Sour Patch Kids are the reverse of most gummy sweets. With Haribo, Starburst and Skittles Gummies, the North American pack is the one with gelatin. With Sour Patch Kids it is the other way round: the US pack has none, and it is the UK and European packs that list gelatine. Our database holds 67 Sour Patch Kids products. Fifty-one pass our halal check, 16 stay open, and none fails on a named haram ingredient.
The US pack: starch, not gelatin
The US Original Sour Patch Kids list sugar, invert sugar, corn syrup, modified corn starch, tartaric acid, citric acid, natural and artificial flavoring, and colours (Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1). The chew comes from starch, not gelatin. There is no animal ingredient on the list, and the pack passes. The same list, give or take a colour, covers Watermelon, Blue Raspberry, Grape, Extreme, Big Kids and the seasonal Bunnies and Hearts. Forty-plus of the 51 passes are US packs of this kind.
The line that stays open on the vegan side is "natural and artificial flavoring" with no source. For the halal check, that phrase on a sugar-and-starch sweet passes; for the vegan check, it leaves 54 records open, because no US pack in our data carries a vegan mark.
The UK and European packs: gelatine
The UK Sour Patch Kids pack lists sugar, glucose syrup, water, starch, gelatine, malic acid, concentrated apple juice, plant colours (anthocyanins, vegetable carbon, paprika extract, lutein, curcumin), acidity regulator and flavouring. The Fruit Mix, the Cola and the Kids Sweets Bag are the same recipe. Gelatine is the fifth ingredient, the pack does not say pork or beef, and no European pack in our data carries a halal mark. Eight records stay open on gelatine alone. For the vegan check those eight are a straight no.
Then there is the exception. The UK Sour Patch Kids Watermelon record carries The Vegan Society mark, and a second Watermelon record carries a vegan label. Those two are starch-based and pass the vegan check. So the UK range is split by flavour: the standard mix uses gelatine, the Watermelon does not. That is the pack to look for if you want a UK Sour Patch without gelatine.
One UK Strawberry record lists sugar, invert sugar syrup, glucose syrup, starch, acids, plant colours and flavouring, carries a vegetarian mark, and passes the halal check.
The other open packs
- Sour Patch Kids Jelly Beans: sugar, corn syrup, starches, citric acid, flavours and confectioner's glaze. The glaze is shellac, an insect-derived coating that certifiers disagree on. Open for halal, a fail for vegan (the same record also lists beeswax).
- Trident Vibes Sour Patch Kids gum: lists gelatin. A chewing gum, not a sweet, but it comes up in the same search.
- A Yoplait Sour Patch Kids yogurt: milk, gelatin and vitamin D3. Off-topic for most people asking, and a no on both checks.
- Five records whose ingredient list is in French or Turkish, which our check does not fully read, and one poorly scanned pack.
US vs UK at a glance
| Pack | Gel | Flavouring | Mark on pack | Halal | Vegan |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original, US | modified corn starch | natural and artificial, no source | none | yes | not sure |
| Watermelon, US | modified corn starch | natural and artificial | none | yes | not sure |
| Standard mix, UK / EU | gelatine | flavouring | none | not sure | no |
| Watermelon, UK | starch | flavouring | Vegan Society | not sure (halal) | yes |
| Strawberry, UK | starch | flavouring | vegetarian | yes | not sure |
| Jelly Beans, US | starch | natural and artificial | none | not sure (glaze) | no (beeswax, shellac) |
Note the UK Watermelon row. It passes vegan on the mark but comes back "not sure" on halal, because a vegan mark is not a halal certification and the flavouring line has no source. In practice a Vegan Society mark settles the animal question; our check simply does not convert one certification into another.
How to check a pack in the shop
- Find the fifth or sixth ingredient. "Modified corn starch" is the US recipe. "Gelatine" is the European one.
- On a UK pack, look for the Vegan Society mark. In our data only the Watermelon carries it.
- Jelly beans: look for confectioner's glaze or shellac.
- The flavour name tells you nothing about gelatine. Watermelon is gelatine-free in both markets; Fruit Mix is gelatine-free in the US and not in the UK.
Every Sour Patch Kids product in our database has its own page with the ingredient list and the halal, vegan and other verdicts side by side, and the Sour Patch Kids halal list shows the passes. For the same question across the sweet aisle, see the halal candy list, and for the opposite pattern on another brand, Are Skittles halal?.
FAQ
Do Sour Patch Kids have gelatin?
The US packs do not; the chew comes from modified corn starch. The standard UK and European packs list gelatine. The UK Watermelon does not.
Are Sour Patch Kids halal in the US?
The US packs list no animal ingredient and pass our check. They carry no halal certification mark in our data.
Are Sour Patch Kids vegan?
The US packs contain no animal ingredient but list "natural and artificial flavoring" with no source and carry no vegan mark, so our check returns "not sure". The UK Watermelon carries The Vegan Society mark and passes. The standard UK mix contains gelatine and fails.
Are Sour Patch Kids halal in the UK?
The standard UK mix lists gelatine of unstated origin and stays open. The Strawberry pack passes on its list. None of the UK packs in our data carry a halal mark.