
We’ve covered plenty of fizzy drinks in the Is It Vegan? section of our website, and vegans who like to quaff such beverages will be heartened to learn that most are vegan friendly (although Lilt does let the side down!). But here we turn our attention to the Coca Cola-produced fruit-flavoured drink, Fanta. Let’s get straight to the point: Is Fanta vegan?
Based on our research, the Fanta sold in the UK is fine for vegans to consume because it contains no ingredients derived from animals (see below for more details). Some people have suggested that Fanta shouldn’t be classified as vegan because some of the chemicals (notably colouring agents) added to some flavours of Fanta have been tested on animals. But if you dig deep enough, just about every product or ingredient sold to humans has – at some point – been tested on animals. There is no evidence the Coca Cola company tests on animals – and they explicitly state they don’t on their website. As such, we’re happy to state that Fanta is indeed vegan. Drink away, to your sugary heart’s content!
Ingredients in Fanta
Let’s have a closer look at the ingredients that go into Fanta, based on the most popular orange flavour:
Carbonated Water, Sugar, Orange Juice from Concentrate (3.7%), Citrus Fruit from Concentrate (1.3%), Acids (Citric Acid, Malic Acid), Vegetable Extracts (Carrot, Pumpkin), Sweeteners (Acesulfame K, Sucralose), Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Acidity Regulator (Sodium Citrates), Stabiliser (Guar Gum), Natural Orange Flavourings with other Natural Flavourings, Antioxidant (Ascorbic Acid)
Looking through the ingredients, we see many similarities with the likes of Dr Pepper, with the lab-produced ingredients like Acesulfame K and Potassium Sorbate. These are not produced using animal products so are fine for vegans. Other ingredients listed above are obviously vegan: orange, citrus fruit, vegetable extracts and carbonated water. Guar gum is also produced from plants and sugar isn’t produced with the use of bone char (burned animal bones) very often these days, and certainly isn’t for use in Fanta. At least in the UK (see below).
As such, just like with Coca Cola and Pepsi (at least most of the Pepsi varieties), there are no animal-derived ingredients present, so we’re happy to assert that the main orange flavour of Fanta is vegan.
UK Fanta Vs US Fanta

Note that we are focusing on the UK version of Fanta for this article, but for those of you based in the USA (howdy to our fans Stateside), it’s worth noting that there are differences in the ingredients based on where the drink has been produced. For instance, the UK drink uses sugar that has not been produced using bone char.
This is not necessarily the case for US-produced Fanta. Also, the UK drink uses natural rather than chemically produced food colouring. There is no suggestion that the US colouring has come from animals, but more that it has been tested on animals. As with some of the UK ingredients that have also been tested on animals at some point in the past, this wasn’t done specifically for use in Coca Cola products (as far as we can tell from our research at least).
Are All Varieties of UK Fanta Vegan?
There are many varieties of Fanta available in the UK at the time of writing including the following:
- Fanta Orange
- Fanta Zero Orange
- Fanta Lemon (our favourite!)
- Fanta Fruit Twist
- Fanta Zero Strawberry & Kiwi
- Fanta Zero Raspberry
There have also been plenty of limited-edition flavours over the years and new varieties are added (or removed) every so often. Having looked through all the ingredients of those varieties that are currently available, we’re happy to say that none contain any animal-derived ingredients, and hence they are all fine for vegans to consume.
Was Fanta Created by the Nazis?
This might seem a rather odd sub-heading but stick with us! Believe it or not, one thing that might give people (vegans and non-vegans) pause for thought about Fanta is that, technically, the drink was developed during World War II in Nazi Germany. Of course, lots of products were developed under that regime and many people won’t bat an eyelid at that fact.
From a historical perspective though, it is at least worth mentioning. This is thought to have occurred because the supply of Coca Cola syrup to the German subsidiary of the company that made it ran out. Forced to improvise, the Germans came up with an alternative to Coke, using apple fibre which was a by-product of the cider industry. In the end, they developed a fruit-flavoured fizzy drink… that they named Fanta.
Technically, the drink was invented by workers under the guidance of their boss, Max Keith. Though he obviously worked under the Nazi regime, he did at least refuse a request from the Nazi leadership to rename the Coca Cola subsidiary in the latter stages of the war. After the war, Coca Cola swooped in to take back control of the subsidiary and indeed they pocketed all the profits it had made during the war years.
Nutritional Value of Fanta vs Coke & Dr Pepper
History lesson over, let’s get back to the modern day and take a glance at how the nutritional values of Fanta (orange) compared to those of Coke and Dr Pepper.
Typical Values (Per 100ml) | Fanta | Coca Cola | Dr Pepper |
---|---|---|---|
Energy | 81kJ/19kcal | 180kJ/42kcal | 85kJ/20kcal |
Fat | 0g | 0g | 0g |
of which saturates | 0g | 0g | 0g |
Carbohydrate | 4.6g | 10.6g | 4.9g |
of which sugars | 4.6g | 10.6g | 4.9g |
Protein | 0g | 0g | 0g |
Salt | 0g | 0g | 0g |
As you can see, it’s similar to Dr Pepper in that is contains around half the amount of sugar of Coke. It’s still not going to be great for your teeth, of course, it still containing around 5% sugar. People who have arrived at veganism for health reasons might not want to consume much of this drink, or other similar beverages.
There are the sugar-free versions, of course, though some people are less-than-enthusiastic about consuming the artificial sweeteners they contain (although these tend to be present in the standard versions of such drinks anyway). If you have any concerns about fizzy drinks, stick to good, old-fashioned water… which, for the record, is definitely vegan!
Fanta Conclusions
As with many of the fizzy drinks featured on our site, Fanta contains no ingredients that have been derived from animals. Though there have been some concerns about animal testing in relation to certain ingredients, there is no indication any of the included items have been tested specifically in relation to the production of Fanta (or other Coca Cola-produced drinks). As such, we stand by our claim in the opening paragraphs of this article that Fanta is vegan, and that goes for all of the varieties that are currently available in the United Kingdom.