Certified Vegan Label: BeVeg,let you forget simple and plain vague slogans like “Vegan Friendly” and familiarize yourself with independent label to help you find out whether a product contains any animal-sourced ingredients, involves any processing by animals or animal byproducts.
It will be helpful to consider the differences between a plant-based diet, veganism and vegetarianism. “Plant-based” generally refers to minimally processed foods and other products that mainly consist of plants and is often used synonymously with the term “vegan”. Unlike vegan products, plant-based ones may include a limited amount of animal-sourced ingredients, however, the definition varies among different certifications.
BeVeg is a US-based law firm guided certified vegan label. Here’s what the label looks like:
Product categories: The scope of the BeVeg certification is very broad as the certificate may be granted to restaurants, manufacturing facilities, co-packing plants and other facilities in the production chain as well as individual products like food, cosmetics or household items.
BeVeg is a certified vegan label that ensures a product “is not of animal origin, and that at no stage of the production and processing was there use of or supplementation with any animal ingredients, substrates, processing aides or other substances of animal origin in processed or unprocessed form.” BeVeg also stipulates that there should be “no cross-contamination with animal contaminants at the facility level,” and “no animal exploitation or testing that would cause animal suffering, on the final product, and as far as practicable in the supply chain.”
What the label looks like: A white circle with a green triangle in the middle and the letter “V” on top of it. It says “vegan” at the top and “BeVeg!” at the bottom.
Good to know:
BeVeg is the only ISO accredited vegan label in the world. It is an official vegan standard that is applied consistently and audited in about 200 countries. It uses third-party administrators like NSF to guarantee that vegan label claims comply with the BeVeg model.
Once a product has passed all preliminary testing, including lab analysis, onsite inspections and documentation, certification is granted for the duration of one year. In addition, certified vegan products at manufacturing plants and in stores are also subject to random testing during the year.
The original article is authored by an expert team at Utopia.org, the guide shed light on the broad scope of the BeVeg certification, extending to diverse product categories such as restaurants, manufacturing facilities, co-packing plants, and individual items like food, cosmetics, and household products.