Oreo cookies do not contain any animal-derived ingredients and are safe to eat for vegans. If you have a dairy allergy, keep in mind that Oreos have milk as cross-contact.
Oreos are vegan, and they're oat milk's favorite cookie. Milk's favorite cookie is accidentally vegan. Well, at least some are. The classic Oreo and many of its flavor iterations are completely devoid of animal ingredients, which leads to a natural follow-up question: what is the cream filling made out of?
According to the Oreo website: “No, OREO have milk as cross contact and therefore they are not suitable for vegans.” This means that whilst the majority of cookies might be accidentally plant-based, the manufacturers do not have the procedures in place to be able to confidently claim that their products are vegan.
With the exception of a few flavors that contain some animal ingredients like honey, most Oreos are vegan. (Hooray!) There is a risk of cross-contamination from equipment, however. So for people with dairy allergies, Oreos may not be the safest treat.
They do not contain any animal-derived ingredients such as milk, eggs, honey or gelatine. It's unclear if US Oreos are vegan. They do not contain animal-derived ingredients but they do contain sugar, which is often processed using bone char in the USA.
History of Oreos
In the mid-1990s, Nabisco was prompted to change the lard to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. In 2006, the partially hydrogenated vegetable oil was then replaced with non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. In 2013 the whey powder was removed, and finally, in 2014, Oreos were vegan in the US.
It's called creme for a reason
Oreos are produced alongside products that contain milk — it's up to you to decide if that's a line you're willing to cross. In short, Oreo's "creme" is hydrogenated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, and vanillin.
Their answer? “No, Oreo have milk as cross contact and therefore are not suitable for vegans.”
So in January 2006, under pressure from the public, Oreo replaced the trans fat in the biscuits with non-hydrogenated oils. Still, the recipe included whey protein, which is derived from dairy, until 2013 in the UK and 2014 in the US. When that ingredient was removed, the cookies finally became animal-free.
Lactose-free foodies, rejoice because Oreos have no dairy. That's right, the cream in the middle isn't actually quite so creamy. Everyone's favorite middle is instead made up of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, cornstarch and soy. And even better, Oreos are completely vegan.
Pringles Original does not contain any ingredients made from milk and is suitable for those following a vegan diet or with milk allergies. Wheat flour is now also an ingredient across all Pringles varieties and, accordingly “wheat flour” is specified on the ingredient list.
Traditionally made from a simple recipe of potatoes, oil and salt, french fries are what vegans and vegetarians tend to seek out when there appear to be no other options on the menu. But fast food fried potatoes aren't always plant-based.
Sorry to be the ones to break it to you, but no, Nutella is not vegan. This is because it contains skimmed milk powder which is an animal-derived ingredient, so is therefore not made solely from plants.
Of the twenty-one flavors listed on Doritos website, only three of them are vegan friendly. Spicy Sweet Chili, Blaze, and the Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips are the Doritos flavors that are vegan. All of the remaining Doritos flavors contain milk or chicken based ingredients. Read about other vegan snack options here.
Most types of Skittles are considered vegan, but not all. While Skittles Classic Fruits, Skittles Sour, Skittles Tropical and Wild Berry Skittles are all currently suitable for vegans, some special editions such as the Once in a Blue Moon Skittles are not, as the blue skittles contain animal product derivatives.
While most dark chocolate is in fact suitable for vegans, many brands are now choosing to use dairy alternatives, such as oat and plant milk, to create their chocolate, so you'll find milk and white chocolate alternatives on offer too.
Because refined sugars made from sugarcane require bone char to achieve a clear white colour, most refined cane sugars are unsuitable for vegans. Some types of brown sugar also involve using bone char, such as those that are created by adding molasses to refined cane sugar to achieve the brown colour.
Honey is by definition not vegan, since it a bee product, and bees are animals. Here's a nuanced article about how the ethical issues surrounding this sweetener fit into the broader concept of vegan living.
No. Some of the Tim Tam products contains cochineal which is derived from insects and is not suitable for a vegetarian diet. The gelatin is based on pork and beef bones and therefore does not belong in a vegetarian and vegan diet.
The first Allen's lolly mix to be vegan, Jubees is yet another way Allen's is adding to its range of crowd-pleasing treats. Jubees features the fan favourite Allen's flavours of Raspberry Red Frogs, Cola Bottles, Blackberry Purple Snakes, Orange Jelly Babies and Pineapples in delicious chewy jubes.
The origin of the name "Oreo" is unknown, but there are many hypotheses, including derivations from the French word or, meaning "gold", or from the Greek word ωραίο (oreo) meaning "nice" or "attractive". Others believe that the cookie was named Oreo simply because the name was short and easy to pronounce.
As much as there's a science to dunking an Oreo in milk, there's one behind why they taste better that way. Quartz explains that it has to do with the fact that milk contains emulsifiers. Combined with the fat in the cookie, emulsifiers affect the way your tongue picks up flavor.
It's due to the cocoa powder that is used. Oreos contain black cocoa powder which is cocoa beans that have been heavily Dutched, meaning they've been soaked in a solution that removes the acidity and mellows out the flavor — it also darkens the color of the cocoa powder.