Are Cliff Bars (etc.) Vegan?!
I did not buy any prodcuts that included that warning because I was not sure what to do, but it sure seems like if those kind of products are allowed, I would have a much wider range of choices. Can someone please help me?
Answers:
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First, some of them contain honey for a sweatner. So no those would not be Vegan. And depending on how strict you are as a Vegan the bars are made in a plant on the same machinary that makes not vegan food. The machines are cleaned (mainly because they would get into trouble with the FDA if they did not). And finally they are a processed food.
Really I would make them myself from oats and peanut butter (I genearlly like to eat a preparied breakfast not fast food). It is farly easy to do and you can find many recipes for them.
If you are full Vegan, I'd say maybe not, since they have traces. Yes, I think it's a personal preference. If your OK with taking the chance, then it's your choice. My best friend is Vegan, she eats them all the time... =) Hope this helps!
The website is oddly contradictory. In the "facts" one questions is "Are the bars vegan friendly?" and the answer the website gives is... "All CLIF Bar products are made from ingredients that do not come from animals except most Mojo and CLIF CRUNCH flavors (contains organic honey), CLIF SHOT ROKS and Luna Protein (contains whey)." However, a question slightly lower reads "Do any of your products contain dairy?" and the answer is ... "LUNA Protein and CLIF SHOT ROKS contain whey. While all other CLIF Bar products do not contain dairy as an active ingredient, in the making of our food there may be trace amounts of dairy in other bars. As with any food allergy or intolerance, it is best to check with your doctor."(1) Therefore if the bars potentially contain dairy, they are not vegan, it does not matter that the dairy in not an active ingredient.
In my opinion they are not vegan if they have the potential to contain dairy, it does not matter if the equipment contaminated them or it was put into the bar in small amounts. I'm not sure why the company would think that a product that potentially contains milk is vegan is beyond me.
I buy Clif bars and I love them. The company has to put that statement on their product for people who have SEVERE allergies. They do actually clean the equipment. I'm vegan for the health benefits and because I'm against animal exploitation. What's important to me is that the product is vegan. No vegan can ever be 100% vegan. There are just too many things out of our hands like biofuel, tires, glue used to build your home or furniture, etc. So while I don't TRY to eat non-vegan food, if I unknowingly ate traces of milk in a product put their by the machine, I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Even though I buy Clif bars a lot, I always read the ingredients every time before I buy it. I've never personally seen honey in the ingredients but since I had once tried all the bars before, it could just be that the few favorites I buy are the ones with no honey. I'll have to look for that again. I think you should go ahead and buy them. Just double check the ingredients.
Vegan