March 28, 2024

Is Emergen-C Vegan?

Answer: some products are NOT vegan, others are.

We received a question earlier asking if Emergen-C was vegan. The individual was concerned about the ingredient cysteine hydrochloride. According to the Emergen-C FAQ, that ingredient is NOT derived from animals. But others are. Here is the breakdown:

Which of your products contain animal derivatives?

Joint Health* contains chondroitin, which is bovine-derived. Joint Health* is shell-fish free.

Pink Lemonade and Immune Defense* contain honey.

Vitamin D & Calcium, all Multi-vitamin products (Cherry-Pomegranate and Apricot-Mango), and our Immune+ System Support* with vitamin D products (Citrus and Blueberry-Acai) contain vitamin D3, which is derived from lanolin, which is from wool.

There you have it. Some are vegan, some are not. But the cysteine hydrochloride does not appear to be animal derived.

10 thoughts on “Is Emergen-C Vegan?

  1. Thank you for investigating this, but I’m still quite confused.

    The sub-products / flavors you have listed, are they the exact names on the boxes we see in stores? Should those names be written in quotation marks? Because even though I have a box right in front of me, I can’t make sense of what you’ve described. Is Vitamin D the problem? Is the ingredient labeled “calcium” on any box / flavor the problem? I have no idea how many varieties of Emergen-C are out there or what they’re called, so what you have listed is extremely unclear to me.

    I want to use one that’s a Vitamin C supplement, but it contains other vitamins and nutrients as well. It’s called “Emergen-C 1,000 MG Vitamin C Dietary Supplement, Super Orange.” Based on what you’ve written, I honestly can’t tell if it’s vegan. Could you please clarify what you wrote?

    1. Hi Fran!

      You can see all the varieties Emergen-C offers on their website: http://www.emergenc.com/products

      The information posted in this article comes from the FAQ page on Emergen-C’s website. What it’s saying is the following (links go to pictures of the packages for the varieties in question so you know what to look out for):

      Joint Health* Tangerine contains chondroitin, which is bovine-derived
      http://www.emergenc.com/sites/www.emergenc.com/files/EmergenC_SpecialtyFormula_JointHealth-Tangerine_packet_0.png

      Pink Lemonade contains honey.
      http://www.emergenc.com/sites/www.emergenc.com/files/EmergenC_OriginalFormula_Pink-PinkLemonade_packet_0.png

      Vitamin D & Calcium and our Immune+ products (Citrus and Blueberry-Acai) contain vitamin D3, which is derived from lanolin, which is from wool.
      http://www.emergenc.com/sites/www.emergenc.com/files/EmergenC_SpecialtyFormula_VitaminDCalcium-MixedBerry_packet_0.png
      http://www.emergenc.com/sites/www.emergenc.com/files/EmergenC_ImmunePlusFormula_BlueberryAcai_packet_0.png
      http://www.emergenc.com/sites/www.emergenc.com/files/EmergenC_ImmunePlusFormula_Citrus_packet_0.png

      It also says that “all Multi-vitamin products (Cherry-Pomegranate and Apricot-Mango)” also contain D3, but I couldn’t find those flavors listed on their website. Basically, you want to avoid the Joint Health, Immune+, Pink Lemonade, and Vitamin D & Calcium types, and just double check the label to be sure it doesn’t contain vitamin D (the only non-vegan ingredient they say that they use).

      1. Thank you so much for the clarification. That’s very helpful! I looked at my existing package and can see no vitamin D3, so I think it’s vegan. Yay, I can still take the vitamin C supplement when I have a cold! What a relief!

          1. I could not find any powder packs that contained gelatin, not even the gummie chew. BUT the chewable contains gelatin from fish. Avoid this one.

  2. I think there’s also #PalmOil which is killing many species, people & our planet! I’d rather be deficient

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