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Country Crock is a beloved American brand of butter and margarine spread that has been gracing dinner tables for nearly 50 years. But, is Country Crock vegan?
All Country Crock Plant Butter flavors are vegan because they don’t contain ingredients derived from animals. Some of the spreads might be vegan as well but they contain ingredients such as natural flavors and vitamin D3.
Below is a table showing Country Crock flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Country Crock Original Spread | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Country Crock Light Spread | No, contains Milk. |
| Country Crock Churn Spread | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Country Crock Calcium With 8% Daily Value Per tbsp | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors, Mono & Diglycerides and Vitamin D3. |
| Country Crock Salted Baking Sticks | Maybe, contains Natural Flavors. |
| Country Crock Plant Butter Tub With Avocado Oil | Vegan. |
| Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks With Sea Salt | Vegan. |
| Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks With Olive Oil | Vegan. |
| Country Crock Plant Butter Sticks With Avocado Oil | Vegan. |
| Country Crock Plant Butter Tub With Olive Oil | Vegan. |
| Country Crock Plant Cream | Vegan. |
Country Crock Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Avocado
- Beta Carotene (Color)
- Calcium Disodium EDTA
- Canola Oil
- Citric Acid
- Faba Bean Protein
- Guar Gum
- Lactic Acid
- Lecithin (Soy)
- Lentil Protein
- Locust Bean Gum
- Modified Corn Starch
- Mono And Diglycerides
- Natural Flavors
- Palm Kernel And Palm Oil
- Pea Protein
- Plant Milk
- Potassium Sorbate (Used To Protect Quality)
- Purified Water
- Salt
- Soy Lecithin
- Soybean Oil
- Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids
- Sugar
- Sunflower Lecithin
- Tricalcium Phosphate
- Vegetable Oil Blend (Soybean
- Vinegar
- Vitamin A Palmitate
- Vitamin D3
- Vitamin E Acetate
- Water
- Xanthan Gum
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Milk is a very common ingredient in butter and spreads, so it’s important for vegans to always check the ingredients label.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
In the candy and snacks industry the most common sugars used are beet sugar and cane sugar. Beet sugar is vegan and so is raw cane sugar, but the cane sugar can be a problem for vegans. The cane sugar is often refined to fit the product better and in this process the sugar is also bleach.
Unfortunately a common method is use bone char from dead cows and exploiting animals in the production process does not align with veganism.
Since it’s the bleaching method is not disclosed on the ingredients label, many ethical vegans try to stay away from sugar all together.
Natural Flavors
Natural flavor is an umbrella term, which means that it can consist of several ingredients and the problem with this is the fact that the source of these ingredients are not disclosed on the ingredients label.
So natural flavors could contain ingredients that is sourced from animals and it would never be shown on the ingredients label. The only way to know for sure is to contact the company and ask them.
Palm Oil
Palm oil is a very controversial ingredient and has made the news for a long time now. Palm oil is a vegetable oil and is in itself vegan because it doesn’t contain ingredients sourced from animals, but the production process does not align with veganism.
In order to make room for all the plantations, a lot of forest needed to be removed and this led to wildlife being forced from their natural habitat.
However there is a way to produce palm oil with less impact on the environment and it’s called RSPO. It’s a non-profit that helps companies produce and buy sustainable palm oil.
Soy
This is a common GMO crop in the US and a problem that it requires a high amount of herbicide which can pollute the surrounding ecosystem. Many vegans tends to look for the label non GMO project to make sure the product is free from GMO’s.
Mono And Diglycerides
Can be sourced from animals and plants, making it a highly questionable ingredient.
Vitamin D3
This ingredient that often is sourced from sheep wool so vegans needs to be careful when consuming products containing vitamin D3.
Conclusion
It’s amazing that several plant butter flavors are vegan-friendly by Country Crock. Sadly many of the traditional spreads contains natural flavors making it hard to define them as vegan-friendly.
Thanks for reading, take care!
