No matter how old you are, the chances are that at somepoint in your life you’ve tasted the fruity taste of Starburst. Known for theirrealistic fruity flavors including strawberry, lime, blackcurrant and orange, thesechewy cubes are loved by millions all over the world.
However, are Starburst as guilt-free as they taste? Or dothey contain some nasty ingredients you should be avoiding?
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Before we answer the burning question: are Starburst vegan? Let’stake a closer look at the ingredients and what is used to make them.
Pick up a bag of sour Starburst. Just as delicious as the original with a tart twist. If you love the taste of Starburst but are looking for something a little different, try out a bag of Starburst jelly beans or gummy candies. From sweet to sour and everything in between, you can find a flavor of Starburst.
Starburst Ingredients
You might think finding the ingredients of Starburst is a straightforwardtask since they are listed on the back of the packaging. But there is a littletrick when it comes to the ingredients that we will explain later on.
For now, here is a list of the Starburst ingredients takendirectly from the Wrigley manufacturer’s website.
For those of you that are having trouble deciphering theingredients from the image, here’s a quick breakdown of the main ingredientsfound in Starburst:
- Glucose syrup
- Sugar
- Palm fat
- Concentrated fruit juices
- Citric acid
- Malic acid
- Modified starch
As you can see, there is nothing worrying that immediatelyjumps out as not vegan. Of course, it contains sugar and glucose syrup, whichmight be deemed by some as unhealthy, but these ingredients are still vegan-friendly.
Does Starburst Have Gelatin?
When we mentioned there was a slight catch about finding theStarburst ingredients, this is what we meant.
Currently, the manufacturers of Starburst produced twodifferent products for different regions around the world. They produce one productthat is sold exclusively in the UK and another almost identical product that issold in the US. The difference? One of them contains gelatin!
To show you what we’re talking about, here is a list ofingredients from the US version of Starburst. If you take a close look, you’llnotice gelatin listed as an ingredient which isn’t included in the UK version.
This inclusion of gelatin is obviously a big deal. As avegan, you should know how bad this ingredient is, but for those that don’tknow here’s a quick overview of what it is and why it is used in candies.
Gelatin is a colorless, odorless, and flavorless foodingredient that is used as a bonding / gelling agent in many candies. The roleof this ingredient is to help hold the candy together and give it that soft gummytexture when you bite into it. To create this ingredient, the process involvesseveral animal body parts such as pig’s carcasses and skin. Each of thesecarcasses is ground to produce this Gary substance that is then used in thecandy.
Although there are plenty of plant-based alternatives outthere such as Pectin, the manufacturers of Starburst choose to use animalbyproduct in their US product version.
But how come they use gelatin in the US but not in the UK?Why can’t they just remove the gelatin from and make them both vegan-friendly?
The truth is we don’t know, but if we had to guess it willbe down to cost and the regulations of certain countries. Unfortunately, for nowthe UK is the only country to receive the gelatin-free version, but hopefullyin the future it will be available in the US as well.
Are Starburst Dairy Free?
Although Starburst does contain the animal byproduct gelatinin their US version, thankfully that is the only animal byproduct they contain.Starburst are completely dairy-free and don’t contain any milk or eggs.
This also means that since there are no warnings on thepackaging, it is likely the manufacturer uses dedicated machinery to producethe candy. Compared to other manufacturers that create multiple products usingthe same machines, this greatly reduces the chance of cross contaminations.
Are Starburst Vegan?
So now you know what ingredients are in Starburst, it’s timeto answer that age-old question: are Starburst vegan? And the answer is… Itdepends!
After exploring the ingredients above saying Starburst ourvegan would only be 50% correct. The truth is, it depends on what country youare in. If you happen to live in the UK, then there’s a good chance yourStarburst won’t contain gelatin which means they would be vegan.
However, if you happen to live in the US, then there’s agood chance that your Starburst will contain the animal byproduct gelatin whichwould make them not vegan.
The only way to truly find out for your country would be tocheck the packaging in your local store to see what they contain.
Make The Switch To Vegan Candy
If you happen to live in the US and can’t get veganStarburst, then don’t worry. There are plenty of other vegan candy alternativesout there that don’t contain gelatin such as natural vegan gummy bears.
Produced using only natural and organic ingredients, you canbe sure that none of them contains any animal byproducts or other nastyingredients. Moreover, to make things even better, most of the manufacturersare incredibly environmentally friendly and do whatever they can to help reducetheir carbon footprint while being ethical. This means delicious tasting treatswithout none of the harmful ingredients or guilt!
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What our startups say
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Starburst has been an invaluable connection to significant players in the Aerospace industry for Gamma Alloys. They created meetings at levels of seniority far beyond those which Gamma Alloys was creating on its own accord
Thanks to the introduction of Starburst and their connection with innovation departments of major OEM, we managed to established partnership with SAFRAN and Panasonic Avionics. In the case of SAFRAN, it allowed to provide joint services to airline that also led to equity participation of SAFRAN Corporate Ventures in the 4M$ series A round in May 2017. Concerning Panasonic Avionics, Safety Line is working with them on how to use their connectivity to optimize flight operations and save fuel.”
— Pierre Journiaux - Safety Line —Starburst has been about access to the top end of the aerospace market for us. Our collaboration with Starburst has delivered this access in spades. Within 3 months, we were shipping product to some of the biggest aerospace companies in the world. Our goal is to grow our interaction with big aero and to work with Starburst to do so.
I applied to Starburst in order to be right in the center of the Aeronautic ecosystem and have a much easier access to my future customers.
— Arnaud Peltier – Win Ms —Starburst brought me already a huge visibility, and industrial partners that are going to develop new businesses with me.
Being surrounded by other start-ups from the same industry helps us to share a lot of experiences together.
— Marc Massonneau – Suricog —