Are Funyuns Vegan? Snack Explained

Funyuns are a popular onion-flavored corn snack from the Frito-Lay company, the company responsible for other popular snacks such as Fritos, Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, Lay’s, and Ruffles. Introduced back in 1969, Funyuns primarily consist of cornmeal and is characterized by its ring shape that is meant to represent fried onion rings. Although this snack is beloved by many, its ingredients must be assessed to determine whether the snack is vegan or not.

Unfortunately, Funyuns are not vegan. The original onion-flavored corn snack and the Flamin’ Hot flavor contain ingredients that are completely unsuitable for vegan diets such as buttermilk, cheddar cheese, whey, and skim milk. Furthermore, the ingredients lists include gray area ingredients such as sugar, natural flavors, and artificial color.

Are Funyuns Vegan?

Based on the ingredients, Funyuns cannot be considered vegan as they contains a few ingredients that are directly derived from animal sources. These ingredients include buttermilk, cheddar cheese, whey, and skim milk.

Additionally, there are ingredients that are considered to be problematic for the vegan community for various reasons. Ingredients such as sugar and natural flavors are problematic because it is difficult to determine whether animal products were used in their production.

Artificial coloring agents are also problematic as the vegan community is divided on substances that undergo animal testing.

Due to the animal-derived and problematic ingredients, both the original-flavored Funyuns and the Flamin’ Hot variant are non-vegan.

Funyuns Ingredients List

The list of ingredients in Funyuns includes (1): enriched corn meal (corn meal, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable oil (corn oil, and/or canola oil, and/or sunflower oil), salt, and less than 2% of the following: corn starch, sugar, corn flour, buttermilk, maltodextrin (made from corn), onion powder, monosodium glutamate, hydrolyzed corn protein, dextrose, garlic powder, natural flavors, gum arabic).

Other flavors have existed over time such as Wasabi, Steakhouse Onion, and Chile and Limon, but the Flamin’ Hot flavor is the only one currently available.

The list of ingredients in the Flamin’ Hot flavor includes: enriched corn meal (corn meal, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), vegetable oil (corn oil, and/or canola oil, and/or sunflower oil), salt, and less than 2% of the following: corn starch, corn flour, buttermilk, sugar, monosodium glutamate, yeast extract, cheddar cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), artificial color (Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake), citric acid, whey, onion powder, maltodextrin (made from corn), lactose, garlic powder, natural and artificial flavor, skim milk, sodium acetate, gum arabic, onion extracts.

While most ingredients listed are perfectly okay for vegans to add to their diets, there are some ingredients above that are either not vegan or problematic.

Buttermilk

Traditionally, buttermilk referred to the byproduct of butter churning. Nowadays, buttermilk is typically cultured from pasteurized and homogenized milk and then inoculated with different lactic acid bacteria. Buttermilk is a common ingredient in many food products such as baked goods, cheese, ice cream, and such.

However, conventional buttermilk is not vegan as it is sourced from milk. Although vegan buttermilk can be produced using plant-sourced milk products, food manufacturers usually use cow’s milk unless otherwise stated.

Cheddar Cheese

Commonly known as cheddar, cheddar cheese is a sharp-tasting cheese that is specifically produced by kneading the curds with salt after heating. Produced all over the world, cheddar cheese is popularly used as a flavor additive and topping to many food products.

Since cheddar cheese is produced using milk, it cannot be considered vegan.

Whey

Whey is the byproduct of the cheese industry as it is the liquid that remains after the milk has been curdled and strained. Whey is used to produce a variety of cheeses and it is also popularly used as the source for protein supplements.

Like buttermilk and cheddar cheese, whey is also not vegan as it requires milk for its production.

Sugar

One of the most essential sweeteners used in the food industry, sugar is a common ingredient that is often debated in the vegan community. While sugar is indeed obtained from plant sources (e.g., sugarcane, etc.), the manufacturing process can contaminate sugar with animal derivatives.

The typical issue associated with sugar is bone char – the charred skeletal remains of animals. To make the sugar more appealing to the market, sugar companies often further refine their sugar (2). Some companies use granulated carbon to filter their sugar, but some companies use bone char – a practice commonly done in the US. Using an animal product in its production, sugar refined with bone char can no longer be considered vegan.

The problem with bone char and sugar is that it is difficult to determine whether a sugar company uses bone char in its manufacturing process. Due to these circumstances, sugar is considered to be a gray area ingredient.

Natural Flavors

Natural flavors are a common food additive to give food products their distinct flavor. To protect the proprietary identity of the flavors of the food products, the FDA allows companies to generalize many substances under the umbrella term. However, the issue arises for vegans due to the ambiguity of the definition of the term (3). The FDA defines natural flavors as:

The essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.
FDA.gov

Due to the generalized use of the definition, consumers have no way to determine from the ingredients list if whether natural flavors are vegan or not since they can possibly contain substances derived from animal sources. Thus, natural flavors are considered to be a gray area ingredient in the vegan community.

Artificial Coloring Agents

Color is an integral part of the consumer experience and food manufacturers use various coloring agents to make their food products more appealing. Flamin’ Hot Funyuns specifically use Red 40 Lake and Yellow 6 Lake which are artificial coloring agents. While these substances do not use animal products or derivatives in their production, some vegans find issue with artificial coloring agents.

To get approval from various food safety authorities, artificial coloring agents have to undergo numerous safety studies. While safety is always important for substances developed for human consumption, the issue for vegans is that these tests employ the use of animal models.

Specifically, Red 40 and Yellow 6 have been studied using animals including mice, rats, guinea pigs, hamsters, dogs, rabbits, and pigs (4, 5).

While veganism is often concerned with keeping animal products from their diets, ethical veganism extends to products that use animals for production. Thus, while eating products with artificial coloring agents may be dietarily vegan, it cannot be ethically vegan.

References

1. https://www.fritolay.com/

2. https://www.peta.org/

3. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

4. http://www.inchem.org/

5. http://www.inchem.org/

Image Credit: Famartin shared under CC BY-SA 4.0

Is Lactic Acid Vegan? Food Additive Explained

While commonly associated with muscle fatigue and fermented food products, lactic acid is a highly industrial organic compound that is utilized in different industries. As a food additive, lactic acid is an effective acidulant and flavor enhancer that can help provide food products with a mild acidic and tangy flavor. Its low pH can also regulate the acidity of the food products to eliminate residual microorganisms and perform as an effective preservative.

Lactic acid is most likely vegan. Most of the lactic acid industrially produced comes from fermentation using lactic acid bacteria. Most substrates used for fermentation are starchy carbohydrates. However, there are some companies that produce lactic acid using dairy products such as lactose and whey.

Lactic Acid

Lactic acid is an organic compound denoted by the chemical formula C₃H₆O₃. It is also known as 2-hydroxypropanoic acid and can be found listed in some ingredients list by its E number, E270.

Lactic acid was first discovered in sour milk back in 1780. Originally, it was thought to be a component of milk (1). It took a few decades before it was determined that lactic acid was not a component in milk but in fact a byproduct of milk fermentation produced by certain microorganisms. After a few more decades of research, it was not until 1881 before lactic acid was first commercially produced.

Aside from being produced by microorganisms, lactic acid can also be produced by plants, animals, and even humans.

Most notably, many might be familiar with lactic acid and how it is involved with muscle fatigue. During times of intense exercise, the muscles begin to quickly deplete the available oxygen in the surrounding environment. At this point, the muscles begin to utilize anaerobic respiration for additional energy. Although anaerobic respiration can produce energy without oxygen, the pathway produces lactic acid as a byproduct. Eventually, the buildup of lactic acid acidifies the muscular environment which subsequently leads to muscle fatigue and soreness (2).

Structurally, lactic acid can exist between either of its two optical isomers: D-lactic acid and L-lactic acid. However, L-lactic acid is the preferred isomer used in the food and pharmaceutical industries as studies have shown that elevated levels of D-lactic acid can be harmful to humans.

Industrially, lactic acid can be found effectively utilized in a number of industries including leather, textiles, and even the production of biodegradable and biocompatible polylactate polymers, such as polylactic acid. From a global lactic acid demand of 714.2 kilo tons in 2013, estimates have shown that lactic acid demand grows annually by about 15.5% (3).

The industrial applications of lactic acid are quite varied. Estimates show that most of the lactic acid produced goes to the polymers (39%) and food and beverages (35%) industries. The remaining uses of lactic acid are for personal care (13%) and solvents and other industrial uses (13%).

In the food industry, lactic acid is specifically used for a number of reasons. Due to its mild acidic taste, lactic acid is commonly used as an acidulant. It is acidic enough that it can also be used as a preservative. The food additive can also be used as a flavoring agent, pH regulator, and even as an inhibitor of residual microorganisms in food processing.

Is Lactic Acid Vegan?

Due to its history and discovery, some people worry that lactic acid is produced from milk. However, most lactic acid produced today comes from the fermentation of lactic acid bacteria using carbohydrate substrates such as glucose, corn starch, cassava starch, sweet sorghum, and other plant sources.

Thus, the lactic acid found in food products is most probably suitable for vegans.

However, lactic acid cannot be totally declared vegan because there are instances where non-vegan substances can be used. Although less common, there are manufacturers that utilize non-vegan substrates such as lactose and whey.

This uncertainty might be enough for vegans to avoid products with lactic acid, but lactic acid can be considered a gray area at best. It is to be emphasized that while it is possible to produce lactic acid using non-vegan substrates, most lactic acid produced should be perfectly vegan. The final verdict is up for the individual’s discernment.

Lactic Acid Synthesis

Having two optical isomers, companies can produce lactic acid in either conformation or in mixtures containing varying proportions of both isomers. However, pure isomers have greater value than isomeric mixtures because pure isomers can be used for specific industrial applications.

There are two main ways to produce lactic acid: chemical synthesis and microbial fermentation.

Through chemical synthesis, the starting substrates needed are typically petrochemical resources. From petrochemical resources, acetaldehyde is obtained. The acetaldehyde is then reacted with hydrogen cyanide to produce lactonitrile. Lastly, the lactonitrile is hydrolyzed with a strong acid such as hydrochloric acid or sulfuric acid to produce lactic acid.

However, chemical synthesis of lactic acid can only produce the isomeric mixture of both lactic acid isomers – not pure isomers. This is one reason why modern lactic acid production is predominantly (~90%) through microbial fermentation.

Biotechnologically, lactic acid can also be derived from bacteria – just as how it was discovered before. Beginning with a carbohydrate substrate such as glucose, the fermentation process simply inoculates lactic acid producing bacteria into a fermentation tank filled with a growth medium that can be converted to lactic acid. Many bacteria can be used for fermentation, but industries typically use bacteria from the genera Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, and Bacillus.

The quality of the resulting lactic acid produced through fermentation is significantly better when the substrate has high purity such as sucrose from sugarcane and sugar beet. Using these substrates can reduce the cost of lactic acid purification.

However, since pure substrates can become quite costly, some industries would prefer industrial wastes as substrate. Waste can come from food industries, agricultural industries, sugarcane mills, and more. While purification might cost more in the long run, using industrial wastes as a substrate is advantageous from an environmental and economic standpoint.

Food that Contains Lactic Acid

As a food additive with many purposes, lactic acid can be found in many food products. These can include pickled vegetables, sourdough bread, beer, wine, kimchi, sauerkraut, and fermented soy products like soy sauce and miso.

Lactic acid is also present in other fermented products such as kefir and yogurt. As a fermented type of meat, salami can also contain lactic acid.

Is Lactic Acid Safe?

Safety is always a priority when it comes to substances produced for human consumption. Using numerous safety studies and internal standards, lactic acid has been reviewed by various food safety authorities and the general consensus is that the food additive poses no concern to the general public.

The JEFCA (Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives) has evaluated lactic acid back in 2001 (4). Recognizing the use of lactic acid in the food industry as a flavoring agent and acidity regulator, the JEFCA does not require an acceptable daily intake value (ADI; the maximum amount of a substance an individual can consume daily for a year without any adverse health effects) and believes that the food additive does not pose any safety concern at current levels of intake.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) recognizes that lactic acid meets the specifications of the Food Chemicals Codex and can be used without limitation other than good manufacturing practice (5). Specifically, the FDA allows the use of lactic acid as an antimicrobial agent, a curing and pickling agent, a flavor enhancer, a flavoring agent and adjuvant, a pH control agent, and a solvent and vehicle.

The only area where lactic acid is specifically described to be quantifiably controlled is in infant food and infant formula. Overall, the FSA categorizes lactic acid as GRAS (“generally recognized as safe”).

References

1. https://hrcak.srce.hr/

2. https://europepmc.org/

3. https://ojs.cnr.ncsu.edu/

4. https://apps.who.int/

5. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

Are Pringles Vegan? Chip Brand Explained

Pringles are a popular American brand of potato chips. Originally under the selection of Proctor & Gamble, the famous stackable snack is currently offered by Kellogg’s. The unique shape of Pringles stems from early complaints of how chips were easily broken and stale inside of plastic bags. After the soaring success of Pringles across Indiana in 1968, Pringles began distributing across the country in less than a decade. In 1991, Pringles began making its way across the globe.

The Original flavor of Pringles is vegan as it does not include any animal products or derivative in its ingredients list nor in its production. However, other flavors contain ingredients that might concern some vegans. Other flavors include ingredients that are problematic or outright non-vegan. The best way to determine whether a flavor of Pringles is vegan is to check the ingredients list and to become familiar with ingredients to look out for.

Are Pringles Vegan?

As with all food products, the most important factor for vegans to consider is the ingredients used in their production. The Original flavor Pringles is vegan as it does not involve any animal products. However, Pringles has a wide selection of flavors to choose from and the other flavors have ingredients that might concern vegans.

Firstly, there are some ingredients used in other Pringles flavors that are gray area ingredients. This simply means that these ingredients don't have exact sourcing procedures or modes/mechanism of creation. Examples of such ingredients include natural flavors and sugar.

Secondly, some ingredients used in the other flavors are non-vegan as they are directly derived from animal sources. Examples of such ingredients include dairy products such as cheese and milk.

The best way vegans can avoid accidentally consuming food products that would contain non-vegan or problematic ingredients would be to check the ingredients list because while one flavor of Pringles might be suitable for their diets, other flavors might not.

Pringles Ingredients List

The list of ingredients of the Pringles Original includes (1): dried potatoes, vegetable oil (corn, cottonseed, high oleic soybean, and/or sunflower oil), degerminated yellow corn flour, cornstarch, rice flour, maltodextrin, mono- and diglycerides, salt, wheat starch.

While the ingredients list of the Original flavor Pringles does not contain any animal product, Pringles still offers a wide selection of other flavors for consumers to choose from that are made with different ingredients. Furthermore, there are some flavors that are only available in other countries. The region-specific flavors include Pumpkin Pie Spice in the US, Rosemary and Olive Oil in France, Soft-Shell Crab in Singapore, Keema Curry in Japan, Steak and Onion Pie in the UK, and many more.

For this article, the ingredients that will be listed will be from the Favorites selection from the Pringles US website (2). Aside from the Original, these flavors include BBQ, Cheddar Cheese, Cheddar and Sour Cream, Jalapeño, Pizza, Sour Cream and Onion, Ranch, Salt and Vinegar, Screamin’ Dill Pickle, Parmesan and Roasted Garlic, Rotisserie Chicken, Honey Mustard, Buffalo Ranch, and Memphis BBQ.

First, the non-vegan ingredients will be discussed, followed by the gray area ingredients.

Dairy Products

All flavors under the Favorites selection contain a wide variety of dairy products such as milk, whey, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, buttermilk, butter, nonfat milk, sour cream, cream, lactose, and parmesan cheese.

Dairy products are strictly non-vegan as they require the use of cow’s milk. In the vegan community, milk is especially avoided because the milk industry is believed to be highly unethical. The milk industry intentionally impregnates cows to produce milk. They also separate the offspring from the mothers to maximize the milk-yield.

The Pringles flavors from the Favorites selection that contain this ingredient include: BBQ, Cheddar Cheese, Cheddar and Sour Cream, Jalapeño, Pizza, Sour Cream and Onion, Ranch, Salt and Vinegar, Screamin’ Dill Pickle, Parmesan and Roasted Garlic, Rotisserie Chicken, Honey Mustard, Buffalo Ranch, and Memphis BBQ.

Honey

Honey is a natural sweetener and a common alternative to sugar in products that are marketed to be healthier and more organic.

However, honey is not vegan because it is derived from bees. Rearing honeybees for honey production is considered harmful for the bees and a form of exploitation as the honey they produce is intended for their own colony (3). Furthermore, keeping honeybees is considered to be environmentally irresponsible since honeybees will then compete with the native bee species for resources.

Under the Favorites selection, only one flavor contains honey: Honey Mustard.

Natural Flavors

Even though companies are required to list their ingredients on their products, the flavor profiles of the products themselves are difficult to recreate because they attribute their flavor profiles to "natural flavors."

Natural flavors is blanket term that the FDA allows companies to use to protect their proprietary blend of natural ingredients that primarily provide flavor. However, the problem with natural flavors for vegans is the vague definition (4). The FDA defines natural flavors as:

“The essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
FDA.gov

Due to this umbrella definition that can encompass both plant- and animal-derived products, natural flavors remain as a gray area ingredient because it is difficult to determine whether a product that contains this ingredient is completely vegan or not.

Sugar

Sugar, also known as sucrose, is one of the most common sweeteners used in the food industry. While sugar is primarily acquired from plant sources such as sugarcane and sugar beets, the ingredient can quickly become non-vegan depending on how it is produced/refined (5).

Sugar companies often further refine their products to make them more appealing to consumers. Such a step that is included in refinement process is filtration. Different companies can use different materials for filtration such as granulated carbon. However, some companies use bone char – the charred bones of different animals. Thus, sugar filtered through bone char can no longer be considered vegan since an animal product was involved in its production.

The Pringles flavors from the Favorites selection that contain this ingredient include: BBQ, Cheddar Cheese, Cheddar and Sour Cream, Jalapeño, Pizza, Sour Cream and Onion, Ranch, Parmesan and Roasted Garlic, Rotisserie Chicken, Honey Mustard, Buffalo Ranch, and Memphis BBQ.

Artificial Coloring Agents

Color is an important part of the eating experience and food manufacturers control the color of their food using coloring agents. Some food products can naturally have appealing colors through the use of their conventional ingredients. However, some food products have to be intentionally manipulated with food coloring agents to achieve a desired aesthetic.

Vegans find artificial coloring agents especially problematic. These synthetic dyes do not contain any animal product or derivative. In fact, they can be perfectly suitable for dietary vegans. However, the problem with artificial coloring agents is that they undergo numerous safety tests that use animal models.

Animal testing is against the beliefs of ethical vegans since these studies intentionally exploit and harm animals. Animal testing might have been necessary before for safety evaluations, but many believe that the use of animal models for safety testing is no longer necessary due to the availability of new methods such as the use of cell models and in silico studies (i.e., the use of computer models and algorithms).

The Pringles flavors from the Favorites selection that contain these ingredients include: Cheddar and Sour Cream, Pizza, and Memphis BBQ.

Specifically, these Pringles flavors include Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, and Blue 1. Collectively, these dyes have been tested on countless rats, mice, rabbits, pigs, cats, guinea pigs, miniature pigs, hamsters, and dogs (6, 7, 8, 9).

References

1. https://www.pringles.com/

2. https://www.pringles.com/

3. https://www.peta.org/

4. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

5. https://www.peta.org/

6. http://www.inchem.org/

7. https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

8. http://www.inchem.org/

9. http://www.inchem.org/

Are Lay's Vegan? Chip Brand Explained

Lay’s is a popular brand of potato chips offered by the Frito-Lay company, the same company that also produces Fritos, Cheetos, Doritos, Tostitos, Ruffles, and more. Historically, Lay’s found its beginning being sold from the trunk of salesman Herman Lay’s car before eventually becoming the first national brand. Merging with the Frito company in 1961, Frito-Lay became the only global player in the snacks market (1). With its significant popularity, it is important for consumers to know whether their favorite potato chip snack is vegan or not.

The Classic flavor of Lay’s is vegan as it is made of entirely vegan ingredients (potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt). However, the other Lay’s flavors contain non-vegan ingredients. As with most food products, the best way to make sure they are vegan is to check the ingredients list and become familiar with what ingredients to look out for.

Are Lay’s Vegan?

Lay's most popular flavor, dubbed "Classic" are considered dietarily and ethically vegan.

However, the issue arises with the other flavors. To give each variant of Lay’s their distinct flavor profiles, additional ingredients are added. Unfortunately, some ingredients are problematic for vegans. Examples of such ingredients include dairy products such as cheese and milk which are sourced from cows.

Some ingredients used in other flavors are also considered gray areas (its difficult to determine exact sourcing procedures and modes/mechanism of filtration); Examples include natural flavors and sugar.

Lay’s Ingredients List

The list of ingredients for the Classic Lay’s potato chips includes (2): potatoes, vegetable oil (sunflower, corn and/or canola oil), and salt.

Essentially, the Classic flavor of Lay’s pays homage to its roots; Being fried potato chips with salt for taste. Meaning the Classic Lay's chips are vegan.

However, Lay’s chips comes in a wide variety of flavors to choose from. Over the years, different flavors have been debuted and made available to the public. Furthermore, different regions in the world have specific flavors as well. Examples of country-specific flavors include the Esan Hot Pot flavor in Thailand, Lu Rou Fan flavor in Taiwan, and the Nori flavor in Japan.

For this article, the ingredients that will be evaluated will be from the flavors available on the official Lay’s website (3). Aside from the Classic, these flavors include Cheddar Jalapeño, BBQ, Sour Cream and Onion, Cheddar and Sour Cream, Flamin’ Hot, Salt and Vinegar, Sweet Southern Heat BBQ, Honey BBQ, Chile Limón, Limón, Fiery Habanero, Dill Pickle, Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle, and Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice.

First, the non-vegan ingredients will be discussed, followed by gray area ingredients. The flavors where they can be found will also be included.

Dairy Products

Many Lay’s flavors utilize a wide variety of dairy products in their ingredients. These dairy products include cheddar cheese, butter, lactose, buttermilk, skim milk, milk, blue cheese, whey, sour cream, and cream.

Dairy products are strictly non-vegan because they are derived from cow milk. Consumption of milk and other dairy products is believed to be unethical in the vegan community since the milk industry intentionally impregnates cows to induce their bodies to make milk. Furthermore, their offspring are usually separated from them to maximize the milk that can be acquired.

Many Lay’s flavors include dairy products as their ingredients. These include Cheddar Jalapeño, Cheddar and Sour Cream, Flamin' Hot, Sour Cream and Onion, Fiery Habanero, Sweet Southern Heat BBQ, Flamin' Hot Dill Pickle, Honey BBQ, and Chile Limón.

Honey

Honey is a natural sweetener commonly used in many food products. Although honey is suggested to be a healthier sweetener option compared to sugar, it cannot be considered vegan because it is strictly an animal-derived product.

Honey is obtained from bees and thus is not vegan. It is believed that the practice of beekeeping is actually harmful to bees and harvesting their honey is unethical since bees produce honey to feed their larvae (4). Rearing honeybees is also considered to be harmful to the environment as honeybees have to compete with the native bees in the area for pollen collection.

Only one flavor in the list above includes honey and that is the Honey BBQ flavor.

Natural Flavors

Natural flavors are a common ingredient for food products to give them their distinct flavor profile. In order to protect the propriety blend of ingredients that make food products unique, the FDA allows companies to label many substances under the label “natural flavors.”

However, a problem arises for vegans because it is difficult to determine the contents of natural flavors since the FDA definition is very vague. According to the FDA, natural flavors are defined as (5):

“The essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
FDA.gov

Due to the vagueness of the umbrella definition given by the FDA, natural flavors remain as a gray area ingredient because it is practically impossible to determine whether a food product with natural flavors is vegan or not.

Many Lay’s flavors include natural flavors as an ingredient. These include Cheddar Jalapeno, BBQ, Sour Cream and Onion, Cheddar and Sour Cream, Flamin’ Hot, Salt and Vinegar, Sweet Southern Heat BBQ, Honey BBQ, Chile Limón, Limon, Fiery Habanero, Dill Pickle, Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle, and Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice.

Sugar

Sugar is one of the most utilized sweeteners in the food industry. Although sugar is conventionally derived from plant sources (e.g., sugarcane, sugar beet, etc.), it remains a controversial ingredient in the vegan community because of how it is produced (6).

In order to make sugar more appealing to consumers, sugar companies usually further refine their products. Further refinement can include a filtration phase. Some companies use methods that are perfectly suitable for vegans such as using granulated carbon. However, many US sugar companies use bone char (the charred skeletal remains of animals) as their filter.

If sugar has been processed using bone char, then it can no longer be vegan since an animal product was involved in its production.

Lay’s flavors that include sugar include Cheddar Jalapeno, BBQ, Sweet Southern Heat BBQ, Honey BBQ, Chile Limón, Limon, Fiery Habanero, and Chesapeake Bay Crab Spice.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/

2. https://www.lays.com/

3. https://www.lays.com/

4. https://www.peta.org/

5. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

6. https://www.peta.org/

Is Xanthan Gum Vegan? Food Additive Explained

Xanthan gum is a common food additive used for its wide variety of purposes including as a dispersing agent, a stabilizer of emulsions and suspensions, and a viscosity control agent. Produced through microbial fermentation, xanthan gum is also widely used in many industries outside of the food industry such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and even petroleum. Since xanthan gum can be found in many food products, people might wonder what the ingredient is and if whether it is vegan or not.

Produced from the fermentation of sugars using a bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris, xanthan gum is completely vegan since its production does not involve the use of any animal product or derivative. There are some rumors surrounding xanthan gum and its production, but none of them have sufficient evidence for concern.

Xanthan Gum

A natural polysaccharide and an important industrial biopolymer, xanthan gum was discovered back in the 1950s. With its complex structure, xanthan gum is denoted by the chemical formula C₃₅H₄₉O29. However, it is simply listed as “xanthan gum,” or by its E number E415, on the ingredients list (1).

Originally classified as polysaccharide B-1459, xanthan gum is produced by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris, the causative agent of a variety of plant diseases including black rot in cruciferous vegetables and bacterial wilt of turfgrass.

Structurally, xanthan gum is a heteropolysaccharide as it is primarily composed of repeating pentasaccharide units formed by two glucose units, two mannose units, and one glucuronic acid unit.

Xanthan gum is incredibly functionally diverse as it is utilized in a variety of industries. Due to its specific chemical properties, xanthan gum can be found to be used in petroleum, ceramics, textiles, agrochemicals, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Xanthan gum can also be found heavily utilized in the food industry, namely for its emulsion stabilization, temperature stability, compatibility with food ingredients, and its pseudoplastic rheological properties.

Is Xanthan Gum Vegan?

Xanthan gum is a common food additive that is produced from the fermentation of a bacterium called Xanthomonas campestris. Without the involvement of any animal product or derivative in its production, xanthan gum is appropriate for vegan diets and lifestyles.

There are rumors around the internet discussing the possibility that xanthan gum contains egg whites (2). However, a review of the literature has showed that rumor to be baseless and unfounded. As a polymeric carbohydrate, xanthan gum has no need for egg whites or the predominant protein in egg whites, albumin.

The only probable situation where xanthan gum would contain egg whites would be if the equipment used for xanthan gum production was also used in the production of other products that utilized egg whites. However, cross-contamination is highly unlikely and good manufacturing practice would require these companies to thoroughly clean the equipment prior to switching. While instances where cross-contamination have occurred before, it is difficult to trace.

Some might also be worried because the growth medium of Xanthomonas campestris might contain sugar. In the vegan community, sugar is a problematic food product because, although it is produced using plant sources (e.g., sugarcane, etc.), it can involve an animal product in its production – specifically bone char.

The charred skeletal remains of animals, bone char is a common product used for filtration when sugar companies further refine their sugar. However, the sugars used for microbial fermentation are not usually refined as that would be too costly. Usually, raw glucose or sucrose would be utilized. Thus, it is unlikely that the sugars added in the production growth medium contain sugar that has been filtered using bone char.

Xanthan Gum Synthesis

The production of xanthan gum is almost exclusively through microbial fermentation. The production begins by taking a preserved culture of an effective strain of Xanthomonas campestris and grown to a sufficient inoculum size (3).

Once enough inoculum is produced, it is added to a bioreactor – a large fermentation tank that contains growth medium (i.e., including macronutrients [e.g., carbon and nitrogen] and micronutrients [e.g., potassium, iron, calcium salts]) for the inoculum. Modern bioreactors are usually equipped with numerous sensors to monitor different parameters that affect the microbial growth and fermentation process such as temperature, pH, oxygen, and more.

After the fermentation process has been completed, the bioreactor would contain a heterogenous mixture of xanthan, bacterial cells, and many other chemicals. For xanthan gum production, this mixture has to be purified further. First, the bacterial cells are removed, either by filtration or centrifugation.

Further purification can be done by precipitation (using water-miscible non-solvents such as isopropanol, ethanol, or acetone), the addition of certain salts, and pH adjustments. For FDA-approved food-grade xanthan gum, isopropanol is the required solvent for precipitation.

After precipitation, the resulting product is dewatered and dried. Afterward, the dried product is milled and packed into containers with low permeability to water since xanthan gum is hygroscopic and is prone to hydrolytic degradation.

Food that Contains Xanthan Gum

Xanthan gum is widely used in the food industry as an emulsion stabilizer, suspending agent, dispersant, viscosity stabilizer, and more. Food products that would possibly have xanthan gum include salad dressings, dry mixes, syrups, toppings, relishes, sauces, beverages (fruit and non-fat dry milk), dairy products, baked goods, and frozen food.

Outside of the food industry, xanthan gum is also utilized in pharmaceuticals (creams and suspensions), cosmetics (denture cleaners, shampoos, lotions), agriculture (additive in animal feed and pesticide formulations), textile printing and dyeing, ceramic glazes, slurry explosives, petroleum production, and enhanced oil recovery.

Is Xanthan Gum Safe?

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) conditionally allows xanthan gum for human consumption as long as production follows good manufacturing practice (4). Essentially considered to be GRAS (“generally recognized as safe”), the FDA permits the use of xanthan gum in the food industry as a stabilizer, emulsifier, thickener, suspending agent, bodying agent, or foam enhancer.

The FDA also notes that the strain of Xanthomonas campestris used for food-grade xanthan gum has to be non-pathogenic and non-toxic to humans and animals. Moreover, the final product has to be free of bacterial cells.

The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) last re-evaluated xanthan gum as a food additive back in 2017 (5). According to their studies, xanthan gum is unlikely to be absorbed intact and is expected to be fermented by bacteria that reside in the intestines. Numerous genotoxicity and carcinogenicity studies were performed on xanthan gum and the results show no evidence to be concerned with regarding the safety of xanthan gum.

Aside from minimal abdominal discomfort from repeated oral intake, the EFSA concluded that xanthan gum does not need an acceptable daily intake (ADI; the maximum amount of substance that can be taken every day for a year without any adverse health effects) value. While the evaluation states that xanthan gum poses no concern for infants and young children, they also specify that their evaluations are not applicable for infants under the age of 12 weeks.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/

2. https://www.vrg.org/

3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/

4. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

5. https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

Is Propylene Glycol Vegan? Ingredient Explained

Propylene glycol is a fairly common ingredient used in a wide array of products including food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. The compound is exceptionally versatile when it comes to its myriad of uses which is why the propylene glycol market was valued at USD 3.8 billion in 2019 with estimates of 4.4% growth as it could reach USD 4.7 billion by 2024 (1). Since propylene glycol can be found in so many products, people might wonder if whether it is vegan or not.

Propylene glycol is suitable for vegan diets and lifestyles as it is produced using chemicals that are not derived from animals in any way. It can be found in many non-vegan products, but the compound itself passes the requirements for being classified as vegan.

Propylene Glycol

Propylene glycol is an aliphatic diol that typically presents as a viscous, odorless, colorless liquid. While its chemical structure is denoted as CH₃CH(OH)CH₂OH, propylene glycol is also known by its official chemical nomenclature propane-1,2-diol (2).

The compound can also be in various forms listed under its family such as monopropylene glycol, dipropylene glycol, and tripropylene glycol.

Propylene glycol is used in food in a wide variety of ways. One major function that propylene is utilized for is as a humectant. Humectants are hygroscopic substances that help products retain moisture. Thus, propylene glycol prevents certain food products from drying out.

Propylene glycol is also used as an anticaking agent, a substance that prevents the different components of food products from sticking together and forming clumps. As a dough strengthener, propylene glycol is also used in baked goods to make them more stable by modifying the starch and the gluten.

The compound is also used in many products as a flavoring agent, particularly as a flavor carrier. Propylene glycol helps preserve the flavors used in the food products and also helps keeps the flavor ingredients dispersed, especially when used in beverages.

The specific chemical properties of propylene glycol also make it an ideal emulsifier. Emulsifiers are substances that keep certain liquids mixed. Substances that are polar opposites (e.g., water and oil) and prefer to remain separated. However, certain food products rely on emulsifiers to keep everything mixed properly to deliver the intended taste and experience to the consumers.

Along with glycerin, propylene glycol is also a principal component in e-cigarette liquids. In this context, the propylene glycol is used to generate the vapor that resembles the smoke. The added propylene glycol also acts as a vehicle for the flavor additives in the e-cigarette liquid and enhances the user experience.

Is Propylene Glycol Vegan?

Since propylene glycol does not utilize animal products or derivatives in its production, the compound is suitable for vegans.

People might mistake propylene glycol for another compound with a similar name – propylene glycol fatty acid esters. Both are used in the food industry for various reasons, but propylene glycol fatty acid esters might be non-vegan if it was produced using fatty acids derived from animal sources. While propylene glycol fatty acid esters can be considered a possible gray area, propylene glycol is perfectly fine.

Propylene Glycol Synthesis

First prepared in 1859, the synthesis of propylene glycol used to rely on the hydrolysis of propylene glycol diacetate. However, the production process of propylene glycol has changed throughout the years and practically all of the propylene glycol produced nowadays uses propylene oxide as the starting material.

The main reaction for propylene glycol production remains the same since it was first prepared – hydrolysis. Essentially reacting with water, manufacturers control several factors such as temperature and pressure to specify what type of propylene glycol is produced (i.e., mono-, di-, and tripropylene glycols). The hydration reactors used can reach up to 120–190°C at pressures up to 2170 kPA.

After the hydration reactions, the products are removed of excess water using evaporators and drying towers. The propylene glycol is further purified using high vacuum distillation.

Food that Contains Propylene Glycol

Due to its functional versatility, propylene glycol can be found in many food products including many packaged food items such as prepackaged coffee, creamers, drink mixes, breakfast foods, desserts, snacks, prepared meals, mixes, seafood/meat breading/marinades/glazes (including pre-marinated ham/ turkey), dried soup or bouillon, and most fast food.

The compound can also be found in some bread (e.g., bread, bagels, rolls, breadsticks, bread mixes), bacon, canned beans, dairy products (e.g., cream cheese, yogurt, sour cream, dips/spreads, cheese, whipped cream), many condiments, and occasional frozen vegetables. It can also be found in artificial flavor extracts and artificial food coloring agents.

Is Propylene Glycol Safe?

Many individuals have expressed concern for the safety of propylene glycol, mainly because the compound is also the main component of certain antifreeze solutions. However, the quality and quantity of propylene glycol used in antifreeze products and food are not the same.

In food products, propylene glycol is generally considered to be safe as certified by various food safety authorities.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approves propylene glycol for human consumption as the compound passes the specifications of the Food Chemicals Codex (3).

According to its FDA certification, propylene glycol has approval for various uses including as an anticaking agent, an antioxidant, a dough strengthener, an emulsifier, a flavor agent, a formulation aid, a humectant, a processing aid, a solvent and vehicle, a stabilizer and thickener, a surface-active agent, and as a texturizer.

The FDA also limits propylene glycol according to good manufacturing practice and at maximum levels in certain products (i.e., 5% for alcoholic beverages, 24% for confections and frostings, 2.5% for frozen dairy products, 97% for seasonings and flavorings, 5% for nuts and nut products, and 2% for all other food products).

The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) also provides approval for the use of propylene glycol for human consumption. The organization maintains its limit that the acceptable daily intake (ADI) limit of the compound at 25 milligrams per kilogram body weight, a decision first implemented back in 1996 (4).

According to the appropriate safety evaluations, the EFSA finds no evidence that propylene glycol can induce toxicity, genotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and developmental toxicity when used in moderation.

References

1. https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/

2. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

3. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

4. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/

Is Potassium Sorbate Vegan? Preservative Explained

Potassium sorbate is a chemical preservative that is found in many food products. An effective preservative in acidic conditions, potassium sorbate typically presents as a white crystalline solid and is ideally used as a food additive because of its tasteless and odorless quality. As people become more wary about the ingredients they consume, some might wonder if whether potassium sorbate is vegan.

Since potassium sorbate is produced without the involvement of any animal product or derivative, the chemical preservative is completely for vegans and their lifestyle. Essentially the potassium salt of sorbic acid, potassium sorbate is synthetically produced from precursor chemicals and is widely used in the food industry.

Potassium Sorbate

Food preservatives are necessary agents used in the food industry for prolonging shelf-lives of food products and protecting them from spoilage-causing microorganisms. One such preservative used is potassium sorbate.

Potassium sorbate, the potassium salt of sorbic acid, is a common food additive that is conventionally used as a chemical preservative. Denoted by the chemical formula C₆H₇KO₂, potassium sorbate can also be listed in the ingredients list by its E number: E 202 (1).

Specifically, potassium sorbate functions as an effective preservative by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms that are associated with spoilage such as certain bacteria, molds, and yeasts.

Potassium sorbate is an ideal chemical preservative for food that is slightly acidic as potassium sorbate is more effective at lower pH (specifically, 3-6.5).

Several mechanisms have been suggested for the mode of action of potassium sorbate. First, the food additive can inhibit microbial growth by disrupting cell membrane and integrity. Potassium sorbate has also been known to disrupt transport functions and metabolic activity (2).

Aside from as a chemical preservative, potassium sorbate is also commonly used in the wine industry as a wine stabilizer. Wine is essentially produced through fermentation with the help of yeasts. Once the wine has reached the desired point in its fermentation, potassium sorbate is used to inactivate the yeast and halt the fermentation from proceeding.

Due to its antimicrobial capabilities, potassium sorbate can also be found to be used in personal care items such as contact lens solutions, shampoos and moisturizers, and eyeshadow and other cosmetics.

The antimicrobial activity of potassium sorbate can be attributed to the presence of its carboxyl group (-COOH) and the number of carbon atoms in its structure. Previous studies have suggested that food additives with shorter chains such as potassium sorbate and sodium acetate are more effective antimicrobials compared to additives with long carbon chains.

Is Potassium Sorbate Vegan?

Potassium sorbate is completely vegan since its production does not involve any animal product or derivative. Practically all the potassium sorbate in the food industry is synthetically produced.

While the vegan community is composed of a diverse mix of subpopulations with specific restrictions, most vegans should be okay with potassium sorbate.

Potassium Sorbate Synthesis

The main proponent of potassium sorbate is sorbic acid. While sorbic acid is a naturally occurring acid found in the unripe berries of the Rowan tree (Sorbus aucuparia), it is also typically synthesized in the lab by condensing malonic acid and trans-butenal. It can also be produced from the condensation of crotonaldehyde and ketene.

Potassium sorbate is conventionally produced by reacting equal parts of sorbic acid and potassium hydroxide. The final product is then crystallized from an aqueous solution of ethanol.

Food that Contains Potassium Sorbate

Potassium sorbate is an excellent chemical preservative which is why it can be found in a wide variety of products, especially kinds that do not necessarily have long shelf-lives. Since the natural pH of potassium sorbate is about 4.5, the chemical preservative is better utilized for acidic food products. The effectiveness of potassium sorbate decreases as the pH increases which is why it is not recommended for alkaline food items.

Examples of food products that might contain potassium sorbate include cheese, cheese-related products, ice cream, yogurt, soft drinks and juices, apple cider, wine, baked goods, canned fruits and vegetables, dried fruits, dried meats, and pickles.

Is Potassium Sorbate Safe?

Potassium sorbate is generally considered to be safe and is approved for human consumption by various food safety authorities. The safety certification imposed by these food safety authorities is based on evidence from numerous safety studies and the opinions of experts in food safety.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regards potassium sorbate as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) as long as the substance is in accordance with good manufacturing (3).

On the other hand, the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) re-evaluated the safety of potassium sorbate in 2019. Although the food safety authority still views potassium sorbate to be safe for consumption, they modified the acceptable daily intake (ADI) to be 11 milligrams of potassium sorbate per kilogram of body weight (4).

This is actually an increase in safety confidence as the EFSA established the ADI of potassium sorbate to be only 3 milligrams per kilogram body weight back in 2015 (5).

Exposure (e.g., contact to eyes and skin, etc.) with pure potassium sorbate can lead to irritation. However, potassium sorbate used in the food industry is often very minimal to the point of negligible concern. In the USA, the authorized limit of potassium sorbate is 0.03%.

Furthermore, the human body does not accumulate potassium sorbate. Potassium sorbate participates in the normal fat metabolism in the human body which means it is oxidized into carbon dioxide and water.

References

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/

2. https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/

3. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

4. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/

5. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/

Is Calcium Propionate Vegan? Preservative Explained

The food industry relies on various preservatives to help prolong shelf-life and prevent food products from contamination against microorganisms that can cause spoilage (microorganisms can potentially pose a health hazard). One such preservative used is calcium propionate, the calcium salt of propanoic acid.

Calcium propionate is a vegan food additive since it does not contain any animal product or derivative. The preservative is industrially produced synthetically using chemical substrates, mainly propanoic acid and a calcium salt such as calcium hydroxide or calcium oxide. Calcium propionate is certifiably safe for human consumption and is an effective inhibitor of a wide range of bacteria and fungi.

Calcium Propionate

Calcium propionate (C₆H₁₀O₄Ca), the calcium salt of propanoic acid, is a commercially used preservative. The compound can also be called calcium propionate and can also be listed in ingredients lists by its E number, E282 (1).

The compound presents as a white crystalline powder with a natural pH that leans towards the alkaline (6-10.5). This means that calcium propionate is an effective preservative for food products that are more alkaline in nature.

Specifically, calcium propionate acts by inhibiting the growth of microorganisms that would cause spoilage. Microorganisms this compound can inhibit include Bacillus mesentericus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, and various molds.

The compound does this through several modes of action. Firstly, calcium propionate accumulates inside the cell and competes with several amino acids necessary for microbial growth. The propionate is also converted to propionyl-CoA which inhibits several CoA-dependent enzymes such as pyruvate dehydrogenase, succinyl-CoA synthetase, and ATP citrate lyase.

While calcium propionate disrupts metabolic activity in microorganisms, the preservative is metabolized differently in humans. The propionate is converted to propionyl-CoA as well, but the propionyl-CoA is further processed to become a usable intermediate in the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA; also known as the citric acid cycle or the Krebs cycle).

Aside from the food industry, calcium propionate is also used as a microbial growth inhibitor in other industries as well such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and animal feeds. The compound is specifically used in animal livestock to help prevent milk fever (a metabolic disorder in cattle caused by insufficient calcium) and provide additional calcium supplementation.

Is Calcium Propionate Vegan?

Since the production of calcium propionate does not involve the use of any animal product or derivative, calcium propionate is suitable for vegan diets and lifestyles.

Calcium propionate can naturally occur in certain food items such as cheeses. However, industrial production of calcium propionate is exclusively from chemical synthesis.

While calcium propionate is suitable for most of the vegan community, there might be some individuals that would feel uncomfortable with calcium propionate. Like most food additives, calcium propionate has undergone several studies using animal models to evaluate its safety for human consumption.

Standing for animal rights, ethical vegans believe that animal testing is an unethical practice that exploits animal lives. Nowadays, new techniques have been developed that are able to substitute the use of animal models altogether. These techniques involve the use of cell models and in silico studies (i.e., the use of computer models and algorithms).

Thus, while calcium propionate is dietarily vegan, some might not consider it to be ethically vegan.

Calcium Propionate Synthesis

Production of calcium propionate relies on the direct reaction of propionic acid and calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. Empirically, a single mole of calcium oxide (CaO) or calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)₂) would react to 2 moles of propionic acid (C₃H₆O₂). The reaction would then result in a mole of water and calcium propionate.

The reaction of the substrates typically occurs in an aqueous solution and in the presence of a flocculant for product harvesting. The resulting product is then filtered, spray dried, sieved, and packed.

Food That Contains Calcium Propionate

As an effective preservative, calcium propionate is used in a wide variety of products such as processed meats (e.g., hotdogs, hams, luncheon meats, etc.), alcoholic drinks (e.g., beers, wines, ciders, malt beverages, etc.), beverages (e.g., soft drinks, fruit drinks, etc.), dairy products (e.g., cheeses, whey, yogurt, powdered milk, etc.), and baked goods (e.g., pastries, bread, muffins, etc.).

Calcium propionate is an especially ideal preservative for bread and baked goods with estimates that 80% of all calcium propionate used goes into this food sector. This is because while calcium propionate inhibits the growth of many bacteria and molds, it does not inhibit the growth of yeast and its fermentation.

Is Calcium Propionate Safe?

Food additives such as calcium propionate have to undergo numerous forms of evaluations and assessments to be certified and approved for human consumption. Specifically, calcium propionate has been approved by numerous food safety authorities.

Passing the specifications of the Chemical Food Codex, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approves the use of calcium propionate for human consumption and considers the food additive as GRAS (generally recognized as safe) (2).

In addition to holding calcium propionate to good manufacturing practice, the FDA also limits how much the food additive can be used in baked goods, cheeses, confections and frostings, gelatins, puddings, and fillings, and jams and jellies.

Aside from the FDA, the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) also finds no evidence supporting that calcium propionate induces any form of genotoxicity and carcinogenicity (3). Currently, the EFSA has not established an acceptable daily intake (ADI) value for calcium propionate and the food additive is maximally permitted to be used in levels ranging from 1000 to 3000 milligrams per kilograms in food.

References

1. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/

2. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/

3. https://www.efsa.europa.eu/

Are Bagels Vegan? Toppings and Types Explained

Bagels are popular bread products that are especially associated with the Jewish community in New York. As a bread snack, bagels typically come in a wide variety of flavors and toppings.

Traditional bagels are vegan since they do not require the use of animal products or derivatives. However, bagels can quickly become non-vegan depending on the additional ingredients added for flavor. Common bagel ingredients that are non-vegan include dairy products (e.g., cream cheese, butter, cheese), eggs, and meat. However, vegans can enjoy traditional bagels with vegan ingredients such as sesame seeds, poppy seeds, fruits, herbs, and spices.

Bagels

Bagels are ring-shaped bread products characterized by their dense and chewy interior contrasted with a browned and crispy exterior – qualities that are attributed to the way they are prepared.

Bagels are traditionally shaped like rings. While the historical decision to make them into rings is debatable, it is assumed that they are functionally designed that way to allow bakers to process batches of bagels simultaneously on a stick or rod.

The history of bagels is not fully understood but it is suggested that bagels are referenced in the Jewish communities of Krakow, Poland all the way back in 1610 (1). Following the eastward Jewish migrations in the Middle Ages, the bagel reached the USA with the mass Jewish migrations of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

People often mistake bagels and donuts due to their general ringed appearance, but the two food items have distinct differences. Firstly, the way the two are prepared is different. Donuts are typically fried while bagels undergo a characteristic two-step process of boiling and baking. The two are also presented differently as donuts are often presented as sweet desserts while bagels are more associated as bread products.

In making bagels, the first step is to prepare the dough. First, the yeast is added to water and left to rest to preemptively activate the yeast. After allowing the mixture to rest for around five minutes, the flour, sugar, and salt are added. The resulting dough is then kneaded and allowed to rise for an hour to an hour and a half. Once the dough has risen, it can be portioned and molded into the traditional ringed shapes. The bagels are then boiled for a couple of minutes before finally baking them to preference.

Are Bagels Vegan?

By themselves, bagels are vegan food products since they are simply made from vegan ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, water, and sugar.

However, bagels are considered as base bread products and it is common to find bagels added with other ingredients to diversify and widen their flavor profiles. The added ingredients would then be considered if whether the bagels are still vegan or not.

Some vegans might worry about the addition of sugar when making bagels. The concern stems from how some sugar manufacturers use bone char (charred animal bones) as a filtering mechanism. However, bagels can be made with any other sweetener that is completely vegan such as barley malt syrup, corn syrup, or malt extract.

Common Non-Vegan Bagel Ingredients

Unfortunately, bagels can quickly become non-vegan depending on certain ingredients added to them for flavor. Here are some common examples of non-vegan ingredients that can be found on bagels:

Cream Cheese

Perhaps the most popular ingredient added to bagels would be cream cheese. To commemorate National Bagel Day (February 9), Grubhub conducted a survey regarding people’s favorite bagel toppings and flavors (2). The survey found that regular cream cheese was the number one favorite topping among its respondents.

Unfortunately, cream cheese is not vegan because it is made of milk and cream – both items that are derived from animals.

Egg

Eggs may not be among the most common toppings added to bagels, but many bakers prepare bagels with an egg wash prior to baking them. Eggs can also be seen as a common ingredient added when making bagel sandwiches (e.g., egg and cheese bagels, bacon, egg, and cheese bagels, egg salad bagels, etc.).

Eggs are not considered vegan because they are directly obtained from animal sources. Many vegans feel strongly against eggs since eggs represent the exploitation of the reproductive systems of chickens.

Cheese

Cheese is another common ingredient that is typically added to bagels. In the same survey (2), American cheese was voted the fourth top bagel toppings in the US. As common as it is used in sandwiches and burgers, cheese is also a common ingredient added to bagel sandwiches.

Another dairy product, cheese is not considered vegan. Dairy products are avoided by vegans since they require milk for their production. Milk is especially problematic since the milk industry is associated with mistreatment of cows, forced impregnations, and the separation of the cow to its calf.

Butter

Following cheese in the survey (2), butter was voted as the fifth top bagel topping among the survey respondents. Butter is a traditional dairy product made from the fat and protein components of milk. Like cheese and cream cheese, butter is a common ingredient added to bagels and bagel sandwiches.

As a dairy product, butter is not vegan because it is derived from milk.

Meat

Different meats (e.g., pork, beef, fish, chicken) can be found in bagels and bagel sandwiches. Giving bagels additional protein and a savory flavor profile, it is not uncommon to find bagels with bacon added.

Unfortunately, any meat cannot be considered vegan since it is directly obtained from animal sources.

Vegan Bagel Ingredients

While many ingredients added to bagels are non-vegan, vegans can still enjoy many ingredients that can be added to bagels for added flavor while complying with their dietary restrictions.

Sesame Seeds

While bagels can be prepared plain, it is common to prepare bagels covered with sesame seeds before baking. Sesame seeds are integral when making sesame bagels – the second top bagel flavor in the Grubhub survey (2). Sesame seeds are also the source of sesame oil.

Sesame seeds are completely vegan as they are simply the seeds of the sesame plant (Sesamum indicum).

Poppy Seeds

Along with sesame seeds, poppy seeds are also traditional ingredients when preparing bagels. Not as common as sesame bagels but poppyseed bagels ranked as the fourth top bagel flavors among the respondents of the survey (2). Poppy seeds are tiny seeds that are used in many different cuisines. They are also the source of poppyseed oil.

Poppy seeds are vegan as they are simply the seeds of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum).

Spices

Adding a wide variety of flavor, the flavor profiles of bagels can greatly benefit from the addition of spices such as cinnamon, garlic, and onion.

Spice is a general term for the flavor agents that come from various parts of a plant such as the seed, fruit, root, or bark. They are vegan as they do not contain any animal product or derivative.

Fruits

It is very common to find bagels topped with a variety of fruits such as avocados, blueberries, raisins, and such. Not only do fruits enrich the flavor profiles of bagels, but they add aesthetic color to the bagels and provide nutrient supplementation.

Coming from plant sources, fruits are perfectly vegan options for adding to bagels.

References

1. https://www.jstor.org/

2. https://www.huffpost.com/