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Mikesell’s has been producing potato chips since 1925 and they come with a variety of flavors. Finding tasty vegan potato chips might not be so easy, so today I’m going to answer the question, are Mikesell’s potato chips vegan?
Mikesell’s Potato Chips Original, No Salt Added and Reduced Fat is vegan, because they don’t contain any ingredients derived from animals.
Below is a table showing Mikesell’s potato chips flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Original | Vegan. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Green Onion | No, contains Milk. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips No Salt Added | Vegan. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Honey Barbecue | No, contains Honey. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Cheddar & Sour Cream | No, contains Milk. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Good’n Hot | Dietary Vegans only, contains artificial colors. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Spicy Dill Pickle | Might be vegan, contains Disodium Guanylate & Disodium Inosinate. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Reduced Fat | Vegan. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Reduced Fat Original | Vegan. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Old Fashioned Original | Might be vegan, contains Disodium Guanylate & Disodium Inosinate. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Old Fashioned Himalayan Sea Salt & Vinegar | Vegan. |
Check out our top vegan chips flavors list for more choices.
Mikesell’s Potato Chips Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Annatto
- Artificial Colors (Yellow 6, Yellow 6 Lake & Red 40 Lake)
- Buttermilk
- Canola Oil
- Caramel Color
- Cheese
- Cheese Cultures
- Citric Acid
- Corn Flour
- Corn Meal
- Corn Oil
- Dextrose
- Dill
- Disodium Guanylate
- Disodium Inosinate
- Disodium Phosphate
- Enzymes
- Food Starch-modified
- Fructose
- Garlic Powder
- Himalayan Sea Salt
- Lactic Acid
- Malic Acid
- Maltodextrin
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Natural And Artificial Flavors
- Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor
- Nonfat Dry Milk
- Onion
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Parsley
- Peanut Oil
- Potatoes
- Salt
- Sea Salt
- Silicon Dioxide
- Sodium Citrate
- Sodium Diacetate
- Sour Cream Solids
- Soy Grits
- Spices
- Sugar
- Sunflower Oil
- Tricalcium Phosphate
- Turmeric
- Vinegar Solids
- Whey
- Whey Protein Concentrate
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
In some of the flavors there are ingredients made from milk such as buttermilk, sour cream and whey. Since it’s made from cow’s milk, these ingredients are not vegan-friendly.
Honey
As you might already know, vegan don’t exploit any animals or insects and bees are not an exception. The bees collection nectar and makes honey, which we take from them and replaces it with sugar. This does not align with veganism and is therefore not vegan either.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is one of the most common ingredients in sweets and candy. It can be found in some chips flavors as well. Two of the most popular types are beet sugar and cane sugar. Beet sugar and raw cane sugar is 100% vegan-friendly, but when the cane sugar gets refined that’s when it might become a problem for vegans.
In the refining process the sugar is also bleached to make it fit the product better and a common practice here is to use bone char from dead cows. Exploiting animals like this does not align well with veganism and a lot of vegans think that this would make the refined cane sugar non-vegan.
Refined cane sugar is not that common in chips.
Corn & Soy
Just a quick mention about corn and soy. They are two of the most common GMO crops in USA and this can be a problem for some vegans. They require a high amount of herbicide in order to get good harvests. This can damage the surrounding ecosystems, which is not very vegan-friendly.
Natural Flavors
This ingredient is an umbrella term, which mean that it can exist many ingredients in natural flavors. It can be ingredients derived from animals or plants and there no way of knowing the source unless it’s disclosed on ingredients label. If you want to be sure about the source then the best way is contact the company and ask.
There is an article on National Geographic where they found out that butt goo from beavers can be used in vanilla flavors. This just sounds unreal and show what kind of ingredients some companies use in food. If the natural flavor has milk in it, then it’s often disclosed.
Artificial Colors
Now artificial colors is a very controversial ingredient within the vegan community and with good reason. As it turns out, animal testing is still being conducted and this not align with veganism. However here we can split vegans into two groups, ethical vegans and dietary vegans.
Ethical vegans tends to always stay away from artificial colors while dietary vegans makes a choice to consume them. It’s also important to know that there are several health issues connected to artificial colors such as hyperactivity when it comes to children.
Enzymes
An ingredient that can be made from both animals and plants.
Disodium Guanylate & Disodium Inosinate
Same goes with disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate, it can also be made from ingredients sourced from plants and animals. It’s rarely disclosed on the ingredients label.
FAQ
Are Mikesell’s Potato Chips Vegetarian?
Most of Mikesell’s potato chips are suited for vegetarians, while Green Onion and Cheddar & Sour Cream are suited for lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarians.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Green Onion | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips No Salt Added | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Honey Barbecue | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Cheddar & Sour Cream | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Good’n Hot | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Spicy Dill Pickle | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Groovy Potato Chips Reduced Fat | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Reduced Fat Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Old Fashioned Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Mikesell’s Potato Chips Old Fashioned Himalayan Sea Salt & Vinegar | All Vegetarians. |
Conclusion
It’s great that some of Mikesell’s potato chips are vegan according to the ingredients label. As you might have noticed some of the flavors have milk and one flavors has honey. There might be more flavors that are vegan but they contain natural flavors or disodium guanylate and disodium inosinate.
It’s hard to know the source of these ingredients and since they can be made from animal-sourced ingredients we can’t cross them off as vegan. If one of flavors are your favorite then I recommend contacting the company and ask if they know the source of these ingredients.
I hope you found this article helpful. Thanks for reading, take care!
