Is Cinnamon Toast Crunch Vegan? Stay away

Most of us know about Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but is it actually vegan?

Cinnamon Toast Crunch is not vegan as it contains vitamin D3, which is derived from animal products. It also contains both palm oil and natural flavor, which is not always a vegan ingredient. So vegans cannot eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

The same is true for most of their different flavors. These either have non-vegan or questionable ingredients, meaning vegans should avoid these.

Is Cinnamon Toast Crunch Vegan

There are many conflicting sources, all saying something different. Some says it’s not vegan due to its dairy content, others blame the vitamin D3. All this confusion makes it essential to have a look at the actual ingredients, from the official website.

The ingredients in Cinnamon Toast Crunch suggests that it’s free from dairy, but it contains vitamin D3, which is derived from animals. So the short answer is that, Cinnamon Toast is not vegan as it contains vitamin D3, which most likely has animal remnants.

Now, the truth is that not all vitamin D3 is derived from animals. This essential vitamin, when added to products, usually comes from either of these two sources. Sheep’s wool, is the non-vegan D3, and it’s the most typical. The vegan kind is derived from lichen.

It’s impossible to say with a 100% certainty whether or not the D3 is vegan. Although, we can assume that Cinnamon Toast Crunch would have a vegan label, if they used vegan D3.

Cinnamon Toast Ingredients

Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, Rice Flour, Canola Oil, Fructose, Maltodextrin, Dextrose, Salt, Cinnamon, Trisodium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Caramel Color. BHT Added to Preserve Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate), Iron and Zinc (mineral nutrients), A B Vitamin (niacinamide), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), Vitamin B1 (thiamin mononitrate), Vitamin A (palmitate), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), A B Vitamin (folic acid), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Official Website

Vitamin D3 is not vegan

Vitamin D3 may sound good and healthy, but it is not vegan. At least not the kind found in products like Cinnamon Toast Crunch. This sort of vitamin D3 is derived from animal products, making it not vegan.

This also means that none of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch products, that contain D3, are vegan. So stay clear of any foods with this ingredient listed. The same is true, when asking are donuts vegan. Some of them are, while others are not, and D3 is an ingredient you should avoid.

Vegan Cinnamon Toast Crunch

You may know the regular Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavor. The classic version that almost everybody have tasted, or at least heard of. However, there are actually quite a few versions of the popular cereal. They were introduced quite recently, so you may not have seen them yet.

So what about all the other Cinnamon Toast Crunch flavors, are they vegan? The following list contains all the different flavors.

• Apple Cinnamon Toast Crunch
• Strawberry Toast Crunch
• Blueberry Toast Crunch
• French Toast Crunch
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch

All of these flavors contain problematic ingredients such as natural flavor, sugar and palm oil. By now, you may be thinking is natural flavor not vegan? Sadly this is an umbrella label, used to describe many different ingredients including animal products.

Sugar can be vegan, like natural flavor can. However, most vegans tend to avoid palm oil, as it is very bad for the environment. All in all, I would not recommend any of the Cinnamon Toast Crunch products. It’s safe to say that some of their products are not at all vegan, while others may or may not be.

This is fairly normal with most foods. It can even be hard to find vegan graham crackers, if you don’t already know which brands to go for. There are simply so many problematic ingredients, which can also be found in Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Is Cinnamon Toast Crunch Vegetarian?

Whereas the question as to whether Cinnamon Toast Crunch was “vegan” or not was largely technical, answering whether or not it is vegetarian is largely based on what you consider a vegetarian to be.

For those that follow a near vegan lifestyle, by which foods made in butters, animal fats, or the like are unacceptable, then, like before, Cinnamon Toast Crunch may lean a bit more in the “No” category than the “Yes”.

For the vast majority of vegetarians (those that do not eat flesh or consume food that is directly tied to an animal), there is good news all around. CTC can, in fact, be eaten without stress or worry.

Does Cinnamon Toast Crunch Have Dairy?

Now, this is the million-dollar question that needs answering.

There are a number of different factors to consider when coming to a definitive conclusion here.

First, we must consider what the ingredients list itself says. As shown earlier, Cinnamon Toast Crunch is entirely dairy-free in its creation. Not only that, but General Mills themselves have come out to say that it does not have any milk included.

Is Cinnamon Toast Crunch Healthy?

Cinnamon Toast Crunch has, in only 1 serving of the cereal (roughly 41 grams or 1 cup), over 12 grams of sugar. That’s over 25% of its contents. Not only that, but none of the sugar types are actually all that natural. They have: Sugar, Fructose, Maltodextrin, and Dextrose included.

Without a doubt, it is a very real sugar bomb that likely has played a very real part in much of the childhood obesity epidemic in America today. Of cause, foods like a vegan brownie mix is also unhealthy, but at least that’s not something you eat for breakfast.

Vegan Cinnamon Toast Crunch Alternatives

Ok, so Cinnamon Toast isn’t all that vegan or healthy. What now? As bad as it may be overall, that doesn’t take away the fact that it’s a great tasting cereal and one that many of us (myself included) grew up with. And while, if you’re not a vegan, you may be able to get away with a bowl or two here or there, for the rest of us, we’re kind of trapped between a rock and a hard place.

Luckily there is an option for the fellow vegan out there.

Cascadian Farms has an awesome alternative that is both entirely vegan, but healthy and organic as well. It has less sugar per serving than the standard Cinnamon Toast Crunch and its sugars are fewer and come from organic sources. And as for the million-dollar question, it is entirely vegan and vegetarian-friendly, without even trace amounts of animal byproducts involved in it. I have also made a list of the best vegan popcorn, which you can read here.

Conclusion

So there you have it. While our classic cereal may not have turned out to be as great as we remember, there are alternatives and other options available that are just as good and considerably better.

And while certainly no cereal should be eaten as a sole source of breakfast, finding a tasty vegan alternative every now and again is certainly worth the occasional inclusion.