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Today we are taking a look at Sunchips. They were introduced in 1991 and have a few flavors that are tasty and delicious. These perfect for any occasion that requires snacks, however are Sunchips vegan?
Sunchips Original is vegan because it does not contain any ingredients derived from animals. The rest of flavors contains milk making them non-vegan.
Below is a table showing Sunchips flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Sunchips Original | Vegan. |
| Sunchips Harvest Cheddar | No, contains Milk. |
| Sunchips Garden Salsa | No, contains Milk. |
| Sunchips Chili Lime | No, contains Milk. |
| Sunchips French Onion | No, contains Milk. |
For more inspiration make sure to check out our big list of vegan chips flavors with over 130 flavors.
Sun Chips Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the Sunchips flavors that I could find.
- Parmesean Cheese
- Brown Rice Flour
- Brown Sugar
- Butter
- Buttermilk
- Canola Oil
- Cheddar Cheese
- Cheese Cultures
- Chili Powder
- Citric Acid
- Corn Oil
- Cultures
- Dextrose
- Enzymes
- Garlic Powder
- Gum Acacia
- Green Onion Powder
- Lactic Acid
- Lactose
- Lime Juice
- Maltodextrin (Made From Corn)
- Natural Flavors
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Potassium Chloride
- Romano Cheese
- Salt
- Skim Milk
- Sodium Caseinate
- Sour Cream
- Spices
- Sugar
- Sunflower
- Tomato Powder
- Vinegar
- Whey
- Whey Protein Concentrate
- Whole Corn
- Whole Oat Flour
- Whole Wheat
- Yeast Extract
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
There are several ingredients made from milk such as cheese, whey, lactose and buttermilk.
Cows milk is not a vegan ingredients.
Questionable Ingredients
Natural Flavors
Now natural flavors is an ingredient that vegans needs to be careful when consuming. It’s because it can contain ingredients from both animals and plants. The source is often not disclosed making natural flavors a very tricky ingredient.
There as an interesting article on National Geographic about the usage of butt goo from beavers used in vanilla flavors. We can’t be careful enough when it comes to ingredients where the source is not disclosed.
The best way to find out for sure is to contact the company and ask.
Enzymes
Enzymes can be made from both plants and animals.
Sugar
Our third questionable ingredient for today is sugar. It’s an highly discussed ingredient in the vegan community and it’s for a good reason. Cane sugar and beet sugar are two popular sugar sources and both are vegan-friendly.
The most common sugar used in the candy and snack industry is refined cane sugar and this ingredient can be non-vegan. In the refining process the cane sugar is often bleached using bone char from dead cows and this is the problem.
Now there is no evidence that the bone char would contaminate the sugar, but the mere fact that if bone char would be used in the production produces it would make the sugar non-vegan.
Vegan Alternative To Sunchips
While there are one vegan option for Sunchips, I will still list a few more vegan alternatives.
I hope you can find flavors that suits your taste buds.
FAQ
Are Sunchips Vegetarian?
Sunchips Original are suited for all vegatarians while the rest of the flavors are suited for lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarians.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Sunchips Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Sunchips Harvest Cheddar | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Sunchips Garden Salsa | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Sunchips Chili Lime | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Sunchips French Onion | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
Are Sunchips Gluten-Free?
All flavors of Sunchips contains wheat and is not gluten-free.
Are Sunchips Dairy-Free?
Sunchips Original is dairy-free, but the rest of the flavors does contain milk.
Conclusion
One of out of five flavor vegan is not bad. There are several other chips brands that has zero vegan flavors. Seeing that veganism is becoming more and more popular so is the demand for vegan options.
I’ve included some other vegan chips alternatives as well and I hope that you can find a flavors that suits you.
Thanks for reading, take care!
