Are Charms Blow Pops Vegan? Plus More Blow Pops FAQs

According to Wikipedia, “Charms Blow Pops are lollipops with bubble gum centers surrounded by a hard candy shell. The candy was popularized by The Charms Company and became their best-selling product of all time. In 1988, the Charms Candy Company was sold to the Tootsie Roll Company. With the addition of Blow Pops to their product line which included Tootsie Rolls, the Tootsie Roll Company became the largest lollipop manufacturer in the world.” As one of the largest lollipop products in the world, we wanted to know “Are Charms Blow Pops Vegan?”

A full vegan-friendly analysis of each Charms product can be found in the following sections.

Controversial Vegan Ingredients

Before we start our vegan analysis, we would like to make note of the controversial ingredients that are assumed to be vegan in this analysis. Even though we consider them to be vegan, we will still highlight these ingredients if they appear in any posted ingredient lists. These controversial ingredients include:

Sugar

In almost all candy products, one of the first few ingredients is Sugar. Sugar is a controversial product in the vegan community because refined cane sugar is processed with bone char to achieve the pure white color. The sugar itself does not contain any bone char particles, but is not vegan due to the processing methods used. Since the type of sugar is typically not stated, it is assumed to be vegan in this analysis. If you choose to avoid non-vegan sugars than all of the products in this analysis should be avoided. A full rundown on if sugar is vegan can be found in our article titled “Is Your Sugar Vegan? Lets Find Out!“

Palm Oil and Palm Fat

Palm oil is a controversial vegan ingredient not because it is animal-derived, but because the cultivation of palm oil has devastating environmental impacts and harms many animals. You can learn more about palm oil in our article titled “Is Palm Oil Vegan?“

Natural and Artificial Flavorings

Natural flavors can come from both animal or plant sources, but the natural flavors in candies are typically from plant sources. Those natural flavors from animal-origin will be highlighted if known.

Colors

Some food colors are controversial in the vegan community. This is because food colors are often tested on animals. In this article we assume all food colors are vegan, unless the color itself is from an animal or insect origin (e.g. Carmine).

Charms Blow Pops

Charms Blow Pops Ingredients

Sugar, Corn Syrup, Gum Base, Citric Acid, Starch, Artificial Flavors, Glycerin, Artificial Colors (including FD&C Red 40, FD&C Blue 1), Turmeric Coloring, BHT added as a preservative. [Source]

Are Charms Blow Pops Vegan?

Peta has no less than three articles [1, 2, 3] that state that Charms Blow Pops are vegan-friendly. Based on the ingredients provided on Charm’s website, we have to agree. The only ingredients listed in the Charms Blow Pops that may give vegans some concern are the controversial ingredients, Glycerin and Gum Base. Both Glycerin and Gum Base can come from plant or animal sources, but it can be difficult to identify their exact source. However, glycerin is typically derived from plant sources when used in candies. Since Peta endorses them, we believe it is safe to say that Charms Blow Pops are vegan!

However, Charm’s does state on their website that “milk or soy may be present” in their Blow Pops so if you have an allergy to milk or soy, it would be best to avoid Blow Pops.

Are Other Charms Candies Vegan?

Lucky for us, all of the other candies produced by Charms have virtually the same ingredients as their Blow Pops. Therefore, all Charms candies are vegan-friendly! The following list is all of the Charms products we verified to be suitable for vegans.

The cousin candy to Charms Blow Pops, Tootsie Pops, are not vegan-friendly.

Additional Charms Pops FAQs

Are Blow Pops Gluten Free?

According to Charms website, all of their products are gluten-free including their Blow Pops.

Are Blow Pops Kosher?

According to Charms website, all of their products are Kosher-dairy including their Blow Pops.

Are Blow Pops Dairy Free?

Based on the ingredients from the Charms website, none of the Charms products contain dairy. However, some of their products are processed on the same equipment as diary containing products so cross contamination could occur. Therefore Blow Pops ingredients are dairy free, but some milk may be present in the product.

Are Blow Pops Peanut Free?

According to Charms website, all of their products are tree nut and peanut free including their Blow Pops.

Summary

Based on our analysis, all of the Charms products (including Blow Pops) are vegan-friendly. If you liked this article, you can read about other vegan snack options here.