"Vegan Candy is Dandy"

"Would you believe that some candies contain animal ingredients? It's true! Some candies are made from things like gelatin, which is mashed up cow skin, cartilage, and bones. And carmine, the red coloring used in some candies, is made from ground-up bugs. Can you believe that? Bugs! Blecch!  Wondering if some of your favorite sweets are animal-friendly? No worries-check out the list below and satisfy your sweet tooth with these vegan treats..."

[The list is from the fine folks at PETA and can be found here and below.]

FROM:
http://www.petakids.com/candy.html

"Vegan Candy Is Dandy!

Would you believe that some candies contain animal ingredients? It's true! Some candies are made from things like gelatin, which is mashed up cow skin, cartilage, and bones. And carmine, the red coloring used in some candies, is made from ground-up bugs. Can you believe that? Bugs! Blecch!

Wondering if some of your favorite sweets are animal-friendly? No worries-check out the list below and satisfy your sweet tooth with these vegan treats:

Candy

    Airheads taffy
    Atkins peanut butter bars
    Blow Pops
    Brach’s Cinnamon Hard Candy
    Charms lollipops
    Chick-o-Sticks
    Cracker Jack
    Cry Babies
    Dem Bones
    Dots
    Dum-Dums
    Fireballs
    Goldenberg's Peanut Chews
    Hubba Bubba bubblegum
    Jolly Ranchers (lollipops and hard candy)
    Jujubees
    Jujyfruits
    Lemonheads
    Mambas
    Mary Janes (regular and peanut butter kisses)
    Now and Later
    Pez
    Ring Pop lollipops
    Smarties (U.S. Brand)
    Sour Patch Kids
    Starburst (jelly beans and hard candy)
    Super Bubble
    Swedish Fish
    Sweet Tarts
    Tropical Source mini chocolate bags
    Twizzlers
    Zotz

Snacks

    Bean dip (make sure it’s lard-free)
    Cracker Jack
    Fritos
    Lance’s Toasty Crackers
    Lay's Stax
    Lay's WOW! potato chips
    Microwave popcorn (minus the real butter flavor)
    Munchos
    Peanuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, cashews, and Pistachios
    Pretzels
    Salsa
    Skittles’ Mints
    Tostitos
    Trail mix
    Triscuits
    Wheat Thins

Watch Your Mouth

Not what comes out but what goes in. Sure, you might follow the two-second rule when you drop your Tofutti Cutie on your kitchen floor, but you won’t want to give these disgusting hidden animal ingredients the time of day.

Casein—Whey’s cousin, casein is made from curdled milk. Yuck!

Gelatin—Rhymes with "skeleton." Coincidence? I think not. Gelatin is a protein made by boiling cows’ and pigs’ skin, tendons, ligaments, and bones. Jell-O? Heck, no!

Honey—Sure, honey tastes sweet, but you’ll get a bad taste in your mouth when you learn how it’s "harvested."

From a former beekeeper: "[T]ypically, beekeepers are gloved and netted to avoid stings (nearly every bee who stings will die due to her entrails being pulled from her body attached to her stinger.) Then the hives are opened as quickly as possible and the bees are ‘smoked.’ Smoke from a smoldering fire carried in a ‘smoker’ is pumped into the hive and the bees are ‘calmed.’ In spite of this, the combs are pulled quickly and many bees are crushed in the process. When a bee is hurt, she releases a chemical message that alerts and activates the hive members who proceed to attack the intruder—giving their lives in the process."

Lard—Lard is such a gross word, it almost makes you wonder why they just don’t call it what it is: "Fat from hog abdomens."

Pepsin—If the thought of eating lard turns your stomach, stay away from pepsin, a clotting agent from pigs’ stomachs, used in some cheeses and vitamins.

Rennet—Certain words just make you cringe, like coagulate, congeal, clot—which is what rennet, an enzyme taken from baby calves’ stomachs, is used for in cheese production.

Stearic Acid—It may sound less gross than "lard," but stearic acid, which often rears its ugly head in chocolate and vitamins, comes from a fatty substance taken from slaughtered pigs’ stomachs—or from cows, sheep, or dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters. Still want to chew on that piece of Fido?

Cetyl Palmitate—Check your head if you’re using margarine that contains cetyl palmitate, the fancy term for the waxy oil derived from sperm whales’ heads or from dolphins. "I can’t believe it’s not " oh, wait. It is" Whale head wax"?

Urea—Urea comes from urine and other "bodily fluids." It’s used to "brown" baked goods, like pretzels. Um, yeah. And the oven is for ??

When going to any convenience store, take a look around and see what other food services they offer. Often, you can get made-to-order sandwiches and salads. For instance, Speedway gas stations can make up MTO veggie wraps and sandwiches, and you can also snag bagels, garlic fries (minus the cheese), and cheese-free nachos."