Is Folgers Coffee Vegan?

Folgers sells two very different kinds of products under the same brand name. The straightforward coffees, Classic Roast ground, Dark Roast ground, 1850 ground, and classic instant crystals, list only roasted coffee (and sometimes natural flavor) as ingredients.

These are vegan. The Cappuccino French Vanilla Instant Coffee Beverage Mix and similar cappuccino-style blends include a powdered "non-dairy creamer" that is not actually dairy-free: it contains sodium caseinate (a milk protein), plus modified whey and dry sweet whey listed separately.

These products are not vegan. M.

Smucker Co. (Folgers' parent company) does not coat its coffee beans with shellac, eliminating that concern for the plain coffees.

There is no evidence of bone char use in coffee processing itself (bone char is a sugar refining issue, not a coffee roasting one). Strict ethical vegans sometimes raise concerns about conventional agriculture practices in coffee sourcing, but that is a philosophical question, not an ingredient question.

Bottom line: check the product name. If it says "cappuccino," "latte," or "beverage mix," read the label carefully, dairy is almost certainly present.