Is Chex Cereal Vegan?
For the most part, Chex cereal is made with natural, plant-based ingredients — a reasonably healthy breakfast fortified with tons of vitamins and minerals. However, believe it or not, it is within these vitamins that you’ll likely find animal-derived ingredients.
Although most of them are likely extracted from plants, vitamin D3 is most commonly extracted from lanolin (sheep wool grease… yum?). Although it can be found in vegan form when derived from lichen, this method is less popular and not as cost-effective, which means a mainstream cereal brand like Chex (that does not market itself as ‘vegan’) is most likely using the animal-based version.
Another issue with Chex cereal, which may or may not keep vegans from purchasing brands like this one, is the fact that it contains sugar. Although it’s uncertain where exactly Chex’s sugar comes from, or whether this information applies to this specific product, refined sugar is sometimes (especially in the U.S.) filtered with bone char. This does not mean there are fragments of animal bone in your sugar, although it would mean animals were exploited for the production of this ingredient.
For more info on questionable ingredients found in your breakfast cereal, you’ll want to check out this article. Thank you for researching what goes into your food, and for keeping our animal friends in mind!
