I’ve never actually had mike and Ike’s before and never have been offered any till today. I declined, not knowing anything about them and not feeling like dirtying my teeth for a bite of candy. But that event made made me think of this candy, that I’ve never had and never really see or hear of, and whether or not it’s even vegan.
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Looks like I’ll probably never learn how the original Mike and Ike’s are though, as Mike and Ike’s are not vegan. This is because they contain Confectioners Glaze, which contains shellac, a non-vegan ingredient that’s made from beetles.
The full list of ingredients in original Mike and Ike’s are: Sugar, corn syrup, modified food starch, fruit juice from concentrate, and also contains less than 2% of Citric Acid, Malic Acid, Fumaric Acid, Sodium Citrate, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Dextrin, Confectioners Glaze, Carnauba Wax, Medium Chain Triglycerides, Red #40, Yellow #5, Yellow #6, and Blue #1.
What about other Mike and Ikes?
Other flavors of Mike and Ike’s unfortunately also contain Confectioners Glaze, which is made partially from shellac, which comes from beetles.
As far as I could find there are no vegan mike and Ike’s out there as they all contain Confectioners Glaze.
While it’s not a perfect solution, to me I treat tic tacs like candy, so if you’d like to try doing the same check out the vegan flavours of tic tacs by clicking here, just be careful not to eat too many.