By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS
\nVRG Research Director<\/p>\n
Recently a Papa John\u2019s patron relayed to The Vegetarian Resource Group some
\ninformation she had received in an email response from Papa John\u2019s about a
\nfew of their ingredients in the pizza dough and the desserts. This brought up
\nquestions concerning whether the items were vegetarian. In March 2014 we asked
\nthe Research & Development Department at Papa John\u2019s about these ingredients.<\/p>\n
Here is the Papa John\u2019s ingredient statement for the Original Dough:<\/p>\n
Pizza Dough: unbleached enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, malted barley
\nflour, wheat starch, ascorbic acid, enzyme, niacin, iron as ferrous
\nsulfate, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), water, sugar,
\nsoybean oil, salt, yeast [fungal or bacterial derivatives \u2013 NO animal
\nderivatives]. No trans fat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis is the prompt response we received by email from Papa John\u2019s:<\/p>\n
The enzyme in the unbleached enriched wheat flour (per the enzyme
\nsupplier) contains neither animal components nor animal-derived
\ningredients\u2026 There are no egg or milk products in our [Original] Dough
\nformula.<\/p>\nPapa John\u2019s supplied more information regarding the \u201cfungal- or
\nbacterial-derived\u201d yeast used in the Original Dough:
\nThe yeast supplier lists the yeast status as “acceptable for vegan
\ndiets.” The supplier further states “No animal products used in the
\nmanufacturing process for the yeast or the raw materials.”<\/p>\nHere are Papa John\u2019s ingredients statements for their icing and
\nchocolate chip cookie:<\/p>\nIcing (White): sugar, water, corn syrup, stearic acid, artificial color
\n(titanium dioxide), agar, salt, potassium sorbate (preservative), guar
\ngum, pectin, dextrose, citric acid, sodium hexametaphosphate, natural
\nand artificial flavor. (NO animal products)<\/p>\nChocolate Chip Cookie: chocolate chips (sugar, unsweetened chocolate,
\ncocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin [an emulsifier], vanillin [an
\nartificial flavor], enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley
\nflour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, and folic acid),
\nmargarine (palm oil, water, soybean oil, salt, whey solids, vegetable
\nmono- and diglycerides, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, beta carotene
\n[color], vitamin A palmitate added), sugar, brown sugar, pasteurized
\nwhole eggs, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate,
\nmonocalcium phosphate), salt, artificial flavor, caramel color.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhen The VRG asked Papa John\u2019s to confirm that the stearic acid and
\ncookie ingredients were vegetarian because the ingredient statements
\nsuggest that they are, we were told:<\/p>\nThe stearic acid (per the icing supplier) has no animal products in it.
\nThe stearic acid is kosher. In addition, the white drizzle icing has no
\nanimal products in any of the ingredients and it is also kosher. There
\nis no egg, milk or honey in the icing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nConcerning the chocolate chip cookie served at Papa John\u2019s, The VRG was
\ninformed:<\/p>\nThe cookie contains pasteurized whole eggs in the dough, as well as
\nwhite and brown sugar. It does not contain honey or milk. However, the
\nmargarine used contains whey powder. The cookie dough supplier has
\nconfirmed the cookie is acceptable for a vegetarian diet but not a vegan
\ndiet.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nClick here<\/a> for our most recent update on Papa John\u2019s.
\nFor more information about Papa John\u2019s, readers may visit www.papajohns.com<\/a>
\nFor more information on fast food and quick casual restaurant chains
\nvisit: The VRG website<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe contents of this article, our website, and our other publications,
\nincluding The Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal
\nmedical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified
\nhealth professional. We often depend on product and ingredient
\ninformation from company employees or company statements. Information
\ndoes change and mistakes are always possible. Please use your own best
\njudgment about whether a product is suitable for you. Further research
\nor confirmation may be warranted.<\/em><\/p>\n\nThere are many ways to stay connected to The Vegetarian Resource Group!<\/strong><\/p>\nClick here<\/a> to get our blog delivered right to your inbox.
\nFor updates on all kinds of vegetarian- and vegan-related topics subscribe to our free enewsletter<\/a>.
\nTo support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, donate at
\ngivedirect.org\/give<\/a>.
\nTo join The Vegetarian Resource Group and receive Vegetarian Journal, go
\nto vrg.org\/member\/2013sv.php<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/style>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS VRG Research Director Recently a Papa John\u2019s patron relayed to The Vegetarian Resource Group some information she had received in an email response from Papa John\u2019s about a few of their ingredients in the pizza dough and the desserts. This brought up questions concerning whether the items were vegetarian. In March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5386"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5393,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5386\/revisions\/5393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}