Answer: No.
A simple bite of Sweet Tarts could transport you back to your childhood, with Willy Wonka’s “Chocolate Factory” playing on TV and your taste buds going crazy. Sweet Tarts has manufactured a variety of candies over the years. Sweet Tarts also come in chewy, gummy, and rope versions to meet the expanding demands of today’s tiny candy freaks, but are Sweet Tarts vegan? Some of the most likely are!
We’ll go over the vegan-ness of each variation of Sweet Tarts before you bite in and enter your sweet and sour dreamland, so you don’t have to regret your mistake afterward.
Table of Contents
What Percentage of Your Sweet Tarts Is Vegan?
Sweet Tarts is an addiction that can last a lifetime, whether they’re original, rope, chewy, or gummy. Some of the substances in these are very objectionable, while others are rather uncontaminated. Let’s put them on the stand.
The Original Sweet Tarts Are Vegan-Friendly
Most people consider the Original Sweet Tarts to be vegan. Natural flavors and artificial colors are the only substances that are problematic. The original Sweet Tarts, which come in rabbit and duck shapes, are also included in this derivation.
Have you ever wondered why some vegans find natural flavors and artificial colors to be objectionable? These substances, along with refined sugar and palm oil, are seen as contentious.
Natural Flavors Aren’t Always as Natural as They Appear
It means that the fruity flavors in your confectionery might not come from fruits! Castoreum, for example, is a natural flavor that is frequently mistakenly regarded as vegan, but it comes from the anal secretions of animals such as beavers.
It is only one example. Because you never know where the natural flavors in your food come from, it’s a controversial ingredient.
Why Can Added Colors Not Be Deemed Vegan If They Are Artificial?
Unlike many difficult questions, this one is straightforward. Artificial hues are, in most cases, manufactured or extracted synthetically. In many circumstances, they may not even come from animal sources. However, they are constantly tested on animals in a laboratory.
Artificial colors require testing on lab animals regularly to see whether they are detrimental to human health. Artificial colors such as Blue 1 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, and Red 40 Lake were present in the Original Sweet Tarts.
To ascertain the safe dosage values for humans, animals such as dogs, rabbits, rats, monkeys, guinea pigs, etc., take hazardous amounts of these substances. It causes the animals to die immediately or causes them to die later after they get side effects from the colors.
Making innocent animals suffer for the sake of a few appealing hues in our food is wrong. Artificial colors are, therefore, a contentious vegan element.
Animal-Based Components Are Present in the Chewy Sweet Tarts
There are no vegan Sweet Tarts, whether they are berries and cherries, gigantic chewy, or classic chewy Sweet Tarts. All of them contain substances derived from animals, such as egg albumen. Calcium stearate, as well as mono- and diglycerides, raises questions.
Aside from that, artificial hues such as Blue 1 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, and Red 40 Lake are available. You’re probably already aware of how immoral and divisive artificial colors are among vegans. The rest of this product’s vital ingredients are certainly not what you’d expect.
Egg Albumen Is Harmful to Your Health
Although albumen extracted from particular vegetables may be present in some culinary products, its typical sources are animal eggs, blood, and muscles. Sweet Tarts has stated that egg albumen is present in the chewy form of candy, so there’s no need to worry. It is unacceptable to have egg whites or derivatives in ostensibly vegan meals.
Calcium Stearate Is Shrouded in Mystery
Calcium stearate sometimes comes from animals, which you are probably unaware of. Plant-derived stearic acid is only 5% saturated, whereas animal-derived stearic acid can be up to 45 percent saturated. As a result, many producers choose to use animal-based supplies.
Stearic acid comes from plant-based oils such as cocoa butter. It is also produced by saponifying triglycerides from animal fats. The difficulty is that you never know where your candy came from.
Your Concerns About Mono and Diglycerides Are Genuine
That is because the mono and diglycerides in the chewy Sweet Tarts may come from animal fats, even though they can also come from plant-based sources. Why? Because animal-based products are less expensive, and your food makers are businesspeople, not saints. This ubiquitous ingredient may be a hidden animal-based product.
Sweet Tarts Gummies Are Not at All Vegan
Gelatin is an ingredient in three of the four versions of your favorite gummy candy. Except for Soft Bites, all other types of Gummies, i.e., Whipped, Tangy, and Sour Gummies, use gelatin in their manufacturing process to achieve the chewy texture that they are known for.
Gelatin is an animal-derived product that cannot be considered vegan. Therefore, Sweet Tarts Gummies, Sour Gummies, and Whipped and Tangy are not vegan. Only the Sweet Tarts Soft Bites use pectin rather than gelatin. Pectin is a plant-based Gelatin substitute. As a result, Sweet Tarts Soft Bites are only suitable for vegans.
That Is How Gelatin Is Made in Case You Didn’t Know
Gelatin is a form of protein derived from animals such as pigs, cows, and fish. Animal bones, ligaments, tendons, and skins are boiled in water for long periods to obtain a consistent elastic substance to manufacture these soft and chewy candies. That is not something you want in your mouth.
Sweet Tarts Ropes, Unfortunately, Are Not Vegan
For a vegan, this comes as no surprise. We’ve become accustomed to such disclosures regarding our favorite dishes. Gelatin, natural flavors, and artificial colors are all present in Sweet Tarts Ropes. It alone would make this a non-vegan product, but there’s more: these popular thick ropes contain Confectioner’s Glaze.
Sweet Tart Ropes contain gelatin and confectioner’s glaze. The latter consists of female lac insect fluids transported from India and Thailand. Sweet Tart Ropes are not vegan-friendly since confectioner’s glaze is an animal-derived product, similar to the gelatin we stated earlier.
Is Confectioner’s Glaze Really a Vegan Pastry Dish?
It is especially untrue. Confectioner’s glaze comes from the secretions of a certain female lac insect found in regions of India and Thailand. This product is not vegan because insects are also animals. Therefore, you should avoid any foods containing such substances.
Controversial Ingredients
Processed sugar and palm oil are the main ingredients. Because of the phases it goes through during bleaching, processed sugar is a controversial topic in vegan circles. Many sugar mills use bone char in their bleaching and whitening process.
Bone char is made by burning animal bones to extremely high temperatures, absorbing carbon used for the cane sugar whitening process. Even though no traces of bone char make it into the finished, refined sugar, vegans find this procedure to be objectionable because sugar production, in general, includes animal cruelty.
Palm oil is another substance that the vegan community considers being contentious. It is derived from plants. However, large-scale commercial palm oil plantations have hurt the environment and animals. Due to the quick and widespread clearing of rainforests to create room for these plantations, many species have lost their native habitats.
Furthermore, these plants emit peat into the soil where they are grown, resulting in massive emissions of the greenhouse gas methane. Global warming has become worse by the destruction of vast forests and the release of greenhouse gases.
Veganism is about living a sustainable lifestyle, so a product that causes such widespread devastation cannot be labeled vegan.
So, Are Sweet Tarts Vegan?
To some extent, the original Sweet Tarts can be called vegan. However, you can’t trust them blindly because they contain animal-based components. Many of its variations are not vegan. For example, gelatin, confectioner’s glaze, and animal fat-derived compounds are all completely unsuitable.
While it may not always avoid contentious components as a vegan, it is crucial to be aware of them. Veganism is all about minimizing your negative environmental impact. Avoiding meat and dairy reduce that influence significantly, although avoiding lesser-known contentious elements may not have as much of an effect.
To summarise, this brand’s only vegan-friendly candies are Original Sweet Tarts and Sweet Tarts Soft Bites. Sweet Tart Ropes, Sweet Tart Gummies, Sour Gummies, Whipped and Tangy, and Chewy Sweet Tarts are not vegan.
Vegans should be careful of several controversial compounds seen in ingredient lists. Palm oil, sugar, and food colorings are just a few ingredients to be aware of before consuming because they may not be vegan-friendly.
So, make a sensible decision and choose your food intelligently.