As a vegan, finding products that align with my beliefs can sometimes be challenging.
While it’s easy to assume that chewing gum is vegan, there are a few ingredients that can make it non-vegan. That’s why I did some research on Extra Gum to determine whether it is vegan-friendly or not.
In this article, I will share my findings and provide a comprehensive analysis of each Extra Gum product.
1. Extra Gum: Vegan or Not?
When it comes to determining whether a product is vegan, it’s important to understand the ingredients used in its production.
In the case of Extra Gum, the company claims that all of its products are vegan.
However, we must dig deeper and analyze each ingredient to confirm this claim.
2. Controversial Vegan Ingredients
Before we dive into the analysis of Extra Gum, it’s important to address the controversial vegan ingredients that we will consider vegan in this article.
The following ingredients are commonly considered controversial in the vegan community:
- Sugar: Refined cane sugar is made pure white by using bone char, which makes it non-vegan. Although the sugar type is not always listed in product ingredients, if you avoid non-vegan sugars, you should avoid all the products in this analysis.
- Natural and artificial flavorings: Natural flavorings in candies may come from either animal or plant sources, but it is usually from plant sources. However, if it comes from an animal source, it will be clearly indicated. Artificial flavorings are not derived from any animal or plant source, and they are generally vegan.
- Colors: Certain food colors are subject to animal testing, which has led to controversy within the vegan community. In this article, we consider all food colors to be vegan, except for those that come from animal or insect sources such as Carmine. The origin of each color will be noted.
3. Is Extra Gum Gluten Free?
I found that Extra Gum is gluten-free and does not contain any gluten-containing ingredients such as wheat.
The brand ensures that all labeling requirements are met when the use of gluten-containing ingredients is essential to the product’s taste experience.
However, ingredients and formulas may vary by region.
4. Extra Gum Flavors: Vegan and Non-Vegan
After analyzing the ingredients used in each Extra Gum product, we can confidently confirm that all Extra Gum products are vegan-friendly.
Here is the table of vegan and non-vegan Extra gum flavors:
| Vegan Flavors | Non-Vegan Flavors |
|---|---|
| Extra Peppermint | Extra Polar Ice |
| Extra Spearmint | |
| Extra Smooth Mint | |
| Extra Winterfresh | |
| Extra Classic Bubble | |
| Extra Cinnamon | |
| Extra Fruit Sensations – Sweet Watermelon | |
| Extra Fruit Sensations – Berry Paradise | |
| Extra Fruit Sensations – Island Cooler | |
| Extra Fruit Sensations – Rainbow Sherbet | |
| Extra Refreshers – Spearmint | |
| Extra Refreshers – Polar Ice |
It’s important to always check the ingredients on the packaging as formulations may change over time.
5. Extra Chewy Mints: Vegan and Non-Vegan
The ingredients in Extra’s Chewy Mints are very similar to their gum, making the chewy mints also vegan-friendly. Both the Peppermint and Polar Ice flavors are vegan-friendly as of the time of this writing.
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6. FAQs – Extra Gum Vegan
Extra gum used to contain gelatin as an ingredient in some of its flavors, but as of August 2019, all Extra stick-style gums have removed gelatin, making them vegan-friendly, with the exception of Polar Ice. The Polar Ice flavor still contains gelatin-coated flavor crystals, which makes it unsuitable for vegans and vegetarians.
Extra gum can be considered halal as all of its stick-style flavors are now gelatin-free, with the exception of Polar Ice. Gelatin is typically derived from animal collagen, but since it has been removed from Extra’s stick-style gum, there are no ingredients in these flavors that are directly or indirectly derived from animals.
Extra Gum’s stick-style flavors can be considered both vegan and cruelty-free, as they do not contain animal-derived ingredients and are not tested on animals.
Extra Gum does not contain pork or any pork-derived ingredients.
Yes, all of Extra Gum’s stick-style flavors are sugar-free. They contain sugar substitutes like aspartame and acesulfame K, as well as sugar alcohols such as sorbitol and mannitol. These ingredients provide sweetness without adding sugar or calories, allowing the gum to be marketed as sugar-free.
Yes, Extra Spearmint Gum is both vegan and gluten-free. As with all of Extra’s stick-style flavors, it does not contain any animal-derived ingredients, making it suitable for those following a vegan diet.
7. Summary
Extra Gum is vegan-friendly, and all of its flavors have been verified to be vegan.
The company has removed any animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin, stearic acid, and glycerin from its products.
However, it’s important to remember that controversial ingredients like sugar, natural and artificial flavorings, and colors may not align with every vegan’s beliefs.
If you’re unsure, always double-check the ingredients before purchasing.
