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Ricola cough drops are a popular remedy for sore throats and coughs. The drops are made from a mixture of herbs, including echinacea, which is thought to boost the immune system. Ricola cough drops are available in many flavors, including mint, honey, and lemon. But are Ricola cough drops vegan?
Several flavors of Ricola cough drops are vegan such as Original Natural Herb, Lemon Mint and Berry Medley to name a few. They are vegan because they don’t contain any ingredients sourced from animals.
Below is a table showing Ricola Cough Drops flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status | Link |
| Original Natural Herb | Vegan. | View On Amazon |
| Lemon Mint | Vegan. | View On Amazon |
| Lemon Mint No Sugar | Dietary Vegan. | View On Amazon |
| Honey Herb | No, contains Honey. | |
| Cheery Honey | No, contains Honey. | |
| Sugar Free Swiss Cherry | Dietary Vegan. | |
| Honey Lemon With Echinacea | No, contains Honey. | |
| Berry Medley | Vegan. | |
| Sugar Free Green Tea With Echinacea | Dietary Vegan. | |
| Cool Relief Icy Menthol | Vegan. | |
| Cool Relief Lemon Frost | Vegan. |
Ricola Cough Drops Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C)
- Aspartame
- Bilberry Juice Concentrate
- Black Currant Juice Concentrate
- Citric Acid
- Color (Caramel)
- Colors (Carrot)
- Green Tea
- Glucose Syrup
- Honey
- Horehound
- Hyssop
- Isomalt
- Lemon Balm
- Lemon Juice Concentrate
- Linden Flowers
- Malic Acid
- Mallow
- Natural Cherry Concentrate
- Natural Color
- Natural Color (Beta-carotene)
- Natural Color (Chlorophyll)
- Natural Flavors
- Peppermint
- Peppermint And A Ricola Herb Mixture
- Peppermint Oil
- Raspberry Juice Concentrate
- Sage
- Sorbitol
- Spirulina
- Starch Syrup
- Sugar
- Thyme
- Wild Thyme
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Honey
Honey is made by bees and is not a vegan-friendly ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar can be a concerning ingredient for vegans because there is a risk that bone char has been used in the production process. In candy and sweets, cane sugar is the most commonly used sugar and in order for cane sugar to be used it’s often refined.
In this refining process it’s also bleached and a common method is to use bone char from dead cows. Many vegans agree on that if this is the case, the sugar would be classified as non-vegan. There is no way of knowing this for sure unless you contact the company and ask.
Aspartame
This ingredient has been heavily tested on animals for a long time and many vegans stay away from this ingredient. It’s up to you if you want to consume this ingredient or not, everyone’s vegan journey is different.
Natural Flavors
The last questionable ingredient is natural flavors and the reason for this is the fact that several ingredient can be put here without needing to disclose the source. This means that both ingredient derived from animals and plants can be present.
Conclusion
It’s great that so many flavors or Ricola cough drops are suited for vegans. You will always find questionable ingredients in cough drops, but very often some flavors will still be vegan-friendly. When it comes to aspartame, it’s ultimately up to you if you want to eat products containing this ingredient.
Thanks for reading, take care!
