Is Trix Cereal Vegan?

Remember those commercials where the cartoon rabbit can’t eat Trix cereal because “Trix are for Kids”? It was so sad… I mean, naturally as a vegan, I have compassion for the Trix Rabbit because I care about animals. But that raises a question: Should vegans themselves be eating Trix?

Trix cereal is generally considered vegan. However, it does contain sugar, natural flavors, artificial colors, and vitamin D3, which are gray-area ingredients that some vegans avoid. Therefore, the most strict vegans may boycott Trix cereal.

Below I’ll explain why each of these ingredients are boycotted by some vegans—and why I personally don’t worry about them. With all this information, you can make a decision for yourself about whether to eat Trix.

What Is Trix Cereal Made Of?

Let’s start by just looking at what Trix is actually composed of. I’ve bolded in red the ingredients that some vegans find problematic:

Trix Ingredients: “Whole Grain Corn, Sugar, Rice Flour, Corn Syrup, Canola Oil, Salt, Trisodium Phosphate, Natural And Artificial Flavor, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1 And Other Color Added, Citric Acid, Malic Acid. Vitamins And Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Vitamin C (Sodium Ascorbate), Iron And Zinc (Mineral Nutrients), A B Vitamin (Niacinamide), Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine Hydrochloride), Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamin Mononitrate), Vitamin A (Palmitate), A B Vitamin (Folic Acid), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.” (source)

Now, let’s see what some vegans find objectionable about each of those:

• Sugar: Gray Area. Sugar is controversial among vegans, as non-organic cane sugar is often filtered with animal bone char to make it more white. And you can’t tell from a food label whether bone char was used or not. As a result, some vegans avoid “sugar” as an ingredient, others don’t. For me personally, I don’t worry about it.

• Natural Flavor: Gray Area. “Natural flavors” can legally include animal by-products. And we don’t know from reading the ingredients whether it actually does. So, we can’t know for sure whether “natural flavors” is vegan. That said, I have no reason to suspect that animal ingredients are used for the flavoring in Trix. I would expect fruit-based flavoring. So I’m okay with it here.

• Artificial Colors: Gray Area. Artificial colors are made synthetically from petroleum products, not animals. But they are still being tested on animals, due to some safety concerns. As a consequence, some vegans avoid them. I’ve written about each color in Trix separately: Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 1.

• Vitamin D3: Gray Area. Vitamin D3 in cereal is typically taken from lanolin, which is a grease found in sheep’s wool. So it is an animal ingredient. However, it is used in such small amounts (it’s the very last ingredient in Trix). Therefore, some vegans (like me) think it’s okay to eat. Here’s a longer explanation of how I see it.

So, do you count these ingredients as “vegan” or not? And do you count Trix as vegan? It depends how strict you want to be. Personally, I’m a bit more on the relaxed side of veganism, and I’m fine with eating Trix.

Honestly, I don’t think it does any good to boycott a cereal for very minor animal-derived ingredients. Just boycott the main animal ingredients in the world, and if you want to do more for the animals, then support a good activist organization or something.

Does Trix Cereal Have Dairy?

Trix cereal does not contain dairy. It does not have milk, lactose, butter, or any other dairy products. In fact, on my Trix box, it doesn’t even show a “traces of milk” or “may contain milk” warning. So Trix should be safe even for those with milk allergies or lactose intolerance.

More Vegan Cereals

I’ve been writing a bunch of guides about which cereals are vegan. Here are a few more that might interest you, if you like Trix:

• Froot Loops
• Frosted Flakes
• Rice Krispies
• Life Cereal
• Cheerios

Two More Recommendations for Your Plant-Based Journey

1. This is the best free video training I’ve found on plant-based nutrition. You’ll learn how to reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and obesity—all with plant-based food. Watch the free “Food for Health Masterclass” here.

2. This is the best vegan multivitamin I’ve found in my 14 years of being vegan. It has vitamin B12, vitamin D, omega-3—and nothing else. Translation: It only has the nutrients vegans are actually low in. Read my full review of Future Kind’s multivitamin here (with 10% discount).