According to Wikipedia, Andes Chocolate Mints are small rectangular candies consisting of one mint layer sandwiched in between two chocolate layers. The candies are usually wrapped in green foil and imprinted with the company’s logo, the word Andes written amidst a drawing of snow-capped peaks. First launched in 1950, they are produced by Tootsie Roll Industries and made in Delavan, Wisconsin. In this article we seek to answer the question “Are Andes Mints Vegan?” along with many other commonly asked questions about Andes Mints.
A full vegan-friendly analysis of Andes Mints can be found in the following sections.
Controversial Vegan Ingredients
Before we start our vegan analysis, we would like to make note of the controversial ingredients that are assumed to be vegan in this analysis. Even though we consider them to be vegan, we will still highlight these ingredients if they appear in any posted ingredient lists. These controversial ingredients include:
Sugar
In almost all candy products, one of the first few ingredients is Sugar. Sugar is a controversial product in the vegan community because refined cane sugar is processed with bone char to achieve the pure white color. The sugar itself does not contain any bone char particles, but is not vegan due to the processing methods used. Since the type of sugar is typically not stated, it is assumed to be vegan in this analysis. If you choose to avoid non-vegan sugars than all of the products in this analysis should be avoided. A full rundown on if sugar is vegan can be found in our article titled “Is Your Sugar Vegan? Lets Find Out!“
Natural and Artificial Flavorings
Natural flavors can come from both animal or plant sources, but the natural flavors in candies are typically from plant sources. Those natural flavors from animal-origin will be highlighted if known.
Colors
Some food colors are controversial in the vegan community. This is because food colors are often tested on animals. In this article we assume all food colors are vegan, unless the color itself is from an animal or insect origin (e.g. Carmine).
Andes Mints
Andes Mints Ingredients
Sugar, Palm Kernel And Palm Oil, Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Nonfat Milk, Lactose, Milk Protein Concentrate, Soy Lecithin (An Emulsifier), Natural And Artificial Flavors, Peppermint Oil, Colors Added (Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 1 Lake). [Source]
Are Andes Mints Vegan?
Unfortunately, Andes Mints contain multiple milk-based ingredients including Nonfat Milk, Lactose, and Milk Protein Concentrate. The other flavors of Andes Mints (Cherry Jubilee, Toffee Crunch, Mint Parfait, Peppermint Crunch, and Mint Cookie Crunch) also contain these milk-based ingredients. Therefore, all flavors of Andes Mints are NOT vegan.
Additional Andes Mints FAQs
Andes Mints are NOT dairy-free as the contain multiple milk-based ingredients in them. [Source]
Andes Mints are vegetarian because the only animal-derived ingredients they include are milk-based.
Yes! All flavors of Andes Mints are gluten-free according to the Tootsie Roll website.
Yes, Andes Mints are Kosher-dairy according to the Tootsie Roll website.
Yes! All flavors of Andes Mints are peanut and tree nut free according to the Tootsie Roll website.
As Andes Mints contain milk ingredients, we would consider the chocolate used in Andes Mints to be either semisweet or milk chocolate – not dark chocolate.
Summary
Unfortunately, none of Andes Mints flavors are vegan friendly since they contain milk-based products in their ingredients.
If you liked this article, you can read about other vegan snack options here.
