Comments

1
Oh, vegans, so silly. Nothing says "healthy eating" like NINE different food colorings.
2
All tested by the FDA as safe. If you find food colorings to be unsafe, I ask: what do you eat instead?
3
Are you kidding? Most food colorings have never been tested; many common ones in the U.S. are banned in the EU. I avoid artificial food colorings entirely.
4
The M&Ms have Stigmata...?
6
Find something more recent than 1993, and I'll consider reading it.
7
WOO! Now vegans can eat the same nasty shit that made omnivores morbidly obese. Just what we need, fat whiny vegans complaining about "body image hatred" as they fucking wolf down handful after handful of "tasting the rainbow" non-foods.
8
But wait! It's not quite as simple as all that. My vegetarian friends and I discovered that some bags of Skittles are gelatin-free a few months ago. The weird thing is, though, that only about half of the original flavor, red-bag Skittles are Gelatin Free. The ones that are are clearly marked as such as in your picture. But, from box to box, even within the same store, some will be veggie-friendly, and others will not.

On the other hand, every bag/box of the non-original flavor that we've seen (Sour, Wild Berry, Tropical etc.), IS vegan/vegetarian/gelatin-free. Why this split status, I don't know. But be vigilant if this matters to you - check those bags/boxes.
9
GLV, I hear ya. Reminds me of religous sheep: They want us to prove the lack of a God, whereas it is the onus of the mumbling Theists in fact to prove a single God exists out of the thousands identified.

In other words: YOU prove the link between the 7 approved food colorings and a single illness or condition in humans.
10
most people i know go vegan for morel, not health reasons.this is why SweetPea sucks away so much of my money...and why Voodoo Donuts has an entire vegan shelf, perhaps with a skittle covered confection soon
11
ntrecek: I like mushrooms as much as the next guy but wouldn't go vegan for them.
12
can i get a hi-five for that remaining "hydrogenated" goodness?
13
Boo to the commenters who think that we should all avoid food colorings or "'hydrogenated' goodness". Food colorings (except carmine) and hydrogenated fats are not from tortured animals. Veganism and eating for health are not exclusive. I, for one, enjoy gelatin-free skittles from time to time as a compassionate, ethical vegan.
14
This would be a great opportunity for you to become familiar with google.
15
Actually, I'll do you a favor: read Fast Food Nation. There is a good discussion of it in there, with many, specific examples of food additives and colorings that are banned in the EU but legal in the US.
16
I'm with GLV. I seriously can't understand why anyone would eat crap like this. Vegan or no. The 1st 3 ingredients alone are big red flags.

As for the "ethical compassionate" commenter. Do you think the packaging just magically disappears? It is not recyclable or reusable and it won't decompose. Ethical, compassionate choices involve a lot more thought than whether or not animals are directly slaughtered or tortured.

It's berry season! Go to the fucking farmers market and get some real food you stupid sheep.
17
Cary (and everyone), the Skittles Crazy Cores were the first ones without gelatin: http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/item/ski…
18
Berries...who are you kidding Beer Batter? Yeah, when I get to be a bourgeois douche like you I'll shell out $5 for 4 oz. of raspberries.
19
I knew a vegan once, in high school. Every day for lunch she would have a bag of bbq flavored potato chips and a can of Dr. Pepper.
20
if you go out to sauvie's island and pick them they are suuuuuper cheap. like $1.50 a pound.

it's not bourgeois to eat fresh fruits. it's common sense!

no one should eat hydrogenated oil: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-hydrogenat…
21
Many EU colorants and flavors have different names but are the same chemical compounds.

And most FDA documents date back even further than 1993 so I would consider that to be fairly recent.
22
kylo, I'd rather shell out a little extra for real food now than have to pay hundreds of thousands for a liver transplant or colonoscopy later, you ignorant cheapskate.
23
This is all so hilarious. As a vegan, I would never eat Skittles because of all the nasty crap ingredients. Even if I wasn't vegan, I still wouldn't eat Skittles. Why would anybody want to eat a bagful of artificial nonsense? Comparing Sweetpea to Skittles is overly insulting because Sweetpea uses real ingredients in their baked treats, not synthetically modified ones. Bleh Skittles.
24
i dont get all the anger going on here-- if you dont like skittles-- dont buy them. simple enough. dont drag others through the mud for their ability to choose to have a sugary snack once in a while. everyone is entitled to their opinion, and no one's is any better or any worse than anyone elses! you wanna eat berries instead of skittles? good for you, congrats. *insert applause here*. dont talk down to people who are simply excited about a treat most of us enjoyed in childhood being free of any animal products now. youre flinging poop at a parade for no real reason, and thats pointless. also, many things you buy come in packaging that cannot be recycled, just as skittles do, so thats something to chew on to whomever tried to sneak that weak argument in, implying that eating skittles somehow makes one less green than the next person.
25
Whether you eat skittles or not, I still find it refreshing to see companies moving towards vegan products. You don't have to eat them or support them by buying the product to still appreciate that they chose to make the move. It is one less product out there that non vegans are going to buy that now has no animal products in it.
26
I agree, Woohoo. I can understand people making the choice to not ingest certain things and I would ask for that same respect in return. I'm vegan for moral reasons. While I generally try to eat as healthfully as possible, I'm uber-excited that a non-vegan company has made a move towards eliminating the inclusion of a by-product from an incredibly cruel industry in something they sell. And how fun to get to enjoy the sugary goodness of something I enjoyed in my younger, pre-vegan days; artificial ingredients and all! Is this something I'd eat all the time? No. Does it replace or compare to fruit? Of course not! How silly. But it's a fun, infrequent treat whose purchase will also tell the parent company of Mars that there's a growing market of people who don't want to support cruelty and who enjoy a little unhealthy goodness now and again! Skittles, prepare to be in mah belly!
27
Did you know that three chipmunks die everyday as part of a mass animal testing done by Mars Corporation of which Skittles is a subsidiary? Does this make skittles vegan friendly?

NOM!
28
To the first commenter, that is so irritating... why do you people assume that vegans avoid animal products for health reasons? WE DO IT FOR THE ANIMALS. Ugh.

k, I feel better now. ;)
29
Look, to people who don't think Skittles are health food - fine. They obviously aren't. But now, everyone who eats skittles (millions of people probably) are not eating gelatin in their skittles. This is a great thing, regardless of whether less or more people will eat skittles as a result.

Also, I am a vegan and I started being vegan for health reasons. The compassion came later, lexiii.
30
I was super excited when we realized this last year, and we probably have eaten a lot of Skittles since then.

BUT...

I was just about to buy another bag, and it had gelatin! Did they reformulate back to their disgusting bone and hoof filled recipe?
31
Even without the gelatin, Skittles ARE NOT vegan. Mars candy company funds animal testing.

marscandykills.com

32
As a vegetarian and someone who has cut out gelatin, it really saddens me that such bright and innocent things hold such nasty undertones. I know that sounds naive, but that is the child in me talking. So many lovely treats with bright packaging and colours that remind me of childhood have turned out to be filled with remnants of animals, unsafe oils and have been linked in the experimentation of animals.

The funny thing is, I've got a bag of sour skittles on my desk at the moment and I was curious as to WHY there was no gelatin listed on the back and that is how I got to this thread. I'm sad to say that this is my last bag. Unless Mars changes there ways. I am still pretty uninformed about this but it just seems like too many negative things to be throwing into my body. Augh.
33
The point is that vegans CAN eat it. More options. Who cares about everything else?
34
That's great jrs85, but you're in the minority. Pick up any vegan cookbook and you'll see the word "compassion" printed about a million times. The main focus, in the circles I run in anyway, is the animals.
35
Not all people are vegan for their own health, some people are vegan because they have a guilty conscience when they eat animal products.. so for them this is really great news.
36
In making the choices that we make with regards to being vegan or vegetarian, don't most of us pride ourselves with being able to make that choice on our own and NOT be pushy towards everyone else to be exactly like us? Being pushy only steers people away from a belief or concept. I mean...if you want to come on here and criticize people who have different reasons or levels of conviction, you're just as bad as the ideals,companies, and people that you speak out against.

I personally just saw that skittles had changed today, and was thrilled. Little steps are how big steps form. Not only that, but what is wrong with something so small that someone can indulge in once in a while. I am sure that a bag of skittles is going to be soooooo detrimental to my health. But, you know, some of those posts above, some of you sound a little on edge and maybe even stressed....gosh, I'd be willing to bet that is having more of an effect on your health than a bag of skittles is on mine.
37
What about this, people? Maybe no more gelatin, but ...

Beetle Juice in Sprinkles and Candies

You know that shiny coating on candies like Skittles? Or the sprinkles on cupcakes and ice cream sundaes? Well, they get that glaze from the secretions of the female lac beetle. The substance is also known as shellac and commonly used as a wood varnish.

The whole article is here: http://webecoist.com/2009/05/08/10-weird-and-gross-ingredients-in-processed-food/
38
*points finger at everyone except michael* "HA-HAH!"

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