By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS

The Vegetarian Resource Group received an email asking for our assistance in finding out ingredient information on an item at the quick casual chain, Ruby Tuesday:

“I am a lacto-vegetarian who is researching what my friends and I can eat at Ruby Tuesday…I cannot determine the ingredients in the Brioche Bun that Ruby Tuesday serves. Ruby Tuesday does not list the ingredients, and I have been having trouble getting ingredient information from them…Could you check to see that the Brioche Bun does not contain any eggs or animal rennet? Thanks in advance for your help.”

In July 2021, this is how The VRG responded.

As far as the bun, we used Ruby’s tool on their website. First, I randomly picked a store.

Then after clicking “Go,” on the dropdown menu titled Set Your Preferences that appeared, we chose “Food Allergy or Restrictions?” From the displayed icons, we selected two restrictions: “no egg, no milk.” That generated menu options by category without egg or milk. (You could unrestrict one or both of them if you wanted, but you’d get many more items.)

Since I included both as restrictions, we can also get a better idea (although not conclusive) on the bun’s vegan status.

When you click on “Breads and Buns” you’ll see the brioche bun. Note that there’s one on the left referred to as “Buttered” although it’s clarified below the name to be “buttered with liquid margarine.” The second listing on the right is for a plain bun.

Click on the little “i” to the right of “Brioche Bun,” (to the far right on the screen), and you’ll see the ingredients:

Ingredients

Brioche Bun (unbuttered) [Unbleached Enriched Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Sugar, Margarine (Soybean Oil, Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Water, Salt, Mono- and Diglycerides (plant), Artificial Flavor, Colored with Annatto, Calcium Disodium EDTA [Preservative], Vitamin A Palmitate Added), Yeast, Contains 2% or less of each of the following: Wheat Gluten, Salt, Yellow Corn Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Dextrose, Calcium Sulfate, Dough Conditioners (Contains one or more of the following: Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Stearoyl Lactylate (plant), Monoglycerides (plant), Mono- And Diglycerides (plant), Distilled Monoglycerides (plant), Calcium Peroxide, Calcium Iodate, DATEM, Ethoxylated Mono- and Diglycerides (plant), Enzymes, Ascorbic Acid), Colored With Annatto Extract, and Turmeric Oleoresin, Glaze (Water, Sunflower Oil, Vegetable Proteins, Wheat Maltodextrins, Wheat Dextrose, Corn Starch), Calcium Propionate (To Retard Spoilage) ], Liquid Margarine [Beta Carotene, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Citric Acid, Liquid Soybean Oil, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Sodium Benzoate, Soy Lecithin, Vegetable Mono & Diglycerades, Vitamin A Palmitate, Water ]

This statement is very good in that it identifies many plant sources in cases where it could be different (like an animal source). Not many statements from other chains do this.

Vegans should note that the natural flavors in the liquid margarine are likely dairy (not specified). You’d have to inquire with the company if you wanted to know for sure.

To check if Ruby Tuesday called the bun “vegan,” and get more indirect information about the natural flavors, we reset the tool and tried again. This time we entered no restrictions. However, under the drop-down menu “Select Lifestyle Options,” we chose “vegan.”

The VRG also checked the tiny box next to the statement: “Show me only what I can eat.”

This time, no breads and buns were listed as vegan options.

Incidentally, restricting milk and eggs and selecting vegan also showed no breads and buns that fit that category.

Even though the liquid margarine used for buttering contains natural flavors which are probably dairy-derived while the bun itself does not contain them, and the plain bun isn’t buttered, the plain bun still wasn’t listed as “vegan” when we used the website tool.

The artificial flavor in the plain bun’s margarine (as a bun ingredient; see statement above) is probably not dairy-derived but it could be. It is most likely synthetic and derived from petroleum-derived ingredients. Because of the range of possibilities regarding artificial butter flavor, The VRG is unable to say definitively, based on the tool and ingredient statement, whether the plain Brioche bun is vegan.

The enzymes listed in the bun are likely plant-based or microbial fermentation products. Here’s a general reference.

Sugar source is unknown.

Readers looking for more information about any items at Ruby Tuesday should directly contact the chain.

For information about veg restaurants, see https://www.vrg.org/restaurant/index.php

For other chain info, see https://www.vrg.org/fastfoodinfo.php

The contents of this posting, our website, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not intended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained from a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient information from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a statement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be made. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for you. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.