Takis - originally known as Taquis - is a spicy chip inspired Mexican taquitos, both in flavor and shape. They were originally launched and are still produced by the Mexican snack company Barcel. Takis are also a snack favorite in both the US and Mexico.
These unique, roll-shaped tortilla snacks come in a range of different flavors, each spicier than the next. And if you’ve ever had one you know exactly how addictive these spicy chips can be.
Now, all Takis are made following the same corn-based recipe, which is vegan by default.
According to Barcel, the base is similar to a regular tortilla recipe with corn, oil, seasoning, coloring, and preservatives which is really nothing out of the ordinary.
If you take a closer look at the ingredients of the classic Takis Fuego provided by Barcel, you’ll see that they do not contain any animal derived ingredients.
Takis Fuego Ingredients:
Corn Masa Flour (Processed with Lime) Vegetable Oil (Palm and/or Soybean and/or Canola Oil and/or Rice Bran Oil), Seasoning [Salt, Maltodextrin, Citric Acid, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Onion Powder, Yeast Extract, Artificial Color (Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake) Natural and Artificial Flavors, Baking Soda, Soybean Oil, Chili Pepper (Chile), Disodium Guanylate, TBHQ (Antioxidant)]
Looks pretty straightforward, no animal ingredients right? Right.
But you may have noticed the artificial colors Red 40 Lake and Yellow 6 Lake listed. Besides being completely terrible for your health, these food dyes are routinely tested on animals like beagles, mice, and rats through cruel and unnecessary experiments.
As you can see, the Takis Fuego are vegan in the sense that they don't contain any animal products but they do contain artificial colors that are tested on animals.
To read more about Red 40 and why this ingredient is so controversial, check out our post Is Red 40 Vegan?
Now, it's personally up to each and every one of us to decide for ourselves what are limits are.
Being vegan is not about being perfect but about eliminating as much animal suffering as possible. Personally, we aren't comfortable with Takis ingredients but it is your choice whether you want to continue eating them or not.
With that said, there are several Takis flavors that do not contain animal derivatives that we we will get to in just a second. But beware, not all Takis are vegan. In fact, many versions of their chips aren't even vegetarian!
You see, much of the flavoring used in Takis is not vegan, and depending on the flavor it may contain everything from whey and milk powder to chicken fat and egg.
Non-Vegan Ingredient to Look Out For:
- Whey (Milk)
- Sodium Caseinate (Milk)
- Natural and Artificial Colors (Milk and Egg)
- Cheese
As you can see, most of the ingredients are derived from dairy. Note that this list is not exhaustive. But to help you avoid having to reading labels in search of non-vegan ingredients, we’ve listed all of the Takis flavors that do not contain animal ingredients as well as the flavors that do below.
