Altoids were my favorite mint behind Tic Tacs, but much like them they are and in this case somewhat shockingly to me, not vegan.
Original Peppermint Altoids are not vegan because they contain Gelatin, an animal product made from boiling animal bones. Gelatin is also often found in many other products, such as marshmallows or gummy worms as well.
The full ingredients on Altoids are: Sugar, Gum Arabic, Oil of Peppermint, Gelatin, and Corn Syrup.
What About The Other Types of Altoids?
Unlike Original Altoids, Sugar-Free Altoids do NOT contain Gelatin or any other Animal products. There are many flavors of Altoids and while all of the original sugared ones contain gelatin non-sugared Altoids are in fact vegan as they do not contain any gelatin or other animal products in them.
Sugar-Free Altoids are vegan, this includes wintermint, peppermint, and cinnamon flavor.
It’s hard to find Sugar-free Altoids as when researching this I noticed they weren’t sold in any stores near me. Your mileage may vary, but the only place that generally always has them is Walgreens. If there’s not a Walgreens near you or you don’t want to go I’d just order some off Amazon (check price) as while they only come somewhat in bulk they don’t seem more expensive per-each.
I want sugared mints, not sugar-free mints!
The only mints I’ve tried and found that are vegan that are sugared are newman’s own mints, and while truthfully I don’t like many of Newman’s products this one I do. I’ve never found them in stores though, so I always buy them off Amazon. You can check them out by clicking here. They’re my favorite mints and aren’t much more expensive than the sugar-free Altoids so I’m going to stick to them when I want some mints.
Newman’s Own Mints full list of ingredients are quite simple which I like: Organic Sugar, Organic corn syrup solids, natural peppermint flavor.
