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Bugles are a classic snack food that has been around for many decades, beloved by both children and adults alike. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but they all share the same iconic crunchy texture. But, are Bugles vegan?
Original Bugles is vegan because it doesn’t contain ingredients derived from animals.
Below is a table showing Bugles flavors and its vegan status. Churro might also be vegan, but contains natural flavors, which could contain ingredients sourced from animals.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Original Bugles | Vegan. |
| Nacho Cheese | No, contains Milk. |
| Hidden Valley Ranch | No, contains Milk. |
| Caramel | No, contains Milk. |
| Churro | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Chocolate Peanut Butter | No, contains Milk. |
| Chili Cheese | No, contains Milk. |
Bugles Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Baking Soda
- Bht And Citric Acid
- Buttermilk Powder
- Cheddar Cheese
- Citric Acid
- Cocoa Processed With Alkali
- Coconut Oil
- Corn Starch
- Cultures
- Degermed Yellow Corn Meal
- Dextrose
- Disodium Guanylate
- Disodium Inosinate
- Disodium Phosphate
- Distilled Monoglycerides
- Dried Buttermilk
- Dried Cheddar Cheese
- Dried Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese
- Dried Garlic
- Dried Onion
- Dried Whey
- Enzymes
- Fructose
- Garlic Powder
- Maltodextrin
- Milk
- Modified Corn Starch
- Molasses
- Monoglycerides
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Natural And Artificial Flavor
- Onion Powder
- Palm Oil
- Paprika Exract Added For Color
- Paprika Extract
- Parsley
- Peanut Butter
- Reduced Lactose Whey
- Red 40 Lake
- Salt
- Soy Lecithin
- Soybean Oil
- Spice
- Sugar
- Tomato Powder
- Whey
- Whole Milk Solids
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Since milk comes from cows, it’s not a vegan-friendly ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a controversial ingredient within the vegan community. In candy and sweets, the most common sugar types are beet sugar and cane sugar. Beet sugar and raw cane sugar is vegan-friendly, while refined cane sugar might not always be vegan-friendly.
Cane sugar is often refined to fit the products, while in the refining process, the sugar is often bleached. A common method to bleach the cane sugar is to use bone char from dead cows. Exploiting animals in the production process would make that sugar non-vegan.
Natural Flavors
Natural flavors is a umbrella term, meaning that it’s often a mix of several ingredients. This means that the ingredients could be animal-sourced and it would not be disclosed on the ingredients label. If you want to be sure that this ingredient is vegan, you will need to contact the company and ask.
Artificial Colors
Artificial color is a controversial ingredient within the vegan community. These colors are known for being tested on animals so ethical vegans tends to stay away. There are other testing methods out there, such as computer simulations that can do a great job instead.
There are also health issues connected to some of the colors such as hyperactivity in children. Some vegans tend to consume these colors, but most vegans stay away for ethical reasons.
Palm Oil
Palm oil is a very controversial ingredient. Not only for vegans, but for people from all over the world. The reason for this is the deforestation taking place is devastating for wildlife and the environment in general.
The industry was not regulated for a long time and since palm oil is so profitable per square meter, many companies kept producing more and more palm oil. This lead to a lot of deforestation.
There is a way to make the palm oil more vegan-friendly and it’s called RSPO. This is a non-profit organisation that helps companies produce and buy sustainable palm oil with minimal impact on the environment.
Corn & Soy
Corn and soy are two of the most common GMO crops in the US and the problem with these is the high amount of herbicide required to grow them. This can pollute the surrounding ecosystem and damage it severely.
Disodium Guanylate & Disodium Inosinate
These ingredients can be sourced from both plants and animals.
Conclusion
It’s great that at least one flavor of Bugles is vegan-friendly. Many of the other flavors contains milk from cows and since vegans don’t eat anything from the animal kingdom.
Thanks for reading, take care!
