Does Snickers Have Gelatin? Is It Vegan?
When you are following some food regime, like vegetarian or vegan, you need to be constantly alert to the ingredients that can be found in your food. This also means that you will need to give up on some of your favorite treats. Some chocolates, like Snickers, also fall in this category. So, this brings up the question if Snickers has gelatin?
Snickers do not contain gelatin nor any other pork product. However, it contains milk and eggs, which make it suitable only for some types of vegetarians (lacto-ovo-vegetarians). Snickers is not vegan-friendly, but there are homemade Snickers alternatives.
Stick with us to learn how you can make the best home version of the Snickers bar that is also vegan and vegetarian friendly, and learn what ingredients in the original Snickers are posing an issue for these two food regimes.
Does Snickers Have Pork or Gelatin in It?
When you are on a strict food regime, you need to take care even if the candies you are eating have specific ingredients or not. Thankfully, most of the food producers nowadays are paying attention to different potential customers who might consume their products.
Because of that, the producer of Snickers – the Mars company – has made it clear that this specific candy does not contain any type of pork gelatin as their active ingredients. This means that the Snickers candy bar is safe to be consumed by everyone who is required to avoid the pork intake.
Is Snickers Halal or Haram?
Halal food is not a new concept, but it has become very popular lately, mostly due to the fact that the market has increased demands for halal food production. The Mars company, who produces other candies as well (for example, Bounty) needed to keep its standards up to the current market requirements.
They have confirmed that all the products from their assortment, including the Snickers bar, are halal, which means that they are produced by following the halal production procedure. All the customers who require the food to be halal, are safe to consume any of Mars’s company products.
Is Snickers Suitable For Vegetarians?
Depending on the type of vegetarians, the Snickers bar may or may not be suitable for consumption. To be specific, the Snickers bars are suitable only for lacto-ovo-vegetarians. This type of vegetarian is allowed to consume all types of dairy products, while at the same time they avoid consuming all flesh products and eggs.
This is important to know because the Snickers ingredients are as followed:
- Milk chocolate – sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, milkfat, soy lecithin, skim milk, lactose, artificial flavor
- Sugar
- Peanuts
- Corn syrup
- Palm oil
- Skim milk
- Lactose
- Salt
- Egg whites
- Artificial flavor
It is important to always check the list of the ingredients on the product itself because from time to time the companies can change the ingredients that they have used in that specific batch.
The issue with the Snickers bar is the part that contains animal products such as milk and/or eggs. By default, vegetarians choose not to consume such products, and thus the Snickers bar may not be the best option for them.
It is impossible to make a chocolate bar without the use of milk or dark chocolate. Even other chocolates such as dark ones need to contain a certain percentage of milk (meaning that even though dark chocolate has less amount of milk included, it still has some milk after all).
The use of eggs can be debatable, so it is up to you to decide whether the specific product you’d like to consume is suitable for your regime or not.
Is Snickers Suitable For Vegans?
Unfortunately, Snickers is not suitable to be consumed by people who are vegans. This is simply because there are three main ingredients in Snickers that can pose an issue for all vegans.
First of all, let’s start with the obvious ones – milk and eggs. To make it clear, vegans are people who have chosen not to consume animal products in any form. Thus, products derived from animals, such as eggs or milk (so not just the flesh), are not suitable for their consumption.
Milk and eggs are an inevitable part of making a Snickers bar, so those two ingredients are the main culprits why vegans can’t enjoy this delicious treat. This also means that other products derived from these products are also not suitable for vegans.
For example, lactose is a sugar form that is derived from milk, so by default, it means that vegans can’t consume it. And since lactose is one of the ingredients in the Snickers bar, vegans can’t consume the bar either.
Another debatable ingredient that can be found in the Snickers bar is palm oil. Although by default palm oil is considered to be a vegan-friendly product, there are some vegans that choose not to consume it, mostly due to the fact that there are many unethical practices bound to this industry, which makes vegans avoid it.
However, we must say that consuming palm oil is totally up to you to decide, so make sure to have your pros and cons ready before you make the final decision. Regardless of whether you choose to consume it or not, Snickers will still not be vegan-friendly due to the other ingredients such as milk and eggs.
Vegan-Friendly Snickers Alternatives
There are not many vegan-friendly alternatives on the market when it comes to the Snickers bars (and to be frank, the ones that do exist are very hard to find, and not even close to the Snickers bar in terms of the taste).
This is why the best Snickers alternative is the homemade one. Yes, you have read it right, it is possible to make a vegan-friendly Snickers alternative at the comfort of your home, without having to worry whether the ingredients are suitable for you or not, while the taste is pretty much the same as the original bar (if not better).
For this endeavor you will need the following (vegan-friendly) ingredients:
- Chocolate – the best result will be achieved with vegan chocolate chips you can take and melt, in order to form the top and bottom layer of your home-made Snickers;
- Cashews – they will need to be blended, and before that, it is recommended to soak them in water for at least 20 minutes;
- Cocoa butter
- Maple syrup – as a healthier alternative for the corn syrup, you can also choose to use agave syrup (as a remark – you can also use corn syrup, but the aforementioned two are much healthier);
- Caramel – you can choose to make one at home, or you can use the one from the store
- Peanuts – how to avoid the main ingredient?
First, create a layer of chocolate and cool it down until it hardens. While this sits in the fridge, make sure to blend all the other ingredients until you get thick, homogeneous liquid. Once the chocolate is solidified, pour the mixture on top, and let it sit in the fridge again. After an hour, the final product will be ready and you will have your homemade, vegan-friendly, Snickers bars!
