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Quavers are tasty and crunchy crisps produced by a company called Walkers. It was launched in 1968 by another company called Smith’s and is today a very popular snack with a wide range of flavors to satisfy most peoples taste buds. However, are Quavers vegan?
Quavers Salt & Vinegar and Quavers Prawn Cocktail are both vegan because they don’t contain any animal products. Quavers Cheese on the other hand contains milk and is not vegan. Quavers are labelled suitable for vegetarians but not as vegan. This is because they are produced in a factory that handles milk.
Below is a table showing Quavers flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status | Link |
| Quavers Salt & Vinegar | Vegan. | View On Amazon |
| Quavers Prawn Cocktail | Vegan. | View On Amazon |
| Quavers Cheese | No, contains Milk. | View On Amazon |
Quavers Ingredients
Below are ingredients that I found from the three flavors of Quavers.
- Cheese Powder (from Milk)
- Milk Powder
- Flavouring (contains Milk)
- Whey Powder (from Milk)
- Disodium 5’Ribonucleotide
- Potato Starch
- Sunflower Oil
- Flavouring
- Corn (Maize)
- Salt
- Citric Acid
- Malic Acid
- Potassium Chloride
- Antioxidant (Rosemary Extract)
- Rice Flour
- Soya Flour
- Yeast
- Flavour Enhancer (Monosodium Glutamate)
- Onion Powder (Malt Flour from Barley)
- Pepper
- Wheat Flour (contains Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin)
- Colour (Annatto Norbixin)
- Sweetener (Sucralose)
- Sugar
- Dextrose
- Tomato Powder
[source]
I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Quavers cheese contains several ingredients made from milk such as cheese powder, milk powder, flavouring, whey powder.
Milk comes from cows and is not a vegan ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a very controversial and discussed ingredient within the vegan community and it’s for a good reason. Sugar itself is indeed vegan because it does not contain any animal derived ingredients, but the production process can make sugar non-vegan.
The most common sugar used in the candy and sweets industry is cane sugar or more specifically refined cane sugar and a common practice in the refining process is to bleach the sugar with bone char from dead cows.
That has made many vegans upset, leading to boycott from sugar that uses this method. Raw cane sugar has a brown color and is 100% vegan-friendly and so is beet sugar.
Always read the label and if you want to be sure then contact the company and ask.
Sucralose
Quavers Prawn Cocktail contains sucralose and this a highly questionable ingredients for many vegans. This artificial sweetener is known for being tested on animals and ethical vegans tends to stay away from this ingredient.
Iron, Niacin & Thiamin
These three ingredients can be made from both plants and animals. You should always keep an close eye for these ingredients.
Since Quavers are labeled suitable for vegetarians, they should be okay for vegans to eat.
Corn & Soy
Corn and soy can mainly cause problem in USA. It’s because they are the most common GMO crops there and the high amount of herbicide they use can damage the surrounding ecosystems.
Disodium 5’Ribonucleotide
Disodium 5’Ribonucleotide is an food additive that i used in in Europe. It can be sourced from both animals and plants, so vegan should always be wary of this ingredients.
Since Quavers are labelled suitable for vegetarians then this ingredient should be okay for vegans to consume as well.
Flavouring
Now flavouring and natural flavors can be deceiving because companies can hide ingredients in here not needing to disclose them. In this case Walkers has done a good job here. Quavers cheese flavouring does contain milk according to the ingredients label and the other flavors only say flavourings.
I believe that this ingredient is okay for vegans to eat in Quavers.
FAQ
Are Quavers Vegetarian?
Quavers Salt & Vinegar and Quavers Prawn Cocktail are suitable for all vegetarians since there are no animal derived ingredients. Quavers Cheese are suitable for Lacto-Ovo and Lacto vegetarians because it contains milk.
| Flavor | Vegan Status | Link |
| Quavers Salt & Vinegar | All Vegetarians. | View On Amazon |
| Quavers Prawn Cocktail | All Vegetarians. | View On Amazon |
| Quavers Cheese | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. | View On Amazon |
Are Quavers Gluten-Free?
All flavors of Quavers contains wheat and are not gluten-free.
Are Quavers Dairy-Free?
Quavers Salt & Vinegar and Quavers Prawn Cocktail are dairy-free, while Quavers Cheese is not dairy-free because it contains cheese powder, flavouring and whey powder all made from milk.
Conclusion
It’s great that two of the Quavers flavors can be considered vegan.
With more and more companies seeing that veganism is here to stay, more vegans products are being launched every day.
Thanks for reading, take care!
