Are Mentos Vegan? (Mints & Gum)

I’ve seen a lot of claims that Mentos gums and mints are vegan, and also some that say they aren’t.

Very few had anything to back them up, and the ones that did were from nearly 10 years ago.

So, I decided to take a look for myself.

I’ll walk you through what I found.

Is Mentos Gum Vegan?

After looking at the ingredients in all the flavors of Mentos gum, some are clearly not vegan, while some may be vegan-friendly.

For example, here’s the full ingredient list for the Pure Fresh Fresh Mint gum:

Xylitol, Chewing Gum Base, Sorbitol, Mannitol, Glycerol, Maltitol Syrup, Natural And Artificial Flavors, Contains Less Than 2 Percent Of: Gum Arabic, Color (Titanium Dioxide), Gelatine, Soya Lecithin, Aspartame, Acesulfame K, Green Tea Extract, Carnauba Wax, Sucralose, Sodium Carboxymethycellulose, BHA To Maintain Freshness, Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids, Blue 1, Phenylketonurics: Contains Phenylalanine.

I’ve highlighted 4 ingredients of note.

Ingredients in Mentos That Might Not Be Vegan

First off, gelatine is never vegan, it comes from animal sources. So that means that the following flavors are NOT vegan for sure:

• Pure Fresh Fresh Mint
• Bubble fresh cotton candy
• Ice flurry

But then there are 4 other ingredients that you’ll find in all the other flavors that are a bit trickier:

• Chewing gum base – Gum base can be vegan, but it can also contain animal products. There’s no way of knowing without Mentos telling us.
• Glycerol – Glycerol can also be vegan, as it can come from plant sources. However, it can (and often does) come from animal sources. Again, there’s no way of telling from the label. I contacted Mentos, and was told that it comes from vegetables, so the glycerol is vegan.
• Natural flavors – Artificial flavors are vegan, but “natural flavors” is an umbrella term for a ton of ingredients. Natural flavors can be vegan, but also might not be.
• Artificial colors – Artificial colors are technically vegan to me, but many vegans avoid them because there’s animal testing surrounding them. Take a quick look at this post about if artificial colors are vegan, then decide where you stand on them.

If you’re okay with artificial colors, I think there’s a high chance that Mentos gum is vegan.

Are Mentos Mints Vegan?

Just like Mentos gum, some Mentos mints are clearly not vegan, and some might be.

When I’m referring to Mentos Mints in this section, I’m referring to their “chewy mints”, the ones you find in rolls like the ones pictured below.

To start with, let’s take a look at the ingredients of the original Mentos mint flavor:

Sugar, Wheat Glucose Syrup, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Rice Starch, Natural Flavors, Gum Arabic, Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids, Gellan Gum, Carnauba Wax, Beeswax.

There’s a clear issue at the very end of that list – beeswax.

Not all flavors have it, but some do. These flavors of Mentos mints are clearly not vegan due to containing Beeswax:

• Mentos Mint
• Mentos Fruit
• Chewy Mint Grape
• Mentos Strawberry
• Mentos Cinnamon
• Mentos Spearmint

**Update – It seems like Mentos may have removed the beeswax from some of these flavors, at least in certain locations. Double-check the labels yourself if you really want to get one of these.

That only leaves 2 flavors: rainbow and green apple.

These both have 2 other potential issues for vegans, highlighted in the ingredients list above:

• Natural flavors – Just like in Mentos gum, the ingredients that are part of natural flavors may or may not be vegan. If I had to guess I would think they are, but that’s far from a certainty.
• Sugar – Most plain “sugar” used by large candy companies is not vegan. At least some of it usually comes from a supplier that processes their sugar with bone char (made from the bones of cows). No way of telling just from the label.

If you want to take a gamble, those 2 flavors might be vegan, but I don’t think it’s likely.

Mentos Hard Mints Are Different

Finally, let’s look at the hard mints, which you’ll find in a little plastic or metal tin.

There are 2 types of hard mints, with significantly different ingredients.

First, the “cleanbreath” mints, which come in the plastic containers. Here’s what the ingredients look like:

Sorbitol, artificial flavors, aspartame, magnesium stearate, acesulfame K, sucralose, green tea extract, neotame, Blue 1

Most magnesium stearate is made from plants, so that’s not a big concern to me.

The only potential issue is the artificial coloring (Blue 1). Some vegans are okay with this, and some aren’t. I’ll let you decide.

Second up are the “NOWMints,” which come in little tins.

Here’s what their ingredients look like:

xylitol, natural and artificial flavors, maltodextrin, color (titanium dioxide), magnesium salts of fatty acids, aspartame, coconut fat, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, corn starch, acesulfame K, gum arabic.

The only potential issue I see there is the natural flavors. But as I said earlier, it’s very likely that those are vegan.

I’m quite strict on what I take chances on, and I’d be comfortable assuming these are vegan.

Summary

After all that, let me try to summarize which Mentos products are and aren’t vegan.

Of those “maybes,” I don’t think it’s likely that any of the mints are vegan, however, the gum probably is.

If you’re looking for vegan Mentos products, stick to the “hard” mints. Even the ones I have in the “maybe” column are likely vegan.