By Jeanne Yacoubou<\/p>\n
An online reader recently asked The VRG if any Doritos products available in the United States were vegan. To find out, The VRG in August through October 2014 called Frito-Lay\u00ae, maker of Doritos. We spoke with different customer service representatives and nutrition specialists each time.<\/p>\n
On the Frito-Lay website, there are several different lists of products suitable for people with special dietary needs: http:\/\/www.fritolay.com\/your-health\/for-special-dietary-needs.html<\/a>. Among those of interest to vegetarians and vegans are lists of Frito-Lay products that do not contain milk, do not contain pork enzymes, or do contain eggs. There are two lists of products certified kosher by two different certifying agencies. There is no list of vegan products on the Frito-Lay site.<\/p>\n We asked Frito-Lay employees why a vegan list wasn’t available. A nutrition specialist told us that \u201csince ‘vegan’ means different things to different people such a list would not be helpful..it could confuse people.\u201d The specialist advised The VRG to develop its own list based on website ingredient information.<\/p>\n In looking over all of the lists and comparing them, The VRG concluded that there are four possible Doritos products that are vegan-eligible. These four are on the lists of products containing no milk nor pork enzymes and they are not on the list of products containing egg.<\/p>\n Our preliminary vegan list was as follows (Note: keep reading below!):<\/p>\n Doritos Reduced Fat Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips The VRG called Doritos again about the ingredients in these products. We discovered that the Salsa Verde Flavored Tortilla Chips listed as containing \u201cnatural chicken flavor\u201d is \u201cfrom chicken.\u201d Therefore, this is not a vegan item. http:\/\/www.fritolay.com\/our-snacks\/doritos-salsa-verde-chips.html<\/a><\/p>\n We also learned that the Reduced Fat Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips (sold only in schools’ vending machines) and the Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips contain natural flavors that are not animal-derived. http:\/\/www.fritolay.com\/our-snacks\/doritos-spicy-sweet-chili-chips.html<\/a><\/p>\n A customer service representative at Frito-Lay told us that \u201cnone of the natural flavors in any Doritos product is animal-based.\u201d A nutrition specialist confirmed this. However, she elaborated further by saying \u201cif a natural flavor contained an animal ingredient it would be identified on the label.\u201d (As we learned, the natural chicken flavor mentioned above is from chicken.)<\/p>\n Doritos employees told us that the sugar used in the Reduced Fat Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips and the Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips \u201cis either cane or beet sugar…it depends on our suppliers and availability.\u201d We learned from the customer service representatives and nutritionists that \u201cingredient processing is not considered a part of ingredient information so we will not be able to tell customers if cow bone char was used.\u201d All Doritos employees read to us from a prepared statement when we asked about the sugar in their products.<\/p>\n The VRG received confirmation from Frito-Lay of our tentative vegan listing for the Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips. The nutrition specialist told us that they are all-vegetable referring to the Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips as \u201cvegan.\u201d http:\/\/www.fritolay.com\/our-snacks\/doritos-toasted-corn.html<\/a><\/p>\n Vegetarians may wish to note that all Doritos products containing cheese or cheese flavorings \u201cdo contain animal enzymes\u201d according to two nutrition specialists we spoke with on the phone. The VRG asked if Frito-Lay made such a general statement to avoid potential mislabeling issues as other manufacturers may do or if all cheese and cheese flavoring in Doritos actually contain animal enzymes. The reply we received was \u201cThis is true in all cases.\u201d Beside pork enzymes, Frito-Lay provides no further information on which type of animal enzyme or which animal species is used.<\/p>\n
\nDoritos Salsa Verde Flavored Tortilla Chips
\nDoritos Spicy Sweet Chili Flavored Tortilla Chips
\nDoritos Toasted Corn Tortilla Chips<\/p>\n