Are Ruger Wafers Vegan 2023? All Flavors Reviewed

Rugar Wafers is a popular cookie treat in the United States and have been for a long time. It’s the perfect snack for a lunch box, but also for birthday parties and picnics. With several flavors to choose, make them fit many lifestyles, but are Rugar Wafers vegan?

Ruger Sugar Free Wafers Vanilla and Chocolate are vegan because they don’t contain any animal-derived ingredients.

Below is a table showing Ruger Wafers flavors and its vegan status.

Flavor	Vegan Status
Ruger Sugar Free Vanilla Wafers	Vegan.
Ruger Sugar Free Chocolate Wafers	Vegan.
Ruger Chocolate Wafers	No, contains Milk.
Ruger Vanilla Wafers	Maybe, contains Natural Flavoring.
Ruger Strawberry Wafers	Maybe, contains Natural Flavoring.
Ruger Xoxo Chocolate Bite Size Wafers	No, contains Milk.
Ruger Xoxo Oz Vanilla Bite Size Wafers	Maybe, contains Natural Flavoring.

Ruger Wafers Ingredients

Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.

• Cocoa
• Coconut Oil
• Leavening Agent (Sodium Bicarbonate)
• Natural Flavoring
• Palm Kernel Oil
• Palm Oil
• Salt
• Soy Flour
• Soy Lecithin
• Sugar
• Wheat Flour
• Whey Powder

[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 you can find whey powder and this is made from cows milk making this ingredient non-vegan.

Questionable Ingredients

Palm Oil

This ingredient has made the world aware of the severe deforestation taking place in order for companies to make profit. It destroys the homes of many animals such as orangutans and rhinos, forcing them to leave their natural habitat. This awareness has not only made vegans to stay away from palm oil, but also many non-vegan in protest.

When start to look at products in the store today, you will see many of them containing just palm oil, because it’s the most profitable vegetable oil that can be grown per square meter. But the companies growing palm trees to make palm oil also needs large areas of land, which then leads to the deforestation.

This awareness has started a movement, where vegans and non-vegan always look for products that has RSPO certified palm oil. So what is RSPO? Well it stands for roundtable on sustainable palm oil and is a non-profit organisation that help companies to product sustainable palm oil, but also helps companies buy sustainable palm oil.

The best thing about Ruger Wafers is that they use RSPO certified palm oil, which makes it better for the environment and vegan-friendly

Sugar

The second questionable ingredient is sugar and the never ending presence of bone char. You might have heard that bone char could be used in the production in sugar? Well you heard right, but that’s not the truth for all types of sugar, mainly refined cane sugar. In the candy and snack industry, refined cane sugar is the most common sugar used and this raises an issue for many vegans.

On the ingredients label the source of the sugar often not disclosed, which makes it impossible for vegans to know if bone char have been used or not. So what is the bone char used for? In the refining process, the sugar is also bleached and a common method is to use the bone char from dead cows to do just that.

There is no evidence suggestion that the bone char would contaminate the sugar, but the mere fact that animals are being exploited in the production process of the sugar is enough to classify the sugar as non-vegan. It’s important to mention that raw cane sugar is of course 100% vegan and if the product has a vegan label from a trusted organisation.

Natural Flavoring

Now natural flavors is a tricky ingredient, because companies can hide whatever ingredients they want here and call it natural flavors. So there is always a risk of this ingredient not being vegan, because of the potential animal-derived ingredients that can be hidden in this umbrella term ingredient that is natural flavoring.

Companies tends to disclose if it contains milk, but that’s mainly for allergic reasons. So always consume products with caution when natural flavors is present, because it could contains non-vegan ingredients.

Soy

Soy is one of the most common GMO crops in USA and this ingredient comes with some issues for vegans. The herbicide needed to grow these crops successfully can hurt the surrounding ecosystem from contamination.

Rugar Wafers is certified from non GMO project, which is great.

FAQ

Are Ruger Wafers Vegetarian?

All flavors of Rugar Sugar Free Wafers are suited for all vegetarians and Ruger Chocolate Wafers together with Ruger Xoxo Chocolate Bite Size Wafers are suited for lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarians.

Flavor	Vegan Status
Ruger Sugar Free Vanilla Wafers	All Vegetarians.
Ruger Sugar Free Chocolate Wafers	All Vegetarians.
Ruger Chocolate Wafers	Lacto-Ovo & Lacto.
Ruger Vanilla Wafers	Maybe, contains Natural Flavoring.
Ruger Strawberry Wafers	Maybe, contains Natural Flavoring.
Ruger Xoxo Chocolate Bite Size Wafers	Lacto-Ovo & Lacto.
Ruger Xoxo Oz Vanilla Bite Size Wafers	Maybe, contains Natural Flavoring.

Conclusion

With veganism on the rise and more people being aware of the animal-cruelty going on in the world, companies are producing more vegan-friendly products and new ones hit the market every day.

Rugar Wafers have many certifications, for sustainable cocoa, sustainable palm oil and non GMO project just to name a few. This is great for the environment and the animals, but also for vegans who wants to protect the environment as well as reduce the harm of animals.

Thanks for reading, take care!