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Chocolate beeing my akilles heel when it comes to sweets, made my transition to veganism tough. Don’t get me wrong there are a lot of good vegan chocolate products, but it was hard to let old favorites go. I went to the store the other day and I saw someone holding Maltesers. I instantly wanted to buy it, but are Maltesers vegan?
Maltesers are not vegan. It contains whey powder from milk, skimmed milk powder and milk fat. Not only that Maltesers also contain palm fat. The palm oil industry is known for its detrimental effect on the environment, destroying the homes of orangutangs and rhinos. A questionable ingredient that also has a negative impact on the environment is the soy if it’s grown with GMO’s.
In this article you will find all non-vegan and questionable ingredients researched as well as a vegan alternative to Maltesers.
Maltesers Ingredients
Down below you will find a list of ingredients of Maltesers original flavor.
- Sugar
- Cocoa Butter
- Skimmed Milk Powder
- Cocoa Mass
- Glucose Syrup
- Palm Fat
- Lactose
- Whey Powder (from Milk)
- Barley Malt Extract
- Milk Fat
- Emulsifier (SoyaLecithin)
- Wheat Flour
- Raising Agents (E341, E500, E501)
- Salt
- Natural Vanilla Extract
As you can see I have highlighted some of the ingredients.
This means that they are either non-vegan or questionable.
Keep reading to find out more about these ingredients.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk & Dairy
Whey Powder, Milk Fat, Skimmed Milk Powder and Lactose can be found in Maltesers.
Nothing much to say about this ingredients.
It’s from cows which makes it non-vegan.
Palm Fat
Now this is one of the most debated ingredients that we can find in any product related to food.
Maltesers are no different, we find palm fat which connects us to the palm oil industry.
Why is the palm oil industry so bad?
Well it’s bad for the envirnoment.
A lot of deforestation is taking place and this impacts the wildlife.
Orangutangs and rhinos are among the animals that are left without a home when the forest is cut down.
Without a home they die.
The reason palm oil is so popular is the amount of palm oil that can be product per square meter. No other vegetable oil production comes near this.
Since animals are dying from deforestation, a lot of vegans are boycotting palm oil.
However there is something called Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil also know as RSPO.
It’s a non-for-profit organisation that helps companies produce or buy sustainable palm oil.
This can make the palm oil vegan, but only if it’s 100% RSPO certified.
Mars Inc is RSPO certified and according to their website they are working towards 100% RSPO certified palm oil.
Until then the palm oil in Maltesers is not vegan-friendly.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
How could sugar possibly not be vegan?
The most common sugar is often made from beets or sugarcane.
In the candy industry cane sugar dominates the market.
More precisely refined cane sugar.
The problem with refined cane sugar is the fact that the most common bleaching process uses bone char from dead cows.
This makes this ingredient highly questionable.
There is no evidence that the bone char would stay in the sugar after the bleaching process, but since this would be considered an animal exploit, vegans tend so stay away from refined cane sugar.
It’s impossible to know for sure which sugar a company uses in their product. Sometimes they specify which sugar they use on their website or product label.
To be sure you need to contact the company and ask to be safe.
SoyaLecithin
Soy is a common GMO crop and why would this be a problem?
Well, most GMO crops needs a lot of pesticide to grow and this kills bio life and destroys surrounding ecosystems.
If you want to be safe from GMO then you can look for the symbol from the non-GMO project, you can read more here.
Vegan Alternative to Maltesers
I did some digging and I found a vegan alternative to maltesers and it’s called Maltybites.
It seems like a great product and the palm oil used is RSPO certified.
FAQ’s
Are Maltesers Vegetarian?
Maltesers are vegetarian. The only ingredient from animals is the milk.
Are Maltesers Gluten-Free?
Maltesers are not gluten-free because it contains wheat flour.
Conclusion
You made it all the way to the end, great!
As you can even tho a product does not contain any ingredients derived from animal it might still not be vegan.
Palm oil is an example of that.
In this case that would not have mattered since Maltesers contain milk.
However I still think it’s important to know.
Have a great day!
