The beloved jelly bean has been turned 100 per cent plant-based by confectioner Allen’s – and vegans are jumping for joy as they can eat the sweet treat for the first time.
The confectionery giant has removed carmine from the jelly bean recipe, and those following plant-based diets couldn’t be happier.
Carmine – also known as cochineal – is a food colouring that comes from the drying, crushing and boiling cochineal beetles.
While the beetles are red and orange, the ingredient can be used to dye any colour.
The change is being rolled out from the middle of this month, and customers are being told to keep an eye out for a green tab with “vegan-friendly” written on the packet.
“Our fan favourite Allen’s jelly beans are now accessible for vegan lolly lovers,” an Allen’s spokesperson told news.com.au.
“The Allen’s lolly experts have made this possible with plant based colouring agents derived from beetroot and paprika.
“The transition to Allen’s vegan-friendly jelly beans will take place nationwide across grocery and convenience stores from mid-November, so look out for the ‘vegan-friendly’ labelling on [the] pack.”
Social media users were over the moon after the information was posted on the Fussy Vegan Facebook page.
“It is great to see Nestle realise that by simply swapping the carmine for a vegan-friendly colouring, they can market a new product to the vegan community,” a post on the page said. “Hopefully we will start to see more and more products where carmine is the only barrier to the product being vegan becoming vegan-friendly in the future.”
One fan said: “I love that they’ve changed their old recipe! As much as I love new products, I’d love to see more of this where existing products are made vegetarian or vegan-friendly by simply changing one small ingredient. Go Allen’s!”
Another added: “I’ll have 2863 packets as my Christmas present please, and thank you!”
“Oh I have missed jelly beans so much! I’ll be hunting these down,” a third said.
