Are Nutter Butters Vegan? Let’s Find Out

First produced in 1969, the Nutter Butter cookies have experienced massive growth in popularity and are currently a cookies brand owned by Nabisco. It is enjoyed by the majority and has been severally referred to as the best-selling peanut butter sandwich cookie in the United States. The producers, Mondelez International, claim that about 1 billion Nutter Butter cookies are consumed yearly. ^[1]
Even with the Nutter Butters’ popularity for such a significant time, until today, there are still questions that raise controversies about the ingredients used in its production. One of those questions is “Are Nutter Butters Vegan?” this question is what this article attempts to answer, and in the end, you can finally decide for yourself.

Several online articles will give you a straight-up answer to this question, but I want us to conclude for ourselves by analyzing the contents or sources of the ingredients used in making the Nutter Butter cookies. We should be able to tell why they aren’t Vegan if they are not, and why they are Vegan if they actually are. So, together let’s find out!

Nutter Butters and its Vegan-controversial Ingredients

Let’s make a vegan analysis of Nutter Butters Ingredients with relation to all varieties and flavors of the cookies. Amongst all the ingredients used in making the Nutter Butters cookies, some select few Ingredients have been an issue of concern for Vegans and others. Although opinions on these ingredients differ, we still have to highlight them. They are as follows: Palm Oil, Refined Sugar, Food Colorings, and Natural Flavorings.

• Palm Oil

Palm Oil is an important ingredient in Nutter Butters, and aside from being the first on the list of controversial vegan ingredients, Palm oil has always raised questions from mostly strict vegans. Of course, palm oil isn’t animal-derived, but it’s not considered vegan due to the destructive environmental effect it has on several animals. It’s safe to say vegans reject it as a way to protest its devastating impacts on the lives of animals and their habitats.

• Refined Sugar

One of the unavoidable ingredients in nearly all candy and cookies product is refined sugar. It is a controversial ingredient for vegans because, in the process of refining sugar, bone char is used to achieve the usual pure white color. Don’t ask, please, there are no bones in the sugar you use. Okay? Bone particles aren’t in the sugar itself, but it’s not regarded as non-vegan because of the method of production. All white sugars are processed with bone chars, and to avoid them in Nutter Butters is to avoid them in almost all cookies and candies and so many other products you can think of.

• Food Colorings

Yes, just like most cookies, Nutter Butter cookies use artificial food colorings. In my opinion, it is totally justified to have food colorings considered as a controversial vegan ingredient, because these colorings are usually tested on animals before declared as safe for our consumption. Food colorings are sporadically tested on animals, which is a health risk to them in a situation where the coloring is poisonous or harmful.

• Natural Flavorings

Another controversial ingredient is the artificial and natural flavorings used in the production of Nutter Butter cookies. Flavorings are used in making virtually all cookies, candies, and some baked products, but flavorings are from both plants and animals. The flavorings used in most candies are categorically from plants. The source of natural flavors (either animal-origin or plant-origin) used in the production of Nutter Butters isn’t exactly known. Perhaps, that’s the concern of the vegan community.

After looking at these ingredients listed, you’d understand that the Nutter Butter ingredients are vegan-controversial not just for their sources, but majorly for their indirect impact on animals and the environment. Indirect impact – this is why Nutter Butter and vegan talks continue to raise arguments.

Now that we understand why those four particular ingredients are controversial, let’s categorically examine the ingredients of Nutter Butter varieties, and see which ones contain those controversial ingredients.

Traditional Nutter Butter

Ingredients: Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Salt, Peanut Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Cottonseed and/or Hydrogenated Rapeseed and/or Soybean Oils), Unbleached Flour (Niacin, Wheat Flour, Reduced Iron, Riboflavin Vitamin B2, Vitamin B1, Folic Acid), Sugar, Canola Oil, Whole Grain Wheat Flour, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Palm Oil, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Cornstarch, Leavening (Calcium Phosphate and/or Baking Soda), and Artificial Flavor and Coloring.

Fudge Covered Nutter Butter

Ingredients: Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Salt, Peanut Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Cottonseed and/or Hydrogenated Rapeseed and/or Soybean Oils), Unbleached Flour (Niacin, Wheat Flour, Reduced Iron, Riboflavin Vitamin B2, Vitamin B1, Folic Acid), Sugar, Palm Oil, Whole Grain Wheat Flour, High Fructose, Cocoa (processed with Alkali), Cocoa, Nonfat Milk, Salt, Cornstarch, Soy Lecithin, Leavening (Calcium Phosphate and/or Baking Soda), Natural Flavoring and Artificial Coloring.

Nutter Butter Bites

Ingredients: Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Salt, Peanut Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Cottonseed and/or Hydrogenated Rapeseed and/or Soybean Oils), Unbleached Flour (Niacin, Wheat Flour, Reduced Iron, Riboflavin Vitamin B2, Vitamin B1, Folic Acid), Leavening (Calcium Phosphate and/or Baking Soda), Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Palm Oil, Canola Oil, Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Soy Lecithin, Cornstarch, Salt, and Artificial Flavor and Coloring.

Nutter Butter Creme Patties

Ingredients: Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Salt, Peanut Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Cottonseed and/or Hydrogenated Rapeseed and/or Soybean Oils), Unbleached Flour (Niacin, Wheat Flour, Reduced Iron, Riboflavin Vitamin B2, Vitamin B1, Folic Acid), Dextrose, Sugar, Soy Lecithin (Emulsifier), Palm Oil, Salt, Cornstarch, Baking Soda.

Nutter Butter Cereals

Ingredients: Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Salt, Peanut Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Cottonseed and/or Hydrogenated Rapeseed and/or Soybean Oils), Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Sugar, Dextrose, Canola Oil, Calcium Carbonate, Salt, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Red 40, Blue 1, Niacinamide (Vitamin B), Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Zinc Oxide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Calcium Pantothenate, and Folic Acid.

Clearly, all Nutter butter products contain at least two controversial vegan ingredients.

Basically, an animal-based ingredient is what sets vegan products and non-vegan products apart, and with what we’ve seen here, Nutter Butters ingredients, however controversial, aren’t directly retrieved from animals. Therefore, avoiding Nutter Butters because of these ingredients would mean avoiding almost all cookies, candies, and baked products, as they contain these controversial ingredients.

Thanks for your time!