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Veggie Straws are long square shaped tube snacks. They look quite unique and if you are looking for a snack with amazing taste then Veggie Straws are for you. They are perfect for birthday parties or social gatherings when you want just a bit healthier snack than usual. One important question remains, are Veggie Straws vegan?
Garden Veggie Straws Sea Salt and Apple Straws Cinnamon are both vegan. One important thing to note is that cane sugar can be found in the Sea Salt flavor and natural flavors in the Cinnamon flavor. There is a small chance they could be non-vegan ingredients. All other flavors contains milk.
I made a table below with all the Veggie Straws flavors I could find with its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Sea Salt | Vegan, but contains Cane Sugar. |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Screamin’ Hot | No, it contains Milk. |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Zesty Ranch | No, it contains Milk. |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Cheddar Cheese | No, it contains Milk. |
| Apple Straws – Cinnamon | Vegan, but contains Natural Flavors. |
Veggie Straws Ingredients
I found five flavors of Veggie Straws and I made a list of all the ingredients below:
- Annatto Extract
- Apple Puree
- Beetroot Powder (Color)
- Butter [Cream]
- Buttermilk
- Canola Oil
- Cane Sugar
- Cheddar Cheese
- Citric Acid
- Coconut Oil
- Corn Flour
- Corn Starch
- Cinnamon
- Dextrose
- Enzymes
- Extractives Of Paprika
- Extractives Of Turmeric
- Garlic Powder
- Lactic Acid
- Malic Acid
- Maltodextrin
- Natural Apple Flavor
- Natural Flavors
- Nonfat Milk
- Onion Powder
- Paprika
- Potassium Chloride
- Potato Fiber
- Potato Flour
- Potato Starch
- Rice Flour
- Salt
- Safflower Oil
- Sunflower Oil
- Sea Salt
- Sodium Caseinate
- Sour Cream
- Spices (including Celery Seed)
- Spinach Powder
- Sugar
- Tomato Paste
- Tomato Powder Cream
- Turmeric (Color)
- Vinegar
- Whey
- Whey Protein Concentrate
- Yeast Extract
[source]
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Needless to say, there are a lot of ingredients in Veggie Straws that contains milk.
Below is a short list of the milk ingredients i found:
- Butter [Cream]
- Buttermilk
- Cheddar Cheese
- Nonfat Milk
- Sodium Caseinate
- Sour Cream
- Whey
Nothing much to say about these ingredients, other than that are made from cow’s milk.
One ingredient that you should remember is sodium caseinate.
It’s a protein derived from milk and there are products that actually don’t count this ingredient as milk.
So if a product says dairy-free, then always lookout for sodium caseinate.
Milk is of course a non-vegan ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
There are several types of sugar that can be found in Veggie Straws.
These are dextrose, cane sugar and plain sugar.
All these three ingredients share the same problem.
That is the presence of bone char.
The usage of bone char in the bleaching process is a huge factor in sugar and this makes the ingredient non-vegan.
There is no way for us as consumers to know if this is the case for the sugar in Veggie Straws.
Lactic Acid
Lactic Acid be derived from plants and animals, which makes this ingredient questionable.
Natural Flavors
A lot of flavors can be hidden within natural flavors.
There are just as many vegan natural flavors as there are animal derived natural flavors.
So it can be hard to determine if this ingredient is vegan.
There is an article at National Geographic, where they disclose the origin from some vanilla flavors.
It’s butt goo from beavers!
I almost did not believe it, until I read the article.
So as a vegan you always have to be on the lookout, when it comes to food.
I would say it’s pretty common that natural flavors are in fact vegan, but always check the label and if you want to be absolutely sure, then call the company and ask.
Spices
This is an umbrella term and very often it’s company secrets of which spices are included here since it’s their unique recipe.
Can be spices that are made from plants or ingredients derived from animals.
Enzymes
Enzymes can be a bit tricky since it can be made from both plants and animals.
Unless the company discloses the source on the package it will be impossible to know the origin.
Your best bet is to call the company and ask.
Related Questions
Are Veggie Straws Vegetarian?
Garden Veggie Straws Sea Salt and Apple Straws Cinnamon are suited for all vegetarians. The rest of the flavors are Lacto-Ovo and Lacto. I made a table below showing all flavors of Veggie Straws with its vegetarian status.
| Flavor | Vegetarian Status |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Sea Salt | All Vegetarians. |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Screamin’ Hot | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Zesty Ranch | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Garden Veggie Straws – Cheddar Cheese | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Apple Straws – Cinnamon | All Vegetarians. |
Conclusion
It’s great that Veggie Straws has options for both vegans and vegetarians.
As we’ve seen there are some ingredients that could be non-vegan such as cane sugar and natural flavors.
It is hard to know if an ingredient is vegan when the source is nowhere to be found on the label.
Doing research is much needed for a lot of products.
I hope you enjoyed the article.
