Jelly Bellys: vegetarian, but not vegan
I’m a fan of Jelly Belly jellybeans, especially the popcorn and toasted marshmallow flavors. One thing that’s concerned me, though is that a lot of jellybeans are made with gelatin, which is clearly not vegetarian. I had heard that Jelly Belly brand was safe, and didn’t see any gelatin listed on their label, but I decided to e-mail them just in case, to make sure.
The response, from Mr. Jelly Belly, was positive: there are no animal or animal-derived products (including gelatin) in Jelly Belly jellybeans, but vegans may want to avoid them because they are coated in a mixture that contains beeswax, to give the beans their glossiness.
That’s the final word for you.
Mr. Jelly Belly is awesome. I sent him an email once about their sugar free jelly beans (for my mom, who has type II diabetes) and I got the most informative, friendly response I’ve ever gotten from a company.
I think the cheesecake flavor has dairy. Other than that they are AOK.
I love Jelly Belly Jelly beans, and am glad there is no gelatin in it. However, the ingredients list cream and nonfat milk. Are those two ingredients not considered animal-derived?
I guessed the number of jellybeans and won
the jar — you know how the game goes.
They were purchased from a bulk candy bin somewhere.
I see comments above that “many” jelly beans contain gelatin, but now that I’ve got them I thought I’d try to find some hard evidence before giving them a bad rap. Can anyone confirm that “most” standard-issue jelly beans are not vegetarian?
It’s been a while since I wrote this entry, but I was going by info similar to what I found here:
“Jellybeans must contain a gelatinizing agent, such as starch, gelatin, pectin or gum arabic to provide the chewy texture.”
We are so happy to have found this site and the news on Jelly Belly candy! She is so happy as a lacto-ove veggie kid I (mom) try to make sure she has as normal a child hood and find veggie friendly candy. We love these beans and have been eating them all week. Wow oh wow are we ever happy! I didn’t see anything on lable re: gelatin and decided to just double check.
hi, does any1 no if jelly bellys contain cochineal -? [crushed beetles] ? please confirm! thanks
well I am Muslim An gelatin is not OK
I got this big box of jully been made from Jelly Belly I read the constain no gelatin I search in the net. I fine this site. and now I am starting eating the bean :) thank you
If you take a look on the Jelly Belly web site in the FAQ section, there is a statement that says Jelly bellies DO NOT contain animal derived ingredients. This is absolute rubbish and I am quite dissapointed that this may confuse people. Milk is an animal derived ingredient (it is derived from a cows nipple duh!) and it is in basically all of the milk or “buttered” flavoured beans. The red colouring that you see on some of the beans is cochineal from burnt and powdered cochineal beetles and if you consider yourself to be a vegetarian than these are not ok for you- unless you are one of those fake vegetarians because you think its cool. If you are vegetarian for ethical reasons than get real and go vegan!
Hi, has anybody looked at the UK site of Jelly Belly recently? they are saying that there is company similar to jelly belly producing none vegetarian beans however stating they are. Does anybody know what company it is?thanks
http://www.jellybeanfactory.com/ I think it is these. I got these from debenhams after seeing them in the coffee shop with a vegetarian sign. I didn’t eat them because i was not totally happy that they were. I looked online and found they contain animal colours. I emailed the company and all they did was email me back saying they are vegetarian… EVEN when i could see for myself by looking up the ingredients online.
Well, I don’t think any of the beans contain gelatin. However the source of some of the flavours and sources of colours concern me. I called the number on the back of the packaging but was told that I had to email a specific department to find out more about ingredients. Common sense ought to prevail in this case: go with your gut. If you see a red jelly bean, it’s probably from cochineal (crushed female beetles) and the buttered flavour beans are from milk. Assume that unless you confirm otherwise. And abide by it. That’s the surest way to go about this.
They contain beeswax. No gelatin.
First of all, Jelly Belly beans are Kosher. Kosher products do NOT contain cochineal (derived from a Scale insect NOT a beetle). As far as I can tell, the dairy content in the creamy/butter flavored beans and the beeswax are the only things that should concern vegans.
…I thought I’d seen shellac on the ingredients list for Jelly Belly. I’ll have to check again.
You like the popcorn ones? eeewwww!!!!
I never knew about cochineal. I knew as a new veggie I must avoid gelatin, but now I know another product. Does anyone know of where I can get a good list of other common products that I should avoid?
i heard they contain shellac. Shellac is made from insects and shellac also contains denatured alchohol. What does the company say of this?
To whomever said about searching the ingredients online and discovering that they were not vegetarian: They may be as some products can come from either vegetarian or meat-based sources (rennet being an example of this). A right pain in the arse when looking for vegetarian products that come from the US or from UK companies that don’t state whether they are vegetarian or not! (Though most UK companies do these days)
Shellac is simialr to honey, in that it is a product of an insect, not a product of killing an insect.
And really, do we really need the vegan preaching kate? Surely you should be happy that people make the choice to become vegetarian for they are doing much more for the environment just by giving up meat! If you want to get real then give up all processed foods, all commodities that are made at the detriment of our environment and then preach.
Oh, and those in the UK:
http://www.jellybelly-uk.com/faq/content/?id=13
The ingredients list on the website. The only animal derived products are beeswax and shellac, nothing else. check for yourselves :)
DISCLAIMER: I am int he UK and this is the information found of the UK website. I’ve had a cursorary glance at the ingredients and cannot find anything unsuitable for vegetarians in them.
Shellac ISN’T vegetarian!
So many hypocrites here… how the hell do you think you can get beeswax without enslaving bees?! They clip the bees wings so they can’t fly off, yet vegetarians think slavery is ok! Btw, cows DON’T give their milk, it’s stolen from them… wake up!
Veganpanda, I don’t think enslaving bees is right, either, but try to get your info right. They cannot physically clip wings on bees. They don’t fly away because that’s where their queen is.
Oh my. I have been a vegetarian for 3 and a half years now [im fourteen] and i am not a ‘fake vegetarian’ as i only eat foods with the ‘suitable for vegetarians’ label on them & i have been searching all over the net to see if Jelly Belly’s are vegetarian. I have read all of the comments on the topic at the top of this page and see much controversy therfore will someone please tell me…is it veggie or not?!
& veganpanda, some people have free range milk which is obviously not slavery.
So yes, please give me an answer, i know they dont have gelatin but the cochineal? Ahhhh!
some people have free range milk which is obviously not slavery
You might want to do a little research on that, Saffron. Where do you think the calves go? What do you think happens to the cows when they are no longer “productive”?
I love Jelly Bellies, they are so yummy and i just now gave up meat (except seafood), which is hard but im doing it.
@ryan, cows that are no longer productive probably become a very tasty burger; perhaps a beautiful leather handbag.
Abe, flesh cows in America do not have their skins used for leather, the kill cows in India for most of America’s leather.
Very interesting topic :]
Hopefully this will sort the vegetarian issue. It explains that Shellac is vegetarian but not Vegan.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081108040923AA840D9
There is slavery free ways of dairy.
I live on a farm, and I only drink milk that is from our farm. We have three cows, not a field of them. But they live on four acres. After their calves are no longer drinking, that is when we take the milk. Do you guys still see this as wrong?
How do the cows get pregnant?
What happens to the calves?
What happens to the cows when they can no longer give milk?
How long do the cows on your farm live?
thats awesome iv only started to become vegetarian its nice to see that one of my favorite treats is free of animal remains. Luckily I dont like any other jelly beans other then Jelly Belly jelly beans.
How could you possibly like popcorn?!
It´s easy, Just dont eat the red ones!!!!!!
veganpanda,
Clip wings of bees?
Please!!!!!
Are they gluten free? I haven’t been ab;e to find a list…
Well after reading all the comments on here all I have to say is….there sure are a lot of people who really need to do a lot more and I mean a lot more research.
I have been vegan for 2 years (vegetarian for 4 years prior to vegan) and when I read or hear things like veganpanda wrote…what was that again…oh ya “Clip the wings of Bees” come on seriously…gave me a good laugh though.
So going forward if you are going to open your mouth and say something make sure your facts are actually true, otherwise you only embarrass yourself.
Other than that…to all the vegetarians and vegan who would like to enjoy Jelly Beans I hope you find out they are something you can enjoy.
Cheers,
C.
I have been a vegetarian for 7 years for ethical reasons and I never knew that I could buy these until one of my friends offered me one and assured me they were gelatin free. I personally think that being vegan is a step too far, and its just plain unhealthy. A few of my friends and my mum have tried it and they all ended up very ill and malnourished. There are many ways that you can drink milk, eat eggs and cheese without it negatively affecting the animals, and as these are so far one of the only gummy sweet manufacturers that do not use gelatin (that I know of), I would assume that they care about the welfare of the animals and where their products come from. So I say go for it, they’re yummy and the yummy things a vegetarian can eat are limited :)
Lauren – If you’re a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you clearly need to work toward being vegan. It’s the only logical step because there really is no ethical ground for continuing to consume dairy or eggs if you’ve stopped eating meat for ethical reasons.
Also, you’re completely off-base in terms of vegan being “too far.” It’s absolutely not unhealthy if you pay attention to what you eat (just like any diet, omnivorous or otherwise). I’ve been vegan for seven years and am by far the healthiest I’ve been in my entire life.
There are many ways that you can drink milk, eat eggs and cheese without it negatively affecting the animals
Sorry, but that’s just not true. Dairy cows live to only be a few years old, instead of the 20-25 years they can live naturally. When they’re “spent,” no longer able to give milk, they become hamburger. They don’t retire to happy farms somewhere.
Also, in order to give milk, they need to have babies. They’re forcibly impregnated, their babies taken away at a few days old, and the babies are either killed shortly after as veal or cycled back into the dairy system. Milk is arguably more cruel than meat.
Egg production is the same way. All hens are killed when they can no longer lay enough eggs. In addition, at hatcheries, unwanted male baby chicks are ground alive or suffocated in trash bags.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but if you’re doing this for ethical reasons, you need to know that vegetarian is good, but it’s not far enough.
One last thing…
I would assume that they care about the welfare of the animals and where their products come from
If someone is using another sentient being against their will in order to make money, any claims of “animal welfare” are likely just paying lip service so that they can sound like they care. To them, animals are replaceable cogs in the machine (and eventually that machine is a very literal one).