Recently Goldenberg's Candy Co, makers of Milk Chocolatey Peanut Chews and Original Peanut Chews, and one of the few (largely) vegan (except it's made on the same equipment used for milk chocolatey peanut chews) commerical candies that are widely available in all kinds of stores that sell candy (on the US east coast), was bought out by Just Born Candy Co. The ingredients of Orignal Peanut Chews were changed and there has been some concern about the new ingredients.

I wrote them the email, below, and got the response below that:

Ive noticed you have changed the ingredients and the type of Kosher
Certification of Original Peanut Chews. Original Peanut Chews have long been
popular with vegans and vegetarians since it seemed apparent that the product had no ingredients of animal origin. Plus we were assured that they were pareve. Now I see that they may contain traces of dairy products an animal ingredient and also that they have had glycerine added to the ingredient list without specifying whether the glycerine is from animal sources vegetables sources or both. I wonder if you are going to lose both vegan and vegetarian
customers, due to the presence of glycerine and whether kosher customers are
going to lose interest due to the fact that they will no longer be able to
enjoy an Original Peanut Chew as a desert treat after a flesh meal. I suppose
that by going national you will get a lot more customers to replace the few
you lose. But I am still a bit disappointed. And for Halloween Im not sure
about handing them out.

Their response:

The Kosher certification for Original PEANUT CHEWS was changed in the early 1990's to OU-D, because they were and continue to be made on the same manufacturing line as Milk Chocolatey PEANUT CHEWS. Because of this, we decided to add the allergen statement to our packaging. The glycerine that we use in our PEANUT CHEWS candy is derived from a vegetable source. Therefore, we continue to use no animal-derived products as ingredients in Original PEANUT CHEWS.

My response to that:

Thank you for your response. Because you have assured me that the glycerine is of vegetable origin, I will continue to purchase Original Peanut Chews, and I will be handing them out to trick-or-treaters this year. I don't know how many vegans and vegetarians there are who would purchase the product if only they saw that the glycerine was labelled as vegetable glycerine but I don't see how it would hurt to add that information to the ingredient list.


I might add that I forgot to find out anything about the TBHQ preservative that has been added to the ingredient list (and obviously use in a miniscule quantity).

Thanks for posting the info, Soilman! For a few years, I could actually buy trick-or-treat size peanut chews, but it's getting harder and harder to find even the full-size ones now. :(

This year, I'm passing out Mary Janes, Cracker Jacks, and Mamba fruit chews. But I miss my peanut chews.

Never seen the Mamba Fruit Chews, or Mary Janes, or Cracker Jacks in small sizes. Hmmm.

The Original Peanut Chews are now in completely new packaging. that is why you may have missed them. http://peanutchews.com. They have been relabled as Chew-Ets Peanut Chews, with the legend "in the Goldenberg's Peanut Chew tradition" or something like that, in smaller print. Red label instead of brown and red, as you can see from the "about" link on the site. They taste the same (not all that great) but the ingredient list, as I mentioned, has been changed slightly.

They have always had chemically hydrogenated fat instead of real chocolate liquor or cocoa butter (still a very saturated fat). They seem to have way too much hydrogenated fat. I wouldn't recommend eating too many!

Yick, these are my mom's favorite, but I can't stand them :spew:

Except for Cracker Jacks, and Planters Peanut Bars, they seem to be the only vegan (or vegan except for the "produced on the same machinery as milk products) candy that mainstream candy vendors carry. Not sure how to compare the flavor with other candy bars -- haven't had one in ages.

Even Hersheys dark chocolate and bittersweet chocolate is not vegan anymore. Has dairy products in it. Only non-dairy chocolote bars are Bakers' sweetened Baking chocolate (yes you can eat them)

Mamba fruits chews -- I've read they have gelatin in them.

Those Peanut Chews -- the "chocolatey" coating does have a funny flavor to it. It is not chocolate either. It is cocoa powder (defatted chocolate) mixed with substitute fats -- why take out perfectly good cocoa butter and then add palm fat, hydrogenated cottenseed oil, instead, I don't know.

Mamba fruits chews -- I've read they have gelatin in them.

That was the original formulation. The current ingredients are:

Glucose syrup, sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil and/or sheanut oil), sorbitol humectant, food starch modified, citric acid, artificial colors: paprika, paprika oleoresin, fruit juice (contains one or more of the following: elderberry, grape, aronia), turmeric, emulsifier polysorbate, antioxidant alpha-tocopherol

They're listed as vegan on the PETA website. In response to public concerns about gelatin and mad cow disease, the [German] manufacturer reformulated the product in 2002. I wish U.S. candymakers would follow their lead. <sigh>

Very interesting KarenM. The ingredient list does sound vegan.

However I would not trust the PETA web site regarding what is vegan and what isn't. Their list of possibly animal origin ingredients was just loaded with errors. It was also too vague to be of any value in lots of places, and downright confused.

soilman, I know what you mean. Reading ingredient lists and contacting the manufacturers with questions is far better than trusting anything found on the Internet. Although, I'm still waiting for an answer from a merchant who sells Kosher foods and initially told me that I don't need to worry about their nori [being grown on mollusk shells], because "it's Kosher and vegan". I subsequently asked if they know what the nori is grown on instead of shells, to make sure we both have similar definitions of "vegan". I believe there are instances where "kosher" and "vegan" are mutually exclusive. ;)

[later]hmmm... actually, I guess something that's vegan would always be kosher, but not always vice versa!