Nestle Sweet Tarts

[Robin]

Nestle Sweet Tarts are listed as vegan on the vegan candy list, and before I discovered the list I called Nestle to ask if they contained any animal byproducts and they said no. So today I bought a box from a friend who was selling candy as part of a school fundraiser and, out of habit, read the ingredients and noticed magnesium stearate. (I have eated Sweet Tarts in the past and am pretty sure magn. stearate was not listed as an ingredient...) I have called companies about OTC drugs to inquire about animal ingredients and I have been told a couple different times that, no, a product is not vegan because the ingredient magn. stearate is animal derived. Is it always animal source or can it sometimes be synthetic &/or plant-based? Maybe Nestle changed their ingredients since I have not seen it there before?? *CONFUSED!*

[Erin Pavlina]

Are you talking about the sweet tarts with chocolate or the sweet tarts that are sour hard candy?

Stearate can be animal or plant derived. I would guess that mag stearate can be both as well, though I am not sure.

The only way to know is to ask the company and make sure you get a qualified person answering the question. It can take some doing to find the person who has accurate answers. But keep trying.