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When it comes to chips, not all flavors are vegan even tho the base ingredients are potatoes. Today I’m going to analyze the ingredients for Jays to answer the question, are Jays Potato Chips Vegan?
Jays Original Potato Chips, Curly Waves, Crispy Ridges and Krunchers Original are vegan because they don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients. More flavors maybe vegan, but contains natural flavors.
Below is a table showing Jays potato chips flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Jays Original Potato Chips | Vegan. |
| Jays Barbecue Potato Chips | Maybe vegan, contains natural flavors. |
| Jay’s Hot Stuff Flavored Potato Chips | Maybe vegan, contains natural flavors. |
| Jays Curly Waves Potato Chips | Vegan. |
| Jays Crispy Ridges Potato Chips | Vegan. |
| Jays Chips Ridges Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips | No, contains Milk. |
| Jays Ridges Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips | No, contains Milk. |
| Jays Krunchers Original Kettle Cooked Potato Chips | Vegan. |
| Jays Krunchers Kettle Cooked Jalapeno Potato Chips | Maybe vegan, contains natural flavors. |
| Jays Krunchers Mesquite Bar-B-Que Kettle Cooked Potato Chips | Maybe vegan, contains natural flavors. |
Still want more vegan chips to choose from? Then check out our best vegan chips list.
Jays Potato Chips Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Annatto (Color)
- Artificial Colors (Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake)
- Barley Malt Flour
- Brown Sugar
- Buttermilk
- Canola Oil
- Cheddar Cheese
- Cultured Milk
- Citric Acid
- Corn Oil
- Cornstarch
- Cultured Nonfat Milk
- Dehydrated Parsley
- Dextrose
- Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate
- Enzymes
- Garlic Powder
- Jalapeno Pepper
- Lactose
- Maltodextrin
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Natural And Artificial Flavors
- Nonfat Dry Milk
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Potatoes
- Rosemary
- Safflower Oil
- Salt
- Sour Cream
- Soybean Oil
- Spices
- Sugar
- Sunflower Oil
- Tomato Powder
- Torula Yeast
- Whey
- Yeast Extract
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
There are several ingredients made with milk such as whey, lactose, cheese and buttermilk in some of the Jays chips flavors.
These are made from cow’s milk and are not vegan.
Questionable Ingredients
Artificial Colors
This is an controversial ingredient and is highly discussed in the vegan community. In Barbecue and Hot Stuff you can find artificial colors such as Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake and Yellow 6 Lake. There are several health issues connected to these colors such as hyperactivity in children, but the main reason a lot of ethical vegans tends to stay away is the fact that animal testing is still being conducted.
The experiments are made on mostly rats and there are other method of testing such as computer simulation that can do a really good job instead.
If you are eating a plant-based diet a.k.a. dietary vegan then it’s up to you if you want to consume these flavors.
Sugar
This ingredient is also a questionable ingredient and with good reason. The two most common types of sugar used in the candy and snacks industry are beet sugar and cane sugar. Beet is 100% vegan-friendly while there is a situation where cane sugar can be considered non-vegan.
In order for the brown raw cane sugar to fit the product recipe, it needs to be refined and in this process the sugar is also bleached. A common method of bleaching is to use bone char from dead cows and exploiting animals likes this does not align with veganism.
Natural Flavors
Natural flavors is also a tricky ingredient because, non-vegan ingredient can be hidden here without needing to disclose more information on the ingredients label. A lot of the times companies will disclose if there are milk in natural flavors which is a good thing.
Enzymes
Can be made from both animals and plants.
Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate
Same goes with this ingredient it can be made from both plants and animals.
FAQ
Are Jays Potato Chips Vegetarian?
Jays Original Potato Chips, Curly Waves, Crispy Ridges and Krunchers Original are vegetarian, while more flavors maybe vegetarian, but they contain natural flavors.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Jays Original Potato Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Jays Barbecue Potato Chips | Maybe vegetarian, contains natural flavors. |
| Jay’s Hot Stuff Flavored Potato Chips | Maybe vegetarian, contains natural flavors. |
| Jays Curly Waves Potato Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Jays Crispy Ridges Potato Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Jays Chips Ridges Sour Cream & Onion Potato Chips | Maybe vegetarian, contains natural flavors. |
| Jays Ridges Cheddar & Sour Cream Potato Chips | Maybe vegetarian, contains natural flavors. |
| Jays Krunchers Original Kettle Cooked Potato Chips | All Vegetarians. |
| Jays Krunchers Kettle Cooked Jalapeno Potato Chips | Maybe vegetarian, contains natural flavors. |
| Jays Krunchers Mesquite Bar-B-Que Kettle Cooked Potato Chips | Maybe vegetarian, contains natural flavors. |
Conclusion
It’s amazing that Jays has so many vegan flavors to choose from, which is not that common today since milk is such a popular ingredient.
Thanks for reading, take care!
