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Utz Chips are delicious chips that have been around since 1921. They offer a wide range of flavors, upwards 20 flavors at the date of writing this article. They fit any occasion, whether it’s movie night or a party. However, are Utz Chips Vegan?
Utz Chips have many vegan flavors such as Utz Potato Chips Original, Utz Potato Chips Onion & Garlic, Utz Potato Chips Carolina Barbeque just to name a few. For all vegan flavors of Utz look at the table below.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Utz Potato Chips Original | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Original No Salt Added | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Crab | No. contains Honey. |
| Utz Potato Chips Red Hot | Most likely not vegan, contains Disodium Inosinate. |
| Utz Potato Chips BBQ | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Salt & Pepper | No, it contains Milk. |
| Utz Potato Chips Onion & Garlic | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Carolina Barbeque | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Honey Barbeque | No. contains Honey. |
| Utz Potato Chips Southern Sweet Heat Barbeque | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Utz Potato Chips, Salt & Vinegar | No, it contains Milk. |
| Utz Potato Chips Grillo’s Pickle | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples Original | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples BBQ | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples Fried Dill Pickle | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples Sour Cream & Onion | No, it contains Milk. |
| Utz Potato Chips Wavy Original | Vegan. |
| Utz Potato Chips Wavy Heluva Good Buttermilk Ranch | No, it contains Milk. |
| Utz Potato Chips Wavy Heluva Good French Onion | No, it contains Milk. |
| Utz Ripples Cheese Balls Flavored Potato Chips | No, it contains Milk. |
If you want more vegan alternatives then check out our big list of Best Vegan Chips Flavors containing over 130 vegan chips flavors.
Utz Chips Ingredients
Below are the ingredients I could find from all the current Utz chips flavors.
- Artificial Flavor
- Autolyzed Yeast Extract
- Brown Sugar
- Buttermilk
- Citric Acid
- Corn Starch
- Corn Syrup Solids
- Cottonseed Oil
- Cultured Nonfat Milk
- Dehydrated Garlic
- Dehydrated Onion
- Dehydrated Parsley
- Dehydrated Whey
- Dextrose
- Dill Weed
- Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate
- Extractives of Paprika
- Fructose
- Fumaric Acid
- Garlic
- Guanylate
- Honey Powder
- Hydrolyzed Corn Protein
- Lactose
- Malic Acid
- Maltodextrin
- Modified Corn Starch
- Mono and Diglycerides
- Natural Flavors
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Potatoes
- Red 40 Lake
- Salt
- Sodium Caseinate
- Sodium Diacetate
- Soybean Oil
- Spices
- Sugar
- Sunflower Oil
- Torula Yeast
- Vinegar Powder
- Whey
- White Distilled Vinegar
- Yeast Extract
- Yellow 6 Lake
- Yellow Corn Flour
- Annatto And Turmeric
[source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
A lot of ingredients made from cows milk can be found in Utz chips and this ingredient is not vegan.
Honey Powder
Same goes for honey. It’s made from exploiting bees, switching their honey for sugar.
This is not acceptable to vegans.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is one of the most discussed topic in the vegan community. It’s an tricky ingredient that could be classified non-vegan when it’s refined cane sugar. This sugar is the most commonly used type of sugar in the candy and sweets industry.
So what is the problem with refined cane sugar? Well the problem lies in the refining process, where the sugar can be bleached using bone char from dead cows. It’s a very common process to bleach cane sugar using this method.
This is not acceptable among vegans and it’s really hard to know the source of the sugar unless it’s disclosed on the ingredients label. The only way to be source about the source is to contact the company and ask.
Artificial Colors
Artificial colors such as red 40 and yellow 6 lake can be found in one of the Utz flavors. This is a controversial ingredient that has the vegan community split. The problem with artificial colors is that animal testing is still being conducted and this does not align well with veganism.
There are other method of testing such as computer simulation that can do a really good job. Testing on animals is an outdated method. There are also some health issues connected to artificial colors such as hyper activity for kids.
Disodium Inosinate & Mono and Diglycerides
The problem with these two ingredients is that they can be sourced from both plants and animals. Unless disclosed it impossible to know its origin.
Corn Flour
Corn is the most common GMO crop in USA and this brings a problem, because of the high usage of herbicide that is needed in order to gain good yields. The herbicide can contaminate and damage surrounding ecosystems. Corn in itself is vegan.
FAQ
Are Utz Chips Vegetarian?
Almost all flavors of Utz chips are vegetarian because they either don’t contain any animal sourced ingredients or milk and honey. Below is a table showing all Utz flavors and its vegetarian status.
| Flavor | Vegetarian Status |
| Utz Potato Chips, Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Original No Salt Added | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Crab | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Red Hot | Most likely not vegetarian, contains Disodium Inosinate. |
| Utz Potato Chips BBQ | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Salt & Pepper | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Utz Potato Chips Onion & Garlic | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Carolina Barbeque | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Honey Barbeque | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Southern Sweet Heat Barbeque | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips, Salt & Vinegar | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Utz Potato Chips Grillo’s Pickle | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples BBQ | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples Fried Dill Pickle | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Ripples Sour Cream & Onion | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Utz Potato Chips Wavy Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Utz Potato Chips Wavy Heluva Good Buttermilk Ranch | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Utz Potato Chips Wavy Heluva Good French Onion | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Utz Ripples Cheese Balls Flavored Potato Chips | All Vegetarians. |
Conclusion
It’s great that there are a lot of accidental vegan option among the Utz chips flavors.
With a majority of them being vegan, it can be difficult to get vegan certified because it involves more than just vegan-friendly ingredients. The whole process from start to finish needs to be done according to the vegan standard organisation.
I hope you found this article useful, thanks for reading.
