Wotsits are baked crisps manufactured and sold by Walkers Crisps. They are characterized by their smooth, round edges and melt-in-your-mouth texture. These crisps contain no artificial color or preservatives, have real cheese, baked and not fried and vegetarian-friendly.
Wotsits follow a strict production process. The potatoes for Wotsits are delivered to the factory every day by lorry. After that, they are rinsed, skinned, and cut. They are fried in a mixture of sunseed and rapeseed oil after slicing to give them their golden color and distinct texture. They’re then flavored and double-checked to make sure they’re of good quality.
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Are Wotsits Vegan?
The answer is: No
Wotsits are not vegan-friendly because they contain animal byproducts such as cheese flavor, milk lactose, flavor enhancer, natural flavorings and milk.
Why Are Wotsits Not Vegan-Friendly?
Wotsits contain several ingredients that are not vegan-friendly. These are cheese flavor, milk lactose, flavor enhancer, natural flavorings and milk.
Let us first take a closer look at cheese flavor.
This product is made from dried cheese, which is derived from milk. It is non-vegan because milk is an animal byproduct.
Milk lactose.
This is a type of sugar found in milk. It makes up around 2 to 8% of milk and is not vegan-friendly.
Disodium 5′-Ribonucleotide
A food additive/flavor enhancer made from sodium salts of inosinic acid and guanylic acid. These sodium salts can be found in the flesh of dead animals, but they can also be found in plants. The Disodium 5′-Ribonucleotide being vegan-friendly is dependent on the type of sodium salts used and where they are sourced. It is unclear whether the Disodium 5′-Ribonucleotide in this product is vegan.
Natural flavoring
Maybe sourced from animals or plants. It is not clear where the natural flavoring in Wotsits is from but we can assume that it is derived from animals just to be safe. Finally, milk is a more obvious ingredient and is not vegan because it is an animal byproduct.
Final Thoughts
You may need to find alternative crisps you can enjoy because this product is not vegan-friendly. This is because they contain non-vegan ingredients.
Some of the ingredients, such as natural flavoring and Disodium 5′-Ribonucleotide are more ambiguous. Because Wotsits does not explicitly state whether these two ingredients are vegan or not, we may assume that they are non-vegan.
If you would like to find out more about Wotsits, please visit the official website https://walkers-snacks.co.uk/walkers-wotsits.