Mentos are delicious, small rolls of freshness that can be found in many grocery stores. I’ve been eating them since I was a child. Noone ever told to look at ingredients of candy and food that I bought. When I went vegan, it was like a whole new world opened up to me. I was going to get Mentos for my kids the other day, but after taking a look at the ingredients I started to wonder, are Mentos Vegan?
Mentos are not vegan. They contain beeswax, carmine and artificial colors. Mentos gum and Mentos mints contains aspartame that has been tested on animals. If you are a dietary vegan then you can consume Mentos Chewy Mints Green Apple and several flavors of the Mentos gum.
I made a table below with columns showing which flavors of Mentos a dietary vegan or an ethical vegan can consume.
| Mentos GUM | Dietary Vegan | Ethical Vegan |
| Pure Fresh Fresh Mint | Yes | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1. |
| Pure Fresh Spearmint | Yes | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1. |
| Pure White Sweet Mint | Yes | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1 lake. |
| Red Fruit Lime & Tropical | Yes | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1. |
| Bubble Fresh Cotton Candy | No | No, it contains aspartame, carmine and blue 1 lake. |
| Pure Fresh Watermelon | No | No, it contains aspartame, carmine and blue 1 lake. |
| Pure Fresh Grape Medley | Yes | No, it contains aspartame. |
| Pure Fresh Cinnamon | No | No, it contains aspartame and carmine. |
| Pure Fresh Wintergreen | Yes | No, it contains aspartame, blue 1 lake and blue 1. |
| Red Fruit Lime | No | No, it contains aspartame, carmine and blue 1. |
| Always White Peppermint | Yes | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1. |
| Always White Bubble Fresh | Yes | No, it contains aspartame. |
| Citrus Gum With Vitamins | No | No, it contains aspartame and B12. |
| Mentos Chewy Mints | ||
| Mint | No | No, it contains beeswax. |
| Mixed Fruit | No | No, it contains beeswax. |
| Strawberry | No | No, it contains beeswax. |
| Rainbow | No | No, it contains carmine. |
| Cinnamon | No | No, it contains beeswax. |
| Spearmint | No | No, it contains beeswax. |
| Green Apple | Yes | No, it contains artificial colors. |
| Mentos Mints | ||
| Cleanbreath Mints Intense Peppermint | No | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1. |
| Cleanbreath Mints Intense Wintergreen | No | No, it contains aspartame and blue 1. |
If you want to know more about what it means to be a dietary vegan I found a great article that explains it in detail.
Now let’s take a look at the ingredients.
Mentos Ingredients
Below I have list all ingredients that can be found the Mentos flavors I could find.
I have hightlighted the ones that we need to take a closer look at.
- Acesulfame K
- Annatto Extract
- Apple
- Artificial Flavors
- Aspartame
- Beeswax
- Beetroot Red
- Beta-Carotene
- BHT
- Blackberry
- Blue 1
- Blue 1 Lake
- Carmine
- Carnauba Wax
- Chewing Gum Base
- Cinnamon
- Citric Acid
- Cocoa Butter
- Coconut Oil
- Corn Starch
- Corn Syrup
- Dextrin
- Gellan Gum
- Glucose Syrup
- Glycerin
- Glycerol
- Green Tea Extract
- Gum Arabic
- Isomalt
- Kiwi
- Lemon
- Lime
- Magnesium Stearate
- Malic Acid
- Maltitol
- Maltodextrin
- Mango
- Mannitol
- Manioc Starch
- Natural And Artificial Flavors
- Neotame
- Orange
- Paprika Oleoresin
- Raspberry
- Rice Starch
- Riboflavin
- Salt
- Shellac
- Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose
- Sodium Tripolyphosphate
- Sorbitol
- Spirulina Extract
- Soya Lecithin
- Strawberry
- Sucralose
- Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids
- Sugar
- Tartaric Acid
- Titanium Dioxide
- Tumeric
- Watermelon juice powder
- Wheat Glucose Syrup
- Xanthan Gum
- Xylitol
- Yellow 5
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Aspartame
Aspartame is a controversial artificial sweetener used in many diet sodas and other products.
It was first approved by the FDA for use as a food additive in 1981, but has been under fire since its approval due to safety concerns.
The most common side effects of aspartame are headaches, dizziness, mood changes, nausea and vomiting.
Beside the health isses connected to aspartame is has also been tested on animals throughout its development over the years.
This does not align with veganism.
Aspartame is therefore not vegan.
Beeswax
Exploiting bees for their wax is also not vegan-friendly.
Artificial Colors
Here is another controversial ingredient.
Artificial colors do not contain any animal-derived ingredients and can be consumed by a dietary vegan.
There have been a lot of animal testing and maybe it still is, so therefore we can’t call artificial colors vegan.
Since animals have been exploited for this ingredient, vegans tend to stay away from these colors.
I have yet not found a single product that contains artificial colors that has a vegan label from a trusted organisation such as vegansociety or vegan.org.
Artificial colors have been linked to several health issues such as hyperactivity, ADHD and depression.
Carmine
This food coloring is made from an insect called cochineal, which makes it non-vegan.
Shellac
Shellac can be found in candy as well as in beaty products.
It’s more know as confectioner’s glaze in most candy products.
Shellac is goo from a female bug in Southeast Asia that she releases after eating in trees.
This is ingredients is of course not vegan.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
One of the most common used sugar in the candy industry is cane sugar.
In it’s raw form it’s brown and very suitable for vegans.
However when it’s refined, it can become an issue for vegans.
The cane sugar becomes bleached and in that process, bone char from cows is very commonly used.
Now there is no evidence that the bone char would contaminate the sugar in anyway, however the use of dead animals in the production process makes this ingredient non-vegan.
It’s no way knowing if the sugar in Mentos have been refined with bone char.
Thus making this ingredient questionable.
Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids
This can be made from palm oil and there are several issues linked to this controversial ingredient.
Massive deforestation taking place, forcing animals such as orangutans away from their homes.
This ingredient does not have any animal derived ingredients, but is still considered non-vegan.
However this is a way to make this ingredient vegan-friendly and that’s called RSPO.
It helps companies make palm oil in a sustainable way.
Perfetti Van Melle can be found as a member but documentation at second half of 2020 or 2021.
Since don’t know for sure that the sucrose esters in Mentos are made from palm oil, we put this ingredient as quetionable.
Natural And Artificial Flavors
This ingredient that be tricky because companies that hide animal-dervied ingredients in natural flavors.
Magnesium Stearate
This is commonly derived from pork.
It can be made from plants as well.
Vegans need to be careful regarding this ingredient.
Corn Starch, Corn Syrup & Soya Lecithin
I chose to to put these ingredient together because they share a simular problem.
Corn and soy are two of the most common GMO crops in the US.
Heavy use of herbicide is connected to GMO crops especially soy.
This has a very negative impact on the environment, destroying ecosystems.
Riboflavin
This is a B2 vitamin can be derived from animals and plants.
Glycerin & Glycerol
Can be made from both animals and plants.
Vegan Alternative To Mentos
Although some Mentos flavors can be consumed by dietary vegans, I found a hard candy that is suited for all vegans.
It’s called YumEarth Organic Giggles Chewy Candy.
They are vegan certified by the Vegan Society, gluten-free and Non-GMO.
FAQ’s
Are Mentos Vegetarian?
Mentos chewy mints and Mentos gum are vegetarian.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of ingredients that are non-vegan and questionable in Mentos.
Some flavors can be consumed by dietary vegans, as for ethical vegans non of the flavors are suitable.
More and more companies are producing vegan candy.
Hopefully we will be eating 100% vegan-friendly Mentos in the future.
Stay vegan!
