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Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews are a delicious, chewy candy that has been around for over 100 years. The candy is made using only the finest ingredients and each batch is handmade. It’s are perfect for on-the-go snacking, but are Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews vegan?
Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews Original Dark and Retro maybe vegan, but they contain glycerin and sorbitan tristearate, which can be made from animal-sourced ingredients.
Below is a table showing Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Original Dark | Maybe, contains Glycerin, Sorbitan Tristearate and Palm Oil. |
| Milk Chocolatey | No, contains Milk. |
| Retro | Maybe, contains Glycerin, Sorbitan Tristearate and Palm Oil. |
Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Citric Acid
- Cocoa Powder
- Cocoa Powder-processed With Alkali
- Corn Syrup
- Dark Chocolatey Coating
- Dextrose
- Glycerine
- Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil
- Milk Chocolatey Coating
- Molasses
- Nonfat Dry Milk
- Peanuts
- Salt
- Sorbitan Tristearate
- Soy Lecithin-an Emulsifier
- Sugar
- TBHQ (A Preservative)
- Vanillin (An Artificial Flavor)
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Some ingredients derived from milk can be found and they are not vegan because it’s made from cow’s milk.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is always a tricky ingredient for vegans because there is always a risk that it has been bleached with bone char from dead cows, which essentially would classify the sugar as non-vegan. This is only the case for cane sugar because beet sugar is not bleach and is always vegan-friendly.
The cane sugar is often refined to fit the product better and it is in this process that the sugar is also bleached. So to be sure the sugar is vegan-friendly, you need to know the source or if the product does have a vegan label from trusted organisations such as vegan.org or vegan society.
Glycerine & Sorbitan Tristearate
These two ingredient can be made from animal-derived ingredients or plant-based ingredient, making them highly questionable.
Palm Oil
Now palm oil is a very controversial ingredient and not only within the vegan community. It’s has made it’s way to the global news and many people are now aware of the severe deforestation that is taking place in this industry. Orangutans are suffering and are being forced away from their natural habitat.
There is actually a way for the palm oil to be more vegan-friendly and it’s called RSPO. It’s a non-profit organisation that specializes in sustainable palm oil. I can’t find Just Born Inc as a member, which means that the palm oil in Goldenberg’s peanut chews would not be vegan-friendly.
Conclusion
Goldenberg’s peanut chews contains too many questionable ingredients to be called vegan and the fact that the palm oil used it not RSPO certified makes that even harder.
It’s not easy to know for sure if a product is vegan or not today, because living a vegan lifestyle is much more than just looking for obvious animal-derived ingredients on the ingredients label.
Thanks for reading, take care!
