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Pom Bears are crunchy delicious teddy bear shaped potato chips produced by a company called Intersnack. They were introduced in 1987 in Germany and since then spread to over 30 European countries. Are Pom Bears Vegan?
Pom Bear Original is vegan because it does not contain any animal products. Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar contains honey and Pom Bear Cheese & Onion contains milk making them non-vegan.
Below is a table showing all Pom Bear flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status | Link |
| Pom Bear Original | Vegan. | View On Amazon |
| Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar | No, contains Honey Extract. | View On Amazon |
| Pom Bear Cheese & Onion | No, contains Milk. | View On Amazon |
Pom Bears Ingredients
Below are the ingredients I could find through the flavors of Pom Bears.
- Citric Acid
- Dextrose
- Dried Cheese (Milk)
- Dried Garlic
- Dried Potato
- Dried Yeast
- Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids
- Honey Extract
- Maize Dextrin
- Maize Starch
- Maltodextrin
- Natural Flavourings
- Paprika Powder
- Potato Starch
- Salt
- Sugar
- Sunflower Oil
- Yeast Extract
I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Milk can be found in Pom Bear Cheese & Onion in the form of dried cheese.
The milk comes from cows and is not vegan-friendly.
Honey Extract
Honey is produced by bees and vegan don’t exploit insects either for its products, so honey is a non-vegan ingredient in Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar.
Their honey is replaced by sugar instead, exploiting the bees for their hard work.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a hot topic within the vegan community and with good reasons. While sugar does not have have any animal derived ingredients it can sometimes be classified as non-vegan.
The most common sugar in the snacks and candy industry is cane sugar. The cane sugar is refined to better fit the products and within the refining process the sugar is also bleached. This is where the problem lies. The most common bleaching process includes using bone char from dead cows.
This has left many vegans angry, staying away from many sweets because the source would no be disclosed when it comes to the sugar used.
The source of the sugar is not disclosed in Pom Bears, so there is a risk that the sugar is in fact refined cane sugar and this could potentially make even the Pom Bear Original flavor non-vegan.
The second most used sugar is beet sugar and this is 100% vegan-friendly.
Natural Flavourings
Natural flavors is the second questionable ingredient in Pom Bears and is due to the fact that its an ingredient where companies don’t have to disclose what they put in it. So there are can be non-vegan ingredients in natural flavourings.
Since Pom Bears is vegetarians, there is a high chance that the natural flavourings is indeed vegan as well. It’s important that vegans pay extra attention to natural flavors because of the ingredients that can be hidden here.
There is an article on National Geographic where they disclose the use of butt goo from beavers in some vanilla flavors. This makes you think, what more can be hidden on other ingredients.
Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids
Mono-and Diglycerides can be derived from both animals and plants, making this ingredient highly questionable.
FAQ
Are Pom Bears Vegetarian?
Pom Bear Original and Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar are suitable for all vegetarians, while Pom Bear Cheese & Onion contains milk and is suitable for lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarians.
| Flavor | Vegetarian Status | Link |
| Pom Bear Original | All Vegetarians. | View On Amazon |
| Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar | All Vegetarians. | View On Amazon |
| Pom Bear Cheese & Onion | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. | View On Amazon |
Are Pom Bears Gluten-Free?
Pom Bear Original, Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar and Pom Bear Cheese & Onion is gluten-free.
Why Aren’t Pom Bears Vegan?
Pom Bear Salt & Vinegar and Pom Bear Cheese & Onion is not vegan because of the ingredients honey extract and milk. Pom Bear Original is vegan tho because it does not contain any animal derived ingredients.
Conclusion
It’s great that Pom Bear Original is vegan and maybe if we are lucky more vegan flavors will come in the future. More and more companies are creating a vegan option because they know that veganism is here to stay.
Thanks for reading, take care!
