What Makes Something Vegan Friendly?

A vegan diet tends to omit any animal products or foods that are produced using non-environmentally friendly methods. It’s similar to a vegetarian diet with some added restrictions. 

While the vegetarian diet is focused on eating plants only and omitting all animal products, veganism takes it a step further and avoids foods that may have been influenced or produced through questionable environmental means. An example of a vegan restriction versus vegetarian would be the Blue 1 food dye used in some foods. While it may be used in a vegetarian-friendly food, such as a soft drink containing no animal products, it won’t be vegan friendly since Blue 1 was tested on mice, rats, and dogs.

Those distinctions set veganism aside from vegetarianism, creating a stricter ruleset for those trying to limit their negative impact on animals. 

Are Welch’s Fruit Snacks Dairy Free?

Welch’s fruit snacks are made of a fruit puree and other ingredients that aren’t dairy. So, Welch’s fruit snacks are dairy-free but do contain some artificial flavors.

The full ingredient list found on their website for mixed fruit is Fruit puree (grape, peach, orange, strawberry, and raspberry), corn syrup, sugar, modified corn starch, gelatin, concord grape juice from concentrate, citric acid, lactic acid, natural and artificial flavors, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), alpha-tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), vitamin A palmitate, sodium citrate, coconut oil, carnauba wax, annatto (color), turmeric (color), red 40, and blue 1.

Are Welch’s Fruit Snacks Healthy?

Whether Welch’s fruit snacks are healthy or not has been heavily debated not just on the internet, but in court. While there was a lawsuit taking place regarding the packaging of Welch’s fruit snacks and their alleged lack of honesty regarding their ingredients, it was ruled in favor of Welch’s despite attempts to revive the lawsuit.

So obviously, what constitutes healthy is up for debate as we can’t be certain just how much fruit is in the fruit puree listed on the ingredients. 

They do contain a variety of added vitamins and don’t appear to be horrible. Many articles found concerning Welch’s and if they’re healthy, focus on how the labels are misleading. In reality, I don’t think anyone expects fruity gummy snacks to be something health nuts eat on the regular. 

So while Welch’s fruit snacks are the healthiest thing, there are much worse snacks on the market without the added vitamins.

Are Welch’s Fruit Snacks Vegetarian?

While Welch’s fruit snacks are made with a fruit puree and a variety of other vegetarian-friendly ingredients, Welch’s fruit snacks are NOT vegetarian. 

One of the ingredients in Welch’s fruit snacks is gelatin. Gelatin is derived from animals and boiling a variety of tissues and bones from those animals, making them very much not vegetarian. 

Are Welch’s Fruit Snacks Vegan?

I discussed in the last paragraph about Welch’s Fruit Snacks’ vegetarian status. Not everyone knows this, but anything that is not vegetarian-friendly also isn’t vegan-friendly. But, everything that isn’t vegan friendly, isn’t always non-vegetarian. That’s important to note here because Welch’s fruit snacks are NOT vegetarian-friendly or vegan-friendly. 

The main reason Welch’s fruit snacks aren’t vegan is because of the gelatin content in the ingredients. Gelatin is derived from various sources of animal tissues and bones, making it a non-vegan ingredient. 

Whether Welch’s produces a vegan equivalent is not known, but I couldn’t find an alternative that was vegan-friendly.

Is Welch’s Fruit Snacks Gluten-Free?

Welch’s fruit snacks are gluten-free and are labeled as such on the packaging. While I haven’t found a Welch’s fruit snack flavor that isn’t gluten-free, future flavors might be and you should check the labels whenever trying a new flavor.