

But, that being said, I never suggested anyone was "obligated" to do anything. To be honest, your reply seems a bit on the hostile side and I'd love to know why non-vegetarians are frequently so aggressively anti-vegetarian. On more than one occasion I've been ordering in a restaurant and to ensure I'm not ordering anything with meat or meat products, I the the wait staff that I'm vegetarian. After the server leaves our table someone from nearby has taken the time to come and bawl me out for being vegetarian. We also have had people complain that meals that we've hosted don't have any meat even though we're offering many typical foods that just happen to be vegetarian (Spaghetti in marinara sauce, Thai dishes, Indian dishes, Ethiopian dishes, etc). Sorry if the free food I'm offering isn't violating my principles.

The point I was originally trying to make was, one wouldn't tend to think a snack machine would have so many things that weren't vegetarian. Chips, Pop Tarts, Gardettos/Chex Mix, Necco Waffers, Skittles, Starbursts, frosted animal crackers, Hostess doughnuts/snack cakes, etc.

[darcysark]

06:05 PM on 10/28/2011

This article could have been a lot better. Most of what it mentions are several examples of candy containing gelatin and a couple of examples with carmine. Skittles contain shellac which is made with beetles. Natural raspberry flavor is castorium, more commonly known as beaver anal gland substance. Not to mention milk, eggs, etc., so commonly found in chocolates and other candies. If you're really interested in avoiding animal products, please get a good book or visit The Vegan Society for more information.

[rclewis1]

11:36 PM on 10/28/2011

thanks for the information about beaver anal gland substance in candy....did you do original research on that lovely piece of depressing drivel...or did a beaver just analize it for you?

[shubes61]

02:35 PM on 10/28/2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy6uLfermPU :)