Plant-based & Vegan: Are you really ready?

With the plant-based and vegan markets continuing to thrive, many more food businesses are considering new lines to expand their reach — but do you know the differences between plant-based and vegan? Here are our labeling compliance experts’ top tips for ensuring your products are compliant.

What is the difference between plant-based and vegan?

The key thing to consider, and a point that often catches some businesses and consumers out, is that plant-based does not equal vegan. Honey, for example, is widely recognised as not being vegan, but you may find it in plant-based products.

Vegan

The term vegan refers to those who aim to eliminate meat and dairy from their diets, but also those who exclude any product (whether it’s food or footwear) from their life if it’s contributed to animal cruelty or exploitation.

Plant-based

Plant-based tends to refer to diets comprising of foods derived from plant sources such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts – whether for ethical reasons or in pursuit of the perceived health benefits.

Where are you on the scale?

There is not yet a legal definition of what a ‘vegan’ or ‘plant-based’ product is in UK food labeling regulations. ISO has published a standard on vegan labeling but this is not legally binding nor adopted by all manufacturers. Even the smallest of details — such as the use of natural flavorings, or the type of glue used on labels — can impact some consumers’ decisions which makes it all the more important to have a clear product proposition right from the start of development and ensure you start compliance early.

To overcome the many barriers to calling a product ‘vegan’ and obtaining third-party affiliation such as The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark, many brands we’re working with are using the description “plant-based” to encompass vegan and vegetarian and will rely on their own policies to establish where they sit on the scale.

What about your marketing?

With this approach comes another set of challenges to consider — and that’s about the language used to describe how healthy adopting a certain diet might be. ‘Plant-based’ isn’t a synonym for ‘healthy’ and food manufacturers should be wary of making bold claims about the health benefits, particularly claims that compare them to their conventional counterparts and free-from claims in relation to allergens.

Here are our expert tips for brands considering the vegan market as a new avenue:

• Are you truly vegan?

If you’re promoting a product with vegan claims, you need to be evidencing your credentials through certification badges and logos, such as The Vegan Society.

• Consider the risks

You need to consider your commitment to vegan whilst ensuring consumers are kept safe through precautionary ‘may contain’ allergy information. You might not be able to claim vegan if your products are made in a facility that handles non-vegan ingredients (and therefore have potential allergen risks), so if you’re unsure, do check with an expert in product information.

• Be clear and honest

Always be clear and honest about what your individual vegan policy is.

• Consider other factors

Vegan may encompass how a product has been made, how it’s packaged and labelled, and how it’s supplied. Always consider the other factors that could influence your market and balance how you’re going to manage these — for example, even some fruit can be non-vegan due to the wax residue from bugs.

Until next time…

1. https://www.vegansociety.com/news/media/statistics
2. https://www.veganfoodandliving.com/news/plant-based-diets-replace-traditional-diet/

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