Are Gardettos Vegan?
No! That might be a question that comes up for you considering these classic American snacks are crunchy, salty, and every bit satisfying. And while it may seem like these traditional snacks are vegan (see ingredient list below), the natural flavor in the Worcestershire sauce comes from anchovies and is therefore not vegan or 100% plant-based.
Non-Vegan Gardetto Flavors
Gardettos Garlic Rye Chips (just the chips – the most requested part of the snack mix!)
Gardettos Reduced Fat Original
Italian Cheese Blend
So, of the 5 Gardettos varieties, non are vegan! That’s pretty disappointing and makes me hope that a vegan version without anchovies comes on the market soon.
EDIT: The original post included that some Gardettos were vegan – thanks to those who pointed out this huge error – our apologies.
They contain Worcestershire sauce, which has anchovies. That means it isn’t vegan.
The company maintains that they use a vegan Worcestershire sauce, and thus it doesn’t contain anchovies. Other vegan websites have reached out to Gardetto’s and have been told the product does not contain any fish or dairy products.
2019 reply from a reddit page:
https://www.reddit.com/r/vegan/comments/cu7ksu/gardettos_are_not_vegan/
it does look like they asked corporate… sadly not vegan. The worchestershire sauce has anchovies. 🙁
Ahhh – interesting – thanks for passing along – will update the post now!
I’m pretty sure they are actually, as there is no warning for fish (which is one of the 8 allergens the FDA requires to be listed, even if it is only used under natural flavors), and another article stated that they reached out to General Mills as well and got the opposite response from this reddit post:
“Because there’s a little controversy over this that I’ve seen online I’d like to address it specifically.
The Worcestershire Sauce in Gardetto’s is Vegan.
I say this confidently because I not only reached out to them, but on their package it’s very clear that it does not contain anchovies, the potential non-vegan ingredient in some Worcestershire Sauces.”
(via https://crueltyfreereviews.com/articles/are-gardettos-vegan/)
Super helpful – Thanks for that info Nick!