Are Mentos Vegan, Gluten-Free and Halal?

We all love mints. Sometimes we need them to freshen up or to mask the foul aftertaste of food lingering in our mouth. Now, a particular day-to-day food item like mints comes with a lot of confusion around its ingredients. It is very challenging to announce them as a vegan.

Mentos, perhaps the most popular among mints, offer both vegan and non-vegan flavors. But clearly, the number of vegan flavors of Mentos is significantly less.

If you are a vegan and have gone to buy some Mentos, there are 3 main ingredients you need to look for, Carmine, Gelatin, and Beeswax.  None of the ingredients are vegan, so the mentos flavor containing any of these is also not vegan-friendly.

In today’s article, we will talk in detail about the ingredients of Mentos and which of them are vegan.

What are Mentos?

Mentos are packaged scotch mints sold by Perfetti Van Melle. They were first produced in 1932 and are now sold worldwide.

The shape of the Mentos is unique. They are little oblate spheroids. Each pack consists of 14 mint discs, though the flavor called ‘sour mix’ comes with only 11.

Mentos offers a wide range of flavors to choose from. Its first flavor was sweet liquorice flavor, which is still available in the Netherlands. Some of the flavors are only sold in certain parts of the world, such as the Dalandan Fresh flavor is available in the Philippines, mainly Germany. The flavor called caffeinated Energy was sold, now it is available in the U.S.

Note – if you’re trying to find if vegan sugar is used in the making of Mentos, you will be utterly disappointed. As the ingredients lists of any Mentos’ variant do not declare the sugar to be vegan.

Mentos Ingredients List

Although Mentos are available in various flavors, mint is probably the best-known one. Mint mentos ingredients are –

sugar, wheat glucose syrup, hydrogenated coconut oil, rice starch, natural flavors, gum arabic, sucrose esters of fatty acids, gellan gum, carnauba wax, and beeswax (check vegan status).

Are Mentos Mint Vegan?

To declare Mentos mints to be vegan or not-vegan, we need first to evaluate the ingredients of the U.S. Mentos mints and U.K. Mentos mints.

U.K. Mentos Mint Ingredient List

Sugar, Coconut Oil, Glucose Syrup, Starch, Cocoa Butter (check vegan status), Flavourings, Thickeners (Gellan Gum, Cellulose Gum, Gum Arabic), Emulsifier (Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids), Maltodextrin,  Glazing Agent (Carnauba Wax), Colour (Brilliant Blue FCF).

US Mentos Mint Ingredient List

Sugar, Wheat Glucose Syrup, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Rice Starch, Natural Flavors, Gum Arabic, Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids, Gellan Gum, Carnauba Wax, Beeswax.

According to the ingredient lists, it is quite clear that in the U.S., Mentos mints contain beeswax. Beeswax is undoubtedly not a vegan ingredient, making the Mentos mints in the U.S. not vegan-friendly. However, in the U.K., things seem to appear a little different. Mentos mints in the U.K. do not contain beeswax or gelatin.

So, it can be said that vegan Mentos mints are found in the U.K. But, it is always the best way to check the ingredient list before making a purchase.

Are Mentos Fruit Vegan?

No, Mentos Fruit is not vegan. In both the versions of Mentos Fruit found in the U.K. and the U.S., two of the ingredients appear to be the ingredients of concern.

The first ingredient is certainly Beeswax. Bees get exploited by harvesting the beeswax and honey. Vegans are always against any animal exploitation, so beeswax is not considered vegan.

On the other hand, we have an ingredient called Carmine. Carmine is a red food coloring agent present in Mentos Fruit, sold both in the U.S. and the U.K. This Carmine is extracted from females of an insect species, mainly found in Central America and Mexico.

The color people get from these beetles is used in food items and many makeup products and skincare items. So, it is not vegan-friendly.

Fruit-flavored Mentos contain sugar, wheat glucose syrup, citric acid, hydrogenated coconut oil, fruit juices from concentrate (strawberry, lemon, orange) (1%), rice starch, gum arabic, natural flavors, sucrose esters of gellan gum, fatty acids, carnauba wax, colors (beta-carotene, beetroot red), and beeswax.

There’s a visible difference in the ingredients of Mentos fruit flavors available in the U.S. and the U.K. Each of them is listed below –

U.S. Mentos Fruit Ingredients

Sugar, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Wheat Glucose Syrup, Citric Acid, Fruit Juices from Concentrate (Strawberry, Orange, Lemon) (1%), Rice Starch, Gum Arabic, Natural Flavors, Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids, Gellan Gum, Carnauba Wax, Colors (Beta-Carotene, Beetroot Red), Beeswax.

Uk Mentos Fruit Ingredients

Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Coconut Oil, Fruit Juices from concentrate (Strawberry, Lemon, Orange) (2%),  Starch, Acid (Citric Acid),  Flavourings, Maltodextrin (check vegan status), Cocoa Butter, Thickeners (Gellan Gum, Cellulose Gum, Gum Arabic), Glazing Agent (Carnauba Wax),  Emulsifier (Sucrose Esters of Fatty Acids), Colours (Beta-Carotene, Beetroot Red).

Are Mentos Spearmint Vegan?

Like Mentos mints, Mentos Spearmint also has the chance of being vegan or not vegan based on your location.

U.K. Mentos Spearmint Ingredients

Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Coconut Oil, Starch, Cocoa Butter, Maltodextrin, Natural Mint Flavouring, Thickeners (Gellan Gum, Cellulose Gum, Gum Arabic), Emulsifier (Sucrose Esters Of Fatty Acids), Glazing Agent (Carnauba Wax), Colours (Anthocyanins, Beta-Carotene).

U.S. Mentos Spearmint Ingredients

Sugar, Wheat Glucose Syrup, Rice Starch, Natural Flavor, Gum Arabic, Hydrogenated Coconut Oil, Sucrose Esters of Fatty Acids, Gellan Gum, Yellow 5, Carnauba Wax, Beeswax, Blue 1.

So, it can be distinctly seen that the Mentos Spearmint found in the U.K. are vegan-friendly, unlike the U.S. ones, which contain beeswax.

Mentos – Vegan and non-vegan flavors

1. Non-Vegan Flavors

Most of the flavors of Mentos are not vegan-friendly. These non-vegan flavors are –

• Mint.
• Mixed fruit
• Bubble gum.
• Strawberry.
• Orange.
• Lemon.
• Cinnamon.
• Wintergreen.
• Plum.
• Grape.
• Grapefruit.
• Peach.
• Strawberry Yogurt.
• Spearmint.
• Pine fresh.
• Red apple.
• Choco and caramel.
• Choco and mint.
• Lemon mint.
• Red fruit and lime.
• Pure fresh bubble fresh.
• Bubble fresh cotton candy.
• Pure fresh watermelon.
• Pure white sweet mint.

Note- some of these flavors can be vegan-friendly according to your location. So, check the ingredient list to find if there’s any beeswax, Carmine, and gelatin.

2. Vegan Mentos Flavors

The few vegan Mentos flavors are-

Product
1. Mentos Green Apple Flavor	Buy Now
2. Pure Fresh Spearmint mentos	Buy Now
3. Clean Breath Peppermint	Buy Now
4. Clean Breath Wintergreen	Buy Now

• White peppermint. (U.K.)
• White spearmint. (U.K.)
• Air action. (U.K.)
• Bubble fresh. (the U.K.)
• Stay Free Menthol Eucalyptus. (U.K.)
• Stay Free Mint. (U.K.)

Conclusion

In this article, we have come to know that quite a few of Mentos’ flavors are vegan. The number was beyond our expectations. It seems like many of the flavors can be both vegan and non-vegan, as some of the same flavors are vegan in the U.K. and not vegan-friendly in the U.S. and vice versa.

So, it would help if you went through the labels attentively to know whether it is a vegan-friendly mint or not.

Frequently Asked Questions