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Fruit snacks is very popular among vegans, loved by children and adults alike. They are tasty and often contain natural sugar and color from the fruits used. I was searching for new fruit snacks the other night and came across Fruit Roll-Ups. I thought to myself “are they made from fruits?” and more importantly, are Fruit Roll-Ups vegan?
Fruit Roll-Ups are not vegan. They contain a lot of questionable ingredients such as sugar, natural flavors and palm oil. But the reason Fruit Roll-Ups are not vegan is because of the artificial colors red 40, yellow 5 & 6 and blue 1. Animal testing is still beeing conducted and that does not align with veganims.
A created a table below with all the flavors and it’s vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Flavor Mixers | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Sensation | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Sour | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Jolly Rancher | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Tropical Tie-Dye | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Blastin’ Berry Hot Colors | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Craze Mini Rolls | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Mini Rolls Wildberry Punch | Contains artificial colors |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Variety Pack | Contains artificial colors |
In this article I will show you my research of all the ingredients in detail for Fruit Roll-Ups and my conclusion to why it’s not vegan.
Fruit Roll-Ups Ingredients
There are a lot of flavors when it comes to Fruit Roll-Ups.
Below is a list of all the flavors I found.
- Fruit Roll-Ups Flavor Mixers
- Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Sensation
- Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Sour
- Fruit Roll-Ups Jolly Rancher
- Fruit Roll-Ups Tropical Tie-Dye
- Fruit Roll-Ups Blastin’ Berry Hot Colors
- Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Craze Mini Rolls
- Fruit Roll-Ups Mini Rolls Wildberry Punch
- Fruit Roll-Ups Variety Pack
I researched every flavor and they all contain the following ingredients:
Corn Syrup, Dried Corn Syrup, Sugar, Pear Puree Concentrate, Palm Oil. Citric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Fruit Pectin, Monoglycerides, Malic Acid, Dextrose, Vitamin C (ascorbic acid), Acetylated Monoglycerides, Natural Flavor, Colors (red 40, yellow 5 & 6, blue 1).
[Source]
As you can see I highlighted the non-vegan ingredients and the questionable ingredients.
No animal derivered ingredients can be found but that does not mean Fruit Roll-Ups are vegan.
Let’s take a closer look at the highlighted ingredients.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Artificial Colors
The artificial colors red 40, yellow 5 & 6 and blue 1 is not a vegan-friendly ingredient.
The reasoning behind this is the fact that animal testing is still beeing conducted, which is animal cruelty.
They mostly tested in the fashion industry for cosmetics and skin creams.
These colors are still beeing used in the food industry.
What is interesting is that there are other ways to perform test products such as cell cultures, human tissues and computer models that can be used instead of animals.
Unless the animal testing stops, artificial colors will remain a non-vegan ingredient.
Not only that there is a health aspect to this as well.
It is know that these colors can cause hypersensitivity reaction and they are also often contaminated with Benzidine that can cause liver cancer.
Be careful consuming products with artificial colors.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
This is still a questionable ingredient, let me explain why.
In the candy industry a very common sugar is used called cane sugar and it’s often refined to fit the candy products better.
In this refining process, the sugar is bleached and a normal ingredient here is bone char from dead cows.
Why? Seriously I don’t know, because there more modern ways to bleach sugar today.
Maybe it’s because the meat consumption is so high on earth right now and that makes bone char an easy accessible byproduct.
There is no evidence that suggests that any bone char is left in the sugar after it’s bleached, but if a product is produced using animal derivered ingredient, then it’s not a vegan product.
As more and more humans become vegans, the animal slaughter will decrease and bone char will not be as accessable, therefore forcing the industry to change the bleaching process of cane sugar.
If the product I want to consume has vegan ingredients and sugar is the only questionable ingredient left on label then I will most probably eat that product.
It’s impossible to track down which type of sugar the company uses and if it’s bleached using bone char, unless the company clearly says on their website which kind of sugar they use.
Citric Acid
Nothing much to say about Citric acid other than it’s most likely made from GMO corn.
GMO’s are to avoided as a vegan, because how detrimental the pesticide can be to the environment when the crop is grown. This is mostly in the US since GMO’s are forbidden in EU and many other non US countries.
There are far worse GMO crops such as Soy, but I felt that I needed to bring this up to your attention.
Palm Oil
The palm oil industry is known for it’s detrimental impact to the environment and the destruction of habitats for many animals such as orangutans.
Maybe you noticed that products with the vegan symbol from the vegan society sometimes contains palm oil.
How is that possible?
One word “RSPO”.
It short for Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil.
It’s a not-for-profit organisation that helps companies to produce and consume sustainable palm oil.
Fruit Roll-Ups are produced by General Mills Inc and they are a RSPO member.
You can find a statement of their 100% use of sustainable palm oil on their website as well.
What does this mean for us vegans?
Well it means that RPSO verified palm oil is a vegan-friendly ingredient.
Natural Flavor
This is an umbrella term for adding flavors and not needing disclose what they are.
Maybe you heard the story about beaver anal gland beeing an FDA approved natural flavor?
Well it is and it can be labeled as a natural flavor.
It’s not a common,but that kinda gives you an idea what a company can hide within the term “natural flavor”.
You can read more about it in this article at National Geographic.
Monoglycerides
This ingredient can be made from animal fats and it’s impossible to know this by reading the ingredients.
The only way to find this out is to contact the company.
Related Questions
Are Fruit Roll-Ups Vegetarian?
All flavors of Fruit Roll-Ups are vegetarian. Since the vegetarian diet is not as strict as the vegan diet, the questionable ingredients and artificial colors is not a problem. I would recommend vegetarians to try out the vegan alternatives such as Bear Fruit Rolls instead.
| Flavor | Vegetarian Status |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Flavor Mixers | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Sensation | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Sour | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Jolly Rancher | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Tropical Tie-Dye | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Blastin’ Berry Hot Colors | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Strawberry Craze Mini Rolls | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Mini Rolls Wildberry Punch | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
| Fruit Roll-Ups Variety Pack | Lacto-Ovo, Lacto |
Are Fruit Roll-Ups Gelatin-Free?
Fruit Roll-Ups are gelatin-free according to their website.
Vegan Alternatives To Fruit Roll-Ups
If you are looking for a vegan fruit snack that is 100% made from fruit then I got some good news.
Here are some that I found:
Conclusion
Calling Fruit Roll-Ups vegan-friendly is impossible, because of the use of artificial colors and the animal testing that comes with it.
Ingredients or products that uses animal cruelty in the production should be avoided by vegans.
There are so many vegan products today that wear the vegan.org or vegan society symbols to ensure us that their products is 100% vegan-friendly.
So far I have not seen a single product with these vegan symbols that contains artificial colors.
The reason as you’ve now know is pretty obvious.
In order to use the vegan symbols from high authority vegan organisations, products must be reviewed to comply to the vegan standards.
I would also like to warn you that companies will use their own vegan symbols in order to sell more products.
You can find a reliable list of vegan labels here.
Is this case Fruit Roll-Ups don’t have a vegan symbol and that is why I researched every ingredient to the extent that I did.
Thanks for sticking to the end of this article!
