Are Cheerios Vegan?

Veganism is a diet consisting of the restriction of all animal products for either ethical or health reasons. Strict vegans consider honey a byproduct of bees. Even stricter vegans do not eat white cane sugar as the filtering process may contain animal carbon. There are many versions of Cheerios, some containing animal products and some simply white sugar.

All Cheerios brands contain the following ingredients: Whole grain oats, vitamin E, calcium carbonate, zinc, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B6, vitamin B2, vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin D3. Most versions of the cereal contain corn syrup, salt and white sugar. White sugar is restricted from strict vegan diets.

Many of the eleven Cheerios cereals contain the following ingredients that are considered vegan: corn meal, corn starch, brown sugar syrup, trisodium phosphate, added color, canola and/or rice bran oil, whole grain corn, dried corn syrup, corn bran, modified corn starch, rice flour, oat flour, whole grain rice, whole grain barley and whole grain wheat.

Frosted Cheerios, Banana Nut Cheerios, Berry Burst Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios, Whole Grain Cheerios, Multi-Grain Cheerios, Apple Cinnamon Cheerios, and Fruity Cheerios all contain various ingredients that are vegan except for the white sugar. These other ingredients include fruit purees, brown sugar, natural flavors and colorings and vanillin as well as other ingredients.

Cheerios Crunch, Honey Nut Cheerios and Yogurt Blast Cheerios all contain either honey or nonfat milk along with their other ingredients. Nonfat milk is not included in any vegan diet and many vegans do not include honey.