PETA encourages people to do their best to maintain a vegan lifestyle but not to spend time worrying about trace amounts of ingredients that may be animal-derived.”Įven though this quote is about those following a vegan diet, it is fair to generalize it for those following a vegetarian diet as well. If we avoid products that are 99.9 percent vegan but contain trace amounts of animal products, we send the message to companies that there is no market for more animal-friendly goods, and we’ve hurt more animals than we’ve helped. “The most important thing to keep in mind is that being vegan isn’t about personal purity―it’s about reducing animal suffering.

It is possible that the same manufacturing additives are used for US M&M’s making them non-vegetarian, but this could not confirmed.Īs this topic dives deep into the weeds of vegetarian friendly ingredients and processing, it is appropriate to include a quote from PETA about trace ingredients in products: Based on the ingredients list alone, M&M’s would be vegetarian as they only contain Skim Milk, Lactose, and Milk Fat as their animal-based ingredients. M&M’s in the US are a little more complicated. This is because they contain carmine and beeswax as well as traces of animal products used during production. Therefore, the US variety of M&M’s appear to be more vegetarian friendly than their UK counterparts.īased on the tweets by M&M’s UK and the ingredients listed for UK M&M’s, it’s pretty safe to say that M&M’s in the UK are not vegetarian friendly. However, the UK variety also contains Carmine (color) and Beeswax (glazing) whereas the US variety used Red 40 (color) and Carnauba Wax (glazing) in their stead. Both M&M varieties contain Skim Milk, Lactose, and Milk Fat. If we look at the ingredients in US M&M’s vs UK M&M’s it can be seen that there is some discrepancies in the animal-based ingredients used. While M&M’s may be non-vegetarian in the UK, are they elsewhere? Maybe not. We use additives that come from animal products when we’re making M&M’s and traces of these can be found in the sweets. Unfortunately we can’t give away too many details of our recipe and can only give you ingredient information as is listed on the back of the pack. Hi Waleed, we use various types of ingredients in our products to achieve the perfect texture and flavour. They aren’t listed in the ingredients because they’re only present in such small amounts.Įven when pressed on the matter by Twitter user Waleed Azim Mughal, M&M’s UK was reluctant to give any specifics on the non-vegetarian ingredients used in their candies. Hi, M&M’s in the UK aren’t suitable for halal or vegetarian diets.

They aren’t listed in the ingredients because they’re only present in such small amounts.” Surprisingly, the M&M’s UK Twitter account tweeted in February 2019 that, “M&M’s aren’t suitable for halal or vegetarian diets.” However, they didn’t state the exact non-vegetarian ingredients and instead said, “We use additives that come from animal products when we’re making M&M’s and traces of these can be found in the sweets. This article looks into one of the most frequently asked questions regarding candies that are vegetarian friendly: Are M&M’s Vegetarian?

Halal gelatin uk