Answer: Yes. Mott’s Fruit Snacks are suitable for most vegans.
What Are Mott’s Fruit Snacks?
If you want a tasty treat for snack time, Mott’s Fruit Snacks could be an ideal option. Mott’s is an American company specializing in flavored snacks made of fresh fruit, vegetable purees, and natural ingredients. Starting with only apples in 1842, they now also offer fruit snacks. You’ll be sure to find a taste that suits you from their range of delightful flavors: Assorted Fruit, Berry, Tropical, Assorted Fruit Plus Fiber, and Fruity Rolls.
Why Are Mott’s Fruit Snacks Vegan?
Mott’s uses naturally sourced fruit and vegetable juices to provide a healthy and enjoyable snack. You’ll be pleased to know that Mott’s even has natural alternatives for ingredients that are often artificially formed. For example, they combine fruit juice, vegetable juice, and natural extract to make their snacks’ food coloring.
What’s in the Fruit Snacks?
You can have a look over the example ingredient list for Mott’s Fruit Snacks in the Assorted Fruit flavor:
- Corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, strawberry puree, carrot juice concentrate
- 2% or less of: fruit pectic, citric acid, vitamin c, dextrose, sodium citrate, malic acid, potassium citrate, sunflower oil, vegetable and fruit juice added for color, natural flavor, carnauba wax
As you can see from this, the ingredients are mostly, without a doubt, suitable for vegans. The wonderful flavor and color come from the many fresh juices and purees used, so for the most part, you should be reassured that this tasty treat is suitable for a vegan diet.
Are There Any Questionable Ingredients?
Though most of the ingredients are vegan-friendly, you might question the type of sugar that Mott’s uses.
Sugar is refined during the manufacturing process. Animal bones are heated to form bone char. It has bleaching properties to color sugar white and acts as a filter to remove impurities.
You might want to consider that the sugar used does not contain bone char particles; however, the two are in contact during manufacturing. Another point is that some sugars are refined using alternatives that are not animal-based, such as granular carbon.
If you want to try out these snacks, it might be worth looking into how Mott’s manufactures the sugar used in their snacks. This information isn’t available on their website, so you can do this by contacting the company.
What Are the Health Benefits?
To assess a snack’s healthiness, you can look at the number of calories, the amount of fat, and the beneficial nutrients available.
Have a read through the food listing for Mott’s Fruit Snacks in Assorted Fruits:
- Total Fat 0g
- Saturated Fat 0g
- Trans Fat 0g
- Cholesterol 0mg
- Sodium 30mg
- Total Carbs 19g
- Sugar 10g
- Protein 0g
- Vitamin A 4% of the daily value
- Vitamin C 100% of the daily value
With just 50-80 calories per portion, Mott’s Fruit Snacks are a healthy and enjoyable snack. Not only that, these delicious delicacies include nutrients such as Vitamin A and Vitamin C and little to no fats.
Vitamin C
The most appealing ingredient here is vitamin C. You can expect a variety of advantages for your general health, from an improved immune system to smoother skin and a reduced likelihood of cardiovascular diseases. What’s better is you get these through a lovely snack.
Vitamin A
The small amount of vitamin A here is also right for you. For example, vitamin A enhances vision, lowers cancer risk, strengthens the immune system, reduces acne, improves bone health, and promotes growth and reproduction. So, you can rest assured that this delicious snack is also good for your body.
Low Fat and Carbs
Mott’s Fruit Snacks are also tempting with their low fat and carbs. Whether you want to use them as a healthy yet flavorsome reward for children or as a weight-loss snack, you can have faith in these snacks to promote healthy eating.
Fiber
With the many pleasant flavors, there come different benefits. Mott’s Assorted Fruit Plus Fiber Snacks have 10% fiber, which is known to maintain healthy bowels and lower cholesterol. At the same time, Mott’s Fruity Rolls include iron which is vital for your bodily functions.
Are There Any Health Concerns?
Generally, no.
However, like many other fruit snacks, Mott’s Fruit Snacks still contain sugar, so they might not be the healthiest choice.
The recommended daily intake is 25g for women and 36g for men. Mott’s Fruit Snacks contain around 10g of sugar, 40% of the suggested amount for women and 28% for men. Exceeding this amount could lead to health difficulties like type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
You shouldn’t worry much if you use these snacks as an occasional healthy treat. Plus, numerous health benefits and nutrients are available, making them quite a healthy option.
Are There Any Healthier Alternatives?
There are healthier alternatives that use natural sugars instead of added ones. Here are a few you might like to try.
Organic fruit bars may be the way to go if you’re looking for another fruit-flavored sweet treat. Pure Organic Layered Fruit Bars are a vegan-friendly and gluten-free snack full of fruit and vegetable juices. These are free from preservatives and taste just as good.
Peaceful Fruits has many flavors of their Organic Fruit Strips. These are free from added sugar.
A bit of an unusual one, but Rind Snacks is known for its snacks formed from fruit peels. These sugar-free snacks have a chewy sweet-like texture without artificial sugar and several nutrients.
If you still want a vitamin C source, you might want to try out Clif Kid’s Organic Fruit Ropes. These organic snacks are perfect for all ages with a fun shape, tangy taste, and chewy consistency.
The Mini Fruit Bars from That’s It is a quick, on-the-go healthy snack option. The small size means you don’t have to worry about exceeding your daily sugar intake as long as you only eat one or two.
If you’re still not too keen on sugar, there are lots of foods you can eat raw as a snack. For example, bananas give you potassium and have a sweet flavor. Just be sure to check if your bananas are vegan.
Dates are also high in fiber and other nutrients. If you want something less sugary, try some trail mix or nuts. Once again, you can check if the brands offering these snacks advertise them as vegan-friendly.
Endnote
Mott’s Fruit Snacks are known for using natural ingredients and fresh juices. These ingredients mean they can be considered vegan-friendly. The only controversial ingredient could be sugar. In many American brands, sugar is filtered using bone char, which comes from heated animal bones. Even though the sugar does not contain any bone char, it indirectly comes into contact with it. With that being said, some companies don’t use bone char to refine sugar but use an alternative plant-based substance.
These are just some things to consider if you want to try them out. There are five different flavors of Mott’s Fruit Snacks, each with health benefits. The main ones are vitamin C and vitamin A to boost your immune system, maintain healthy skin, and prevent various illnesses. The only health concern is that, like many fruit snacks, these contain added sugar, which may increase the chance of developing some diseases in the long run.
If you worry about this, I suggest trying a few organic alternatives. These include fruit bars, strips, rolls, and rinds. You can also try raw foods like dates or trail mix for a healthy substitute. All of these have a fantastic taste with no added sugar. That said, Mott’s Fruit Snacks are ideal as an occasional generous treat for yourself.