Skinny Pop Microwave Popcorn Just Stopped Being Vegan

Here’s the skinny on this disappointing fact!

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Just as vegans were rejoicing that the latest Nutella flavor, Nutella Peanut, turned out to be an entirely plant-based product, they also got some bad news about Skinny Pop’s microwave popcorn. Here’s what you need to know.

Skinny Pop’s Microwave Butter Popcorn Now Contains Milk Products

Skinny Pop recently released a revamped version of their butter-flavored microwave popcorn that they describe as having a “flavorful NEW recipe.” Unfortunately, Instagram user Makeitallergyfree spotted that part of that new recipe was milk, rendering it non-vegan and making it risky eating for anyone with a dairy allergy.

That Instagram post is full of commenters showing their frustration with the change, ranging from “My kiddo eats this everyday! She is going to be sooo sad!” to “NOOO WHY 🙁 This was the one butter flavored microwave popcorn I could have.”

How did the recipe change?

A quick check of the previous recipe’s ingredients shows that change comes from swapping out the old ingredients of “Non-Dairy Butter Flavor” and “Lactic Acid (for flavor)” for “Dairy Butter” and “Skim Milk.” And sure, we’re betting that change makes the popcorn taste a little richer and more authentic, but a little heads up would be really nice.

Now, Skinny Pop does offer dairy-free versions of it’s bagged popped popcorn, there’s no word on them offering a new dedicated dairy free microwave alternative. And you still can find older boxes of the original recipe for sale, but you should definitely check the ingredients, just to make sure.

This isn’t the first time Skinny Pop had dairy problems

Back in March, Skinny Pop voluntarily removed their newly launched White Cheddar Popcorn from stores, as the packaging was too similar to bags of their Dairy-Free White Cheddar Popcorn. While they branded this as a safety issue to prevent people with milk allergies from confusing the two brands, we can’t help but notice that confusion would apply to vegan consumers as well.

It’s a shame that brand that already offers several dairy-free popcorn flavors keeps forgetting to make sure that everyone knows what’s dairy-free and what isn’t.