# A guide to vegan sweets

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**Source:** sweeties.net, online pick and mix sweet shop

## Summary

A vegan sweet has no gelatine, beeswax, shellac, carmine, milk, egg or honey. The ingredients to watch, the plant alternatives, and what a vegan label promises.

## Description

Vegans avoid all foods of animal origin, including meat, fish, eggs, dairy and honey. For sweets, that means checking not just the obvious ingredients but the glazes, colours and setting agents too.
The ingredients to watch
Gelatine. Made from collagen in animal skin, bones and connective tissue, it sets many jelly sweets: see beef gelatine and pork gelatineBeeswax, E901. Used as a glazing agent to give sweets a shine: see what is beeswax on sweets?Shellac, E904. A glaze made from a resin secreted by lac insects: see what is shellac on sweets?Carmine, E120. A red colour made from cochineal insects, also listed as cochineal: see what is carmine?Milk and butter. In chocolate, fudge, toffee and caramel: see milk in sweetsEgg white. In nougat, some marshmallows and macaroons: see eggs in sweetsHoney. Some nougat is sweetened with honey.
The plant based swaps
Setting. Agar, starch and pectin can replace gelatine to make gummies suitable for vegetarians and vegans: see pectin sweets explained and starch jelly sweets explainedShine. Carnauba wax, E903, comes from the leaves of a Brazilian palm and is used as a plant based glaze: see what is carnauba wax on sweets?Colour. Plant and algae colours, such as spirulina and black carrot, give colour without insects: see natural colours in sweets
What a vegan label means
There is no legal definition of vegan food in UK law, but businesses must label food accurately and not mislead. The government says a vegan label means no ingredients of animal origin were intentionally used, but it does not guarantee that the product contains none, because it may be made where animal products are handled.
The Vegan Society has certified products with its Vegan Trademark since 1990, and says more than 70,000 products worldwide carry it.
A warning for allergies
The government advises that people with allergies to milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans or molluscs should not assume a vegan product is safe, because vegan labelling does not require the strict controls used for free from claims: see the 14 allergens explained for sweets
Which sweets are vegan?
Recipes change, and some well known sweets have become vegan, such as Percy Pigs in 2022: see what sweets are vegan in the UK? Our pick and mix includes vegan gummy bears and vegan fizzy cola bottles, and each sweet card shows its full ingredients before you buy.

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