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Cadbury Drinking Chocolate is a delicious and decadent beverage that has been delighting chocolate lovers for generations. It is known for its smooth and creamy texture, rich flavor, and intense cocoa aroma. But, is Cadbury Drinking Chocolate vegan?
Cadbury Drinking Chocolate and Cadbury Freddo Drinking Chocolate are vegan because they don’t contain any ingredients derived from animals.
Below is a table showing Cadbury Drinking Chocolate flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Cadbury Bournville Cocoa | Vegan. |
| Cadbury Cadbury Hot Chocolate 30% Less Sugar | Vegan. |
| Cadbury Choc’Shake | Vegan. |
| Cadbury Drinking Chocolate | Vegan. |
| Cadbury Freddo Drinking Chocolate | Vegan. |
| Cadbury Highlights Dark Chocolate | No, contains Milk. |
| Cadbury Highlights Fudge | No, contains Milk. |
| Cadbury Highlights Milk Chocolate | No, contains Milk. |
| Cadbury Hot Chocolate Instant | No, contains Milk. |
| Cadbury Wispa Drinking Chocolate | No, contains Milk. |
Cadbury Drinking Chocolate Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Acidity Regulator (Potassium Carbonate)
- Acidity Regulator (Sodium Carbonate)
- Acidity Regulator (Sodium Hydrogen Carbonate)
- Anti-Caking Agent (E551)
- Cocoa Butter
- Cocoa Mass
- Cocoa Powder
- Dark Chocolate
- E950
- Emulsifier (E471)
- Emulsifier (Soya Lecithin)
- Flavourings
- Glucose Syrup
- Inulin
- Milk Protein
- Palm Oil
- Salt
- Skimmed Milk Powder
- Soluble Maize Fibre
- Sugar
- Sweeteners (Sucralose
- Thickener (E407)
- Whey Powder (From Milk)
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Cows milk is not a vegan-friendly ingredient. Eating ingredients sourced from animals goes against the vegan diet.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a controversial ingredient within the vegan community and the reason for this is the possibility of bone char being used in the production process. In the candy and sweets industry, the common sugar types found are beet sugar and cane sugar.
Cane sugar is more common and the problem for vegans is the fact that this type of sugar is not always vegan-friendly. Before cane sugar is used in different products, it’s often refined and in this process the sugar is also bleached.
A common bleaching method is to use bone char from dead cows and this does not align with veganism. The second problem is that nothing about the production process is disclosed on the ingredients label, so the only way to find out more about this, is to contact the company and ask.
Flavourings
Flavourings can also be a tricky ingredient to be on the lookout for and the reason for this is because it’s an umbrella term, meaning that it often consists of several ingredients. Companies often uses this ingredient to hide their secret flavourings.
This causes a problem for vegans because the source of these ingredients are never disclosed in the ingredients label. Common ingredients that can cause allergic reactions are often disclosed and an example of this is milk. Which also happens to be a non-vegan ingredient.
Palm Oil
Palm oil is also known for its amazing productivity per square meter, making it a very lucrative industry and this has led to a severe deforestation to make room for these plantations. In return the wildlife has suffered and more specifically many orangutans has been forced away from their natural habitat because of this industry.
Another problem is that the palm oil industry has been poorly regulated this resulted in the deforestation. Today this industry has been more regulated and there is also an non-profit organization called RSPO put in place to help companies produce sustainable palm oil with less impact on the environment, making the palm oil more vegan-friendly.
Soy
Soy is a problem if you reside in the US because it’s one of the most common crops and many vegans tends to stay away from GMO’s. The reason for this is the high amount of herbicide that it requires in order to grow and a negative effect that can happen is that the herbicide can pollute the surrounding ecosystem causing severe damage to the environment.
In Europe and many other parts of the world GMO’s are not allowed.
Conclusion
It’s amazing that the Cadbury Drinking Chocolates are vegan-friendly giving us vegan more drinking chocolate options. It’s very common to find the ingredient milk in drinking chocolate products so always be sure to check the label before you consume these type of products.
Thanks for reading, take care!
