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Vitner’s snacks are a family-owned business that has been making snacks since 1932. Their snacks are made with simple quality ingredients and taste delicious. However, are Vitner’s vegan?
Vitner’s Potato Chips Original and No Salt are vegan because they don’t contain any ingredients derived from animals. The rest of flavors contains milk making them non-vegan.
Below is a table showing Vitner’s flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Original | Vegan. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips No Salt | Vegan. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Sweet Southern Heat BBQ | Maybe, contains Tricalcium Phosphate. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Salt & Sour | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Sizzlin Salt & Sour | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Triple Cheese | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Sizzlin Cheese | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Cheese Nuggets Hot | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Cheese Nuggets Jalepeno | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Sweet and Tangy BBQ Nuggets | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Cheese Nuggets Hot Lime | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Crunchy Kurls Sizzlin Hot Lime | No, contains Milk. |
| Vitner’s Crunchy Kurls Sizzlin Hot | No, contains Milk. |
Vitner’s Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Brown Sugar
- Canola Oil
- Cheddar Cheese Powder
- Citric Acid
- Corn
- Cottonseed Oil
- Cultures
- Dextrose
- Enzymes
- Extractives of Paprika and Annatto (for Color)
- Fructose
- Garlic Powder
- Lactose
- Malic Acid
- Maltodextrin
- Monosodium Glutamate
- Natural Flavor
- Onion Powder
- Parmesan Cheese Powder
- Potatoes
- Red 40 Lake
- Rice Flour
- Rice Oil
- Romano Cheese Powder
- Safflower
- Salt
- Sodium Acetates
- Sodium Citrate
- Sodium Diacetate
- Spices
- Sucralose
- Sucrose
- Sugar
- Sunflower Oil
- Tomato Powder
- Tricalcium Phosphate
- Whey
- Yeast Extract
- Yellow 5
- Yellow 6
[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 whey, cheese powder and lactose in several of the flavors. The milk comes from cows and is not a vegan-friendly ingredients.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
This is a tricky ingredient for many vegans, because there are occasions where sugar could be classified as non-vegan. The most common sugar used in beet- and cane sugar, with the latter being the most popular one. In order for the cane sugar to fit the product better it needs to be refined.
In the refining process the sugar is also bleached and a common method is to use bone char from dead cows. This has many vegans upset and many tends to stay away from refined cane sugar just because of this.
There is no way of knowing the source of the sugar, unless it’s disclosed by the company. The only way to be sure is to contact the company and ask.
Natural Flavor
A second controversial ingredient is natural flavor, which can ingredients from both animals and plants. It’s difficult for vegans when it comes to natural flavors, because if it sourced from animals, it will probably not be disclosed on the ingredients label. However if it contains milk it’s often disclosed.
There is an interesting article on National Geographic, where they disclosed that vanilla flavorings can contain butt goo from beavers. If companies can use this as an ingredient, there is no way of knowing that other kind of ingredients derived from animals they can use.
Artificial Colors
Many vegans tends to stay away from artificial colors because they are known for being tested on animals. There are other testing methods that can be used instead such as computer simulations that do a great job. Some of the artificial colors used in several flavors of Vitner’s are Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 & 6.
Consuming artificial colors is always an ethical choice for vegans and it’s up to you if you want to consume products containing these colors.
Tricalcium Phosphate
Most of the time Tricalcium Phosphate is made from animals bones, but it can be derived rocks and plants as well.
Enzymes
This ingredient can be made from both animals and plants.
More Vegan Chips Alternatives
Below are some more vegan potato chips that you might be interested in.
They all have several great vegan flavors.
Be sure to also check our big list of vegan chips flavors for more inspiration.
FAQ
Are Vitner’s Vegetarian?
Vitner’s Potato Chips Original and No Salt are suited for all vegetarians. Many of the other flavors are suited for lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarians. Check the table below for the vegetarian status for each flavor.
| Flavor | Vegetarian Status |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Original | All Vegetarians. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips No Salt | All Vegetarians. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Sweet Southern Heat BBQ | Maybe, contains Tricalcium Phosphate. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Salt & Sour | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Sizzlin Salt & Sour | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Triple Cheese | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Potato Chips Sizzlin Cheese | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Cheese Nuggets Hot | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Cheese Nuggets Jalepeno | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Sweet and Tangy BBQ Nuggets | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Cheese Nuggets Hot Lime | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Crunchy Kurls Sizzlin Hot Lime | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
| Vitner’s Crunchy Kurls Sizzlin Hot | Lacto-Ovo & Lacto. |
Conclusion
Two flavors of Vitner’s are vegan, which is great. A lot of companies tends to use ingredients containing milk which would make many snacks and chips vegan.
With the vegan diet being on the rise, more and more vegan products are being released, making it easier for vegans.
Thanks for reading, take care!
