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By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS<\/p>\n
Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n Since August 2015 when The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) received confirmation from Wrigley\u00ae that it uses tallow- and lard-derived stearic acid in several flavors of its Life Savers\u00ae mints, we canvassed the mint market to identify brands containing animal-derived stearic acid or stearate compounds such as calcium stearate or magnesium stearate.<\/p>\n The VRG investigated 68 different mint brands in order to analyze trends in stearic acid\/stearate use in mint products. <\/p>\n Based on our research The VRG determined that: Of the top five mint brands (by 2014-15 sales volume: http:\/\/www.statista.com\/statistics\/262572\/leading-us-breath-freshener-brands-based-on-sales\/<\/a>), There are many vegan mint products considering both ingredients and sugar whitening methods. Look for a complete list of vegan mints in an upcoming article. The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including The Vegetarian Journal<\/em>, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n To support The Vegetarian Resource Group research, join at http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/member\/2013sv.php<\/a> The contents of this website and our other publications, including The Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS Introduction Since August 2015 when The Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) received confirmation from Wrigley\u00ae that it uses tallow- and lard-derived stearic acid in several flavors of its Life Savers\u00ae mints, we canvassed the mint market to identify brands containing animal-derived stearic acid or stearate compounds such as calcium stearate or magnesium […]<\/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-8656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8656","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=8656"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8658,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8656\/revisions\/8658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022 Most mint brands that we researched (48\/68 = 70.6%) contain one or two of the following: stearic acid, magnesium stearate or calcium stearate.
\n\u2022 Only 6\/68 = 8.8% of all mint brands that we researched contain animal-based stearic acid or stearate compounds.
\n\u2022 Only three confections companies (Wrigley, Hershey’s\u00ae, and Mondel\u0113z International\u00ae) state they use or may use animal-derived stearic acid or stearates in some of their mints. All three are very large corporations producing high product volumes.
\n\u2022 However, it is not correct to conclude that all large corporations use animal-derived stearic acid and stearate compounds. A notable example of a major company that uses vegetable-based stearic acid and magnesium stearate is Nestl\u00e9\u00ae UK. This company also confirmed by email that the sugar used in their products is not processed with animal ingredients.
\n\u2022 All smaller and\/or newer companies use vegetable-sourced stearic acid an\/or stearate compounds. Some of these companies use the chemically inaccurate term \u201cvegetable stearate\u201d on their ingredient statements highlighting their ingredient source. <\/p>\n
\no #1 Tic Tac\u00ae contains vegetable-derived magnesium stearate and sugar. According to an email response from Tic Tac Customer Relations their sugar has not been whitened through cow bone char.
\no #2 Ice Breakers\u00ae contains magnesium stearate that according to its manufacturer Hershey’s is \u201cusually\u201d animal-derived.
\no #3 Altoids\u00ae Original by Wrigley is non-vegetarian containing gelatin.
\no #4 Breathsavers\u00ae contains magnesium stearate that according to its manufacturer Hershey’s is \u201cusually\u201d animal-derived.
\no #5 Listerine\u00ae Pocketpacks\u00ae by Johnson & Johnson\u00ae contains no animal-derived ingredients nor sugar. <\/p>\n
\nPlease watch for follow-up articles!<\/p>\n
\nOr donate at http:\/\/www.vrg.org\/donate<\/a><\/p>\n