Are M&M's vegan?

Are M&M's vegan? The short answer is sadly no.

When you follow a vegan diet it is important to ensure that you check some of the food you wish to consume. You might be used to eating popular candy before you were vegan, but now it is hardly little secrets that many chocolates and candies contain non-vegan ingredients - largely because of their milk-based ingredients, but also other things. While M&Ms may seem like they may be suitable for vegans as they have different flavours and varieties, it was only a matter of time before we started to question whether they would be suitable for consumption. However, sadly, not all M&Ms are vegan. I wanted to share with you the reasons why and what varieties and vegan alternatives you may want to try. 

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• Are any M&Ms Vegan?
• What are the ingredients in M&Ms?
• What is a vegan m&m alternative? 
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Are any M&Ms Vegan?

Unfortunately upon further inspection, no m&m's are vegan. Not even some of the flavoured ones like peanut m&m or the crispy m&m. While the obvious reason might be the inclusion of dairy products in the milk chocolate with the main ingredient being milk products - skim milk, there are other reasons. This is because there are traces of animal products used within the manufacturing process of making m&ms. The hard thing is, sometimes this isn't listed on the ingredients list and that is because of cross contamination risk and also the smallest of quantities used. That being said the manufacturer does make it clear that they are not suitable when on a vegan diet. 

What are the ingredients in M&Ms?

According to the main website this is the list of main ingredients in M&Ms:

• Milk Chocolate (sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milk fat, salt, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors) 
• Sugar
• Cornstarch

And less than 1% of the following: 

• Corn Syrup
• Dextrin
• Artificial Colors (Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Yellow 6 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Blue 2)
• Carnauba wax
• Gum Acacia

You have to be careful with food colors as a vegan, as some food coloring is actually made from animal products (especially red coloured things). If you don't know what an ingredient is, just perform a quick google search to check. Some food allergies are triggered by food colourings like this so it is worth avoiding them where you can anyway, even if you are on a regular or vegetarian diet.

What is a vegan m&m alternative? 

Thankfully, you can still enjoy small chocolate flavoured sweets as a vegan by checking out some of the amazing alternative vegan chocolates that are on offer. I have found a few similar vegan options to help you out. All are similar in appearance and texture to what you might expect from a traditional m&m but, of course, suitable for vegans. It is worth mentioning, that for the environment's sake, as well as checking for a vegan product, it is worth seeing if the product contains palm oil, which is a controversial ingredient too as it has led to large deforestation and destruction of palm trees.

Buttermilk Plant Powdered Vegan Chocolate Peanutsters

These are very similar to a peanut m&m so therefore make a great substitute. Surrounded by a hard candy shell, you have dark vegan friendly chocolate that covers a delicious crunchy peanut. These also come in bright colors like a regular m&m. You can get these online at stores like Holland and Barratt or Ocado and they taste amazing and are also free from artificial flavors. 

Daisy & Dam Vegan Dark Chocolate Drops

These are very similar to the traditional milk chocolate m&ms. You have the crunchy hard sugar shell with a centre filled with vegan dark chocolate. You can get these in stores like Holland and Barratt and they are simply delicious dark chocolate treats. 

Nibble Simply Divinely Dark Chocolate

Suitable for vegans and the ideal sweet treat you can enjoy these little nibbles of vegan friendly chocolate. They don't have the crunchy exterior shell but are very similar in size to that of an m&m and you can get them on websites like Amazon. The ingredients of these are so simple they are a great whole foods option and a great vegan alternative to m&ms.

I hope this has given you plenty to think about when it comes to whether m&ms are vegan and what alternatives you can enjoy that don't have animal-derived ingredients. Go forth and enjoy the vegan candies!

If you come across another vegan m&m alternative do let us know in the comment box below and don't forget to share this post with your friends and Pin it for later...

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Doisy & Dam Vegan Dark Chocolate Drops

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Buttermilk Peanutsters

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Nibble Simply Divinely Madagascan Chocolate

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