Are Smucker’s Ice Cream Toppings Vegan 2023?

Smuckers is an ice cream topping company that was established in 1897. The company produces a variety of toppings, including chocolate syrup, caramel, and sprinkles. Smuckers also offers a line of non-dairy toppings for those who are lactose intolerant, but are Smuckers ice cream toppings vegan?

Spoonable Marshmallow Flavored Topping, Pineapple Topping and Strawberry Spoonable Ice Cream Topping are suitable for dietary vegans because they don’t contain any animal-sourced ingredients.

Below is a table showing Smuckers Marshmallow Topping flavors and its vegan status.

Flavor	Vegan Status
Magic Shell Caramel Flavored Topping	No, contains Milk.
Magic Shell Chocolate Fudge Flavored Topping	No, contains Milk.
Magic Shell Chocolate Flavored Topping	No, contains Milk.
Unicorn Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping	No, contains Milk.
Microwaveable Hot Caramel Topping	No, contains Milk.
Microwaveable Hot Fudge Topping	No, contains Milk.
Simple Delight Hot Fudge Topping	No, contains Milk.
Simple Delight Salted Caramel Topping	No, contains Milk.
Butterscotch Flavored Spoonable Ice Cream Topping	No, contains Milk.
Caramel Flavored Spoonable Ice Cream Topping	No, contains Milk.
Chocolate Fudge Spoonable Ice Cream Topping	No, contains Milk.
Hot Caramel Spoonable Ice Cream Topping	No, contains Milk.
Hot Fudge Spoonable Ice Cream Topping	No, contains Milk.
Spoonable Marshmallow Flavored Topping	Dietary vegan, contains Blue 2 Lake.
Spoonable Pineapple Topping	Dietary vegan, contains Yellow 5.
Strawberry Spoonable Ice Cream Topping	Dietary vegan, Red 40.
Sugar Free Caramel Topping	No, contains Milk.
Sugar Free Hot Fudge Topping	No, contains Milk.
Sugar Free Caramel Artificially Flavored Sundae Syrup	No, contains Milk.
Sugar Free Chocolate Flavored Sundae Syrup	No, contains Milk.
Butterscotch Sundae Syrup	No, contains Milk.
Caramel Flavored Sundae Syrup	No, contains Milk.
Chocolate Flavored Sundae Syrup	No, contains Milk.
Sundae Syrup Strawberry Syrup	Maybe, contains Natural Flavor

Smuckers Marshmallow Topping Ingredients

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

• Blue 1 Lake
• Blue 2 Lake
• Brown Sugar
• Butter Cream [From Milk]
• Caramel Color
• Cellulose Gum
• Cellulose Gel
• Chocolate
• Cocoa Processed With Alkali
• Coconut Oil
• Corn Syrup
• Cream Solids (From Milk)
• Fully Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil
• Gum Arabic
• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Milk
• Modified Corn Starch
• Molasses
• Mono and Diglycerides
• Natural and Artificial Flavor
• Nonfat Milk
• Palm Oil
• Potassium Sorbate (Preservative)
• Reduced Mineral Whey (From Milk)
• Red 3
• Red 40
• Salt
• Sea Salt
• Sodium Alginate
• Sodium Citrate
• Sodium Phosphate
• Soy Lecithin
• Soybean Oil
• Sugar
• Sunflower Oil
• Titanium Dioxide (Color)
• Vanilla Extract
• Vanillin (Artificial Flavor)
• Water
• Whole Milk Solids
• Xanthan Gum
• Yellow 5
• Yellow 5 Lake
• Yellow 6
• Yellow 6 Lake

[Source]

As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.

Non-Vegan Ingredients

Milk

There are some ingredients made from cow’s milk and as you might already know these ingredients are not vegan.

Questionable Ingredients

Sugar

In candy and sweets, sugar is a popular ingredient and ice cream toppings is no different. Some of the most popular sources of sugar is beet and cane. The latter being the go to sugar in most candy and sweets. Cane sugar is not used in its raw form and it needs to be refined before used in production.

The reason for this is to make the sugar more compatible to the product they are making. Raw cane sugar is 100% vegan and it’s slightly brown and when refined it’s also bleached. A common method of bleaching cane sugar is to use bone char from dead cows.

Exploiting animals in the production process does not align well with veganism.

Palm Oil

Palm oil have been making the news for years and the reason for it is the severe deforestation taking place, which is very detrimental for the surrounding wild life. Orangutans and rhinos are two animals that are forced from their homes and this made many people upset, not only vegans.

So a large boycott of products containing palm oil took place and today many vegans are still avoiding this ingredient. There is something called RSPO, this is a non-profit organisation that helps companies produce and buy sustainable palm oil. This would make the palm oil vegan-friendly.

Artificial Colors

Most types of the artificial colors can be found throughout the Smucker’s Ice Cream Topping flavors. This is a very controversial ingredient because of the animal testing that have been done and probably still is being conducted. The testing is mostly done on rats, but that does not make it any better. There are other testing methods out there such as computer simulations.

A lot of vegans tends to stay away from these colors, but some vegans that are only eating a plant-based diet still consume products containing artificial colors. There are also health issues connected to these colors and one of them is hyperactivity in kids.

Natural and Artificial Flavors

Natural flavors is not a good ingredient for us vegans, because it’s almost never disclosed if it contains any animal-derived ingredients. See natural flavors in an umbrella, which means that companies can add several ingredients to it and only call it natural flavors.

Most of the time ingredients made from milk is disclosed, but not if they are animal-sourced.

Mono- and Diglycerides

This ingredient can be made from animal-derived ingredients and plant-based ingredients.

Conclusion

At least three of the Smucker’s ice cream toppings are suited for dietary vegans. Ethical vegans might not want to consume those flavors because they contain artificial colors.

Knowing if a product is vegan is becoming easier, but a lot of companies still don’t write if their products is vegan-friendly and this is why I’m making these reviews to help fellow vegans finding vegan products.

Thanks for reading, take care!