Disclosure: There are affiliate links in this article, meaning at no extra cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. (Full Disclosure)
Kirkland Signature Popcorn is a popular brand of popcorn that is known for its good quality and flavor. They use only the best ingredients to make their products and their popcorn is made with real butter, and it is GMO free. This popcorn is a great snack for movie night or any other time. However is Kirkland Popcorn vegan?
Kirkland Signature Popcorn is not vegan because it contains milk.
Below is a table showing Kirkland Signature Popcorn flavors and its vegan status.
Flavor | Vegan Status |
Kirkland Signature Microwave Popcorn Movie Theater Butter | No, contains Milk. |
Kirkland Signature Popcorn Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Ascorbic Acid (To Preserve Freshness)
- Butter (Cream, Salt)
- Natural Flavors
- Palm Oil
- Rosemary Extract (To Preserve Freshness)
- Salt
- Whole Grain Popcorn
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Butter can be found and this is make from cow’s milk, making it a non-vegan ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Natural Flavors
This ingredient is something that vegan needs to be careful with because natural flavors can contain many different ingredients and only be called natural flavors. This means that the source of the ingredient is unknown and for vegans this is a problem because the ingredients can be animal-sourced. The source of rarely disclosed on the ingredients label.
Milk on the other hand is often disclosed and the reason for this is the possibly of allergies. National Geographic found out that butt goo from beaver butts can be used in vanilla flavors and this means that natural flavors is a risky ingredient for vegans.
Palm Oil
The problem with the palm oil industry has been public for some time now and this has lead many people not only vegans to stay away from products containing palm oil. The problem is that this industry has not been regulated and led to severe deforestation, forcing wild animals such as orangutans from their natural habitat.
This is very upsetting especially for vegans, because we don’t want products at the cost of animals well-being. So exploiting animals in the production process would make the product not vegan-friendly in the eyes of vegans.
However there is something called RSPO, which is a non-profit organisation that helps companies product sustainable palm oil. Sustainable palm oil would make the palm oil more vegan-friendly because it reduces the negative impact on the environment.
Vegan Alternative To Kirkland Signature Popcorn
I found a tasty vegan alternative called SkinnyPop Popcorn.
Conclusion
Butter is unfortunately a common ingredient in many popcorn flavors and this ingredient it not vegan, making the choice for vegans more limited. With the vegan diet becoming more popular, companies are pushing out more vegan products on the market making our lives easier. There are many vegan popcorn flavors today and my kids love SkinnyPop.
Thanks for reading, take care!