Itching to know if Airheads are vegan-friendly?
Airheads candy has been a favorite among kids and adults alike since its start in 1986. With a variety of intense fruity flavors and soft chew, Airheads is a taffy unlike any other. Airheads come in a variety of sizes including regular, mini, and big bars and now come in bite-size pieces.
Some of the more popular varieties of Airheads include:
- Airheads
- Airheads Bites
- Airheads Soft Filled Bites
- Airheads Gummies
- Airheads Gum
- Airheads Xtremes
If you are interested to know whether Airheads are vegan friendly, continue reading…
Table of Contents
Are Airheads Candy Vegan-Friendly?
The answer is: No
Unfortunately, Airheads are not vegan friendly. Even though it consists of seemingly plant-based ingredients, this candy is not suitable for a vegan diet. Airheads contain sugar, palm oil and artificial flavors.
What Are Airheads Made Of?
Ingredients
- Sugar
- Corn syrup
- Maltodextrin
- Dextrose
- Modified food starch (corn)
- Palm oil
- Citric acid
- Water
- Artificial flavors (Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 6, Yellow 5)
Why Are Airheads Not Vegan?
Airheads are not vegan-friendly because they contain ingredients that are against veganism. Sugar, palm oil, and artificial flavors strikeout Airheads from a vegan diet. But how true is this? Let’s analyze each of these specified ingredients:
- White Sugar – Some white sugars achieve their white color by using bone char as a decolorizing filter. Bone char is a product of charring animal bones. The bones go through high heat in a chemical process that results in the black carbon material called bone char.
- Palm oil – Vegans believe the production process is against both animal and environmental welfare. Animals like Orangutan and Sumatran tigers are at a high risk of being extinct as their habitat converted to palm tree plantations. The rain forests which harbor these species face continuous deforestation. The effects result in the current unpredictable weather patterns and global warming.
- Artificial flavors – Flavors such as Red 40, Blue 1, Yellow 6 and Yellow 5 give color to Airheads candy. Even though they are a byproduct of coal tar and petroleum, these color dyes use animals such as mice, rats, and dogs for testing.
Final Thoughts
Airheads is a delightfully tangy and chewy candy loved across all age groups. However, they have questionable ingredients such as palm oil, sugar, and artificial colors. These ingredients are not suitable for a vegan diet. As a result, Airheads are not considered vegan-friendly.
Read more on Airheads here: https://airheads.com