Are Fruity Pebbles Vegan?

There are no obvious animal products like dairy in fruity pebbles.

But that doesn’t mean that they are vegan.

In fact, I don’t think Fruity Pebbles are vegan at all.

Why not?

There are a handful of ingredients that may or may not be vegan, and some of them are almost certainly not.

Fruity Pebbles Ingredients

Let’s look at the ingredients, I’ll highlight the ones that aren’t vegan (or are controversial at least):

Rice, Sugar, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (Coconut And Palm Kernel Oils), Salt, Contains Less Than 0.5% Of Natural And Artificial Flavor, Red 40, Yellow 6, Turmeric Oleoresin (Color), Blue 1, Yellow 5, Blue 2, Bha (To Help Protect Flavor). Sodium Ascorbate (Source Of Vitamin C), Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Niacinamide, Reduced Iron, Zinc Oxide (Source Of Zinc), Vitamin B6, Vitamin A Palmitate, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Folic Acid, Vitamin B12, Vitamin D.)

Here are the main issues:

• Sugar – Whenever you see “sugar” on an ingredients label, be cautious. A lot of white sugar is not vegan, because it was processed with bone char. Large cereal and candy companies almost certainly have at least one supplier that uses bone char to filter their sugar.
• Palm oil – I, like many other ethical vegans, don’t eat palm oil. Palm oil is responsible for the decimation of orangutans and tiger populations, and animals are killed regularly in cruel ways to clear land. It is technically vegan, but controversial. Make up your own mind on it.
• Natural flavors – Natural flavors can be vegan, but they can also come from dairy or other animal sources. It’s an umbrella term that covers a ton of ingredients.
• Artificial colors – There are many in Fruity Pebbles like red 40 and yellow 6. Artificial colors are not vegan because they are regularly tested on animals (who are killed after if they don’t die during the research).
• Vitamin D – Almost all vitamin D added to cereals comes from lanolin (sheep’s wool), which isn’t vegan.

Verdict: Fruity Pebbles Are NOT Vegan

From the vitamin D alone, we can conclude that Fruity Pebbles are not vegan friendly with a high degree of certainty.

Add in the sugar, which also likely isn’t vegan, and that’s case closed to me.

And then there are other controversial ingredients that may or may not be vegan.

With that being said, other than the sugar and palm oil, the other ingredients are present in very small amounts. Some vegans are okay with still eating them in small quantities.

I’m not here to tell you what you can and can’t eat, just to tell you how most vegans see things. Ultimately, you’ll have to make up your own mind.