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Zotz candy is one of those classic, old-school sweets that has been around for decades. This fizzy, tangy candy is loved by kids and adults alike. The candy itself is a hard candy shell with a sour powder filling. The powder is what gives the candy its zingy flavor. But, are ZOTZ vegan?
All flavors of ZOTZ are suited for dietary vegans because they don’t contain any ingredients derived from animals.
Below is a table showing ZOTZ flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| HOT ZOTZ Fiery Cinnamon Fizz | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
| ZOTZ Cherry | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
| ZOTZ Apple | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
| ZOTZ Watermelon | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
| ZOTZ Orange | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
| ZOTZ Blue Raspberry | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
| ZOTZ Grape | Dietary vegan, contains artificial colors. |
ZOTZ Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Sugar
- Glucose
- Malic Acid
- Sodium Bicarbonate
- Water
- Tartaric Acid
- Natural & Artificial flavors
- Blue 2
- Red 40
- Yellow 5 & 6
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
This ingredient is something that vegans needs to be aware of, because there are occasions where sugar could be classified as non-vegan. In the candy and sweets industry, cane sugar is commonly used and in it’s raw form it is 100% vegan, but when it gets refined that can cause problems for vegans.
Cane sugar needs to be refined most of time to fit the product better and in this process it’s also bleached. A common method is to use bone char from dead cows and would in many vegans eyes make the sugar non-vegan, because it’s exploiting animals in the production process.
Artificial Colors
Artificial colors are also controversial within the vegan community and the reason for this is animal testing. These colors are known for being tested on animals and many vegans tends to stay away from products containing them. However there are also people that are eating a plant-based diet for health reason and they also have a choice to consume these colors.
There are also other know testing methods such as computer simulations that hopefully can replace animal testing in the future. Some health issues are also connected to artificial colors such as hyperactivity in kids.
Conclusion
ZOTZ candy is not the perfect vegan candy because of the artificial colors used. Many ethical vegans don’t want to eat products containing artificial colors, however some dietary vegans choose to do so. If you are interested in vegan candy then I’ve made a list you can find here.
Knowing if a product is vegan or not, is not always that easy because some ingredients that might look vegan, sometimes aren’t. That is why I’m creating these articles to help vegans analyze the ingredient to find vegan products.
Thanks for reading, take care!
