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Mamba Candy has been delighting consumers all around the world since its launch in 1953, and it is no surprise that this beloved snack continues to be a favorite. Not only is Mamba colorful and delicious, but the individually wrapped pieces make it an excellent option for snacking on-the-go. However, is Mamba Candy vegan?
No flavors of Mamba Candy are vegan because they all contain gelatin.
Below is a table showing Mamba Candy flavors and its vegan status.
Flavor | Vegan Status |
Mamba Fruit Chews | No, contains Gelatin. |
Mamba Fruit Tropics | No, contains Gelatin. |
Mamba Sour | No, contains Gelatin. |
Mamba Magic Sticks | No, contains Gelatin. |
Mamba Candy Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Sugar
- Glucose Syrup (From Wheat Or Corn)
- Palm Oil
- Sorbitol (From Wheat Or Corn)
- Gelatin
- Citric Acid
- Natural And Artificial Flavors
- Black Carrot Juice Concentrate (Color)
- Turmeric Oleoresin (Color),
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Gelatin
Gelatin are mostly made from bones and ligaments, making this a non-vegan ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a controversial ingredient for vegans because of the risk of bone char from dead cows used in the production process. Beet sugar and raw cane sugar is always vegan-friendly, but when the cane sugar gets refined it can cause problems for vegans.
Exploiting animals in the production process is not okay for vegans even tho they are already dead. The source of the sugar is rarely disclosed and information about the bleaching process can be hard to come by.
If you are concerned then you should contact the company.
Palm Oil
Palm oil is a very controversial ingredient. Not only for vegans, but for people in the entire world. This vegetable oil is known for its amazing productivity per square meter. Even tho this is the case, a lot of deforestation is taking place to make room for the farms.
This is a disaster for the ecosystem and the wild life. Orangutans and rhinos are being forced from their homes and the situation is heartbreaking. People are taking a stand against palm oil industry, but it still remains the most popular vegetable oil in the world.
Most vegans avoid a lot of products that contains palm oil because of the deforestation, but there is a way to make palm oil more vegan-friendly and that is called RSPO. It’s a non-profit organisation that helps companies produce and buy sustainable palm oil.
Natural And Artificial Flavors
The next ingredient is natural flavors and this is another ingredient that vegans needs to be careful about. Natural flavors is an umbrella term, meaning that it can consist of several different ingredients and the source of these ingredients are never disclosed on the ingredients label.
So natural flavors could contain ingredients sourced from animals and it would not show on the ingredients label. The only time ingredients are disclosed in natural flavors is if it contains milk or other common ingredient that people can be allergic to.
Vegan Alternative To Mamba Candy
There is a great alternative to Mamba Candy which is called YumEarth.
It’s vegan-certified, organic and tastes amazing.
Conclusion
Mamba candy used to be vegan-friendly, but they added gelatin a few years back and it’s such a shame because this was one of my favorite candy. Luckily I found YumEarth which is vegan-certified and is now one of the most popular vegan candy in the world.
Thanks for reading, take care!