BeVeg Vegan Certification – Why Certify Vegan?
Why certify Vegan? Veganism is increasing on average 1500% a year, and often is the #1 google search term in urban cities. Undeniably, the vegan, plant-based, lifestyle is multiplying, and therefore, it should come as no surprise that the global market for ethically packaged and labelled foods is projected to be a trillion dollar industry in just a few years.
Importance of Vegan Certification
Veganism in general, even the word, is not carved out in the law. Anyone can claim vegan, but the question is, by what standard? Vegan claims are like the wild west. The word “vegan” is not regulated or defined by any law. Current labeling laws allow companies and products to label vegan when a product may not be vegan per a vegan’s standards. What governments consider as incidental and insignificant ingredients, a vegan may find insulting and significant. To ensure vegan quality assurance BeVeg requires companies to disclose all ingredients, processes and trade secrets.
Why Certify Vegan?
Careful reading of ingredient lists is often not enough to reassure the vegan consumer that the product is vegan compliant.
Misleading labels. The use of ingredients of animal origin is regularly masked by generic wordings. Such wordsmithing is supported by controlling laws. For example, “natural charcoal” is code for bone char, “natural coloring” may be code for insect juice, “natural coloring” may be code for anal gland secretions of animal origin.
Labels omitting facts. Label laws do not require disclosure of all trade secrets because they are contained in limited quantities, and therefore deemed “insignificant” or because they are eliminated following the completion of the production cycle, and therefore “incidental” and “insignificant”. This is the case of technological aids and manufacturing aids used in the preparation of food products, and very common in the fining and clarification for making alcoholic beverages like wine, beer, and spirits.
Vegan certification must consider the ingredients, the source ingredients, the supply chain of ingredients, the definition of ingredients, and inspection into the manufacturing process to eliminate incidental cross-contamination or even intended use but deemed insignificant in amount for disclosure. The vegan interested consumer searching for vegan verified products is entitled to know with certainty the product purchased and consumed is aligned with their expectation for vegan claimed labels. BeVeg considers the product and process requirements before granting use of the internationally recognized vegan certification trademark.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE VEGAN?
Vegan is a person who consumes no products that come from animals and who abstains from using animal products in their day to day routine (i.e. beverages, food, cosmetics, clothes, etc.). For this reason, buying decisions are more strict, thoughtful, and conscious.
Consumers are embracing vegan for multiple reasons: Compassion for the animals, Environmental sustainability, and/or for the Scientifically proven Health Benefits. The fact is, veganism is spreading worldwide, and consumers are searching for plant-based vegan products with a vegan certification mark to legitimize vegan claims. Consumers are demanding honest information. Statistics show that 80% of those who purchase vegan products or frequent vegan restaurants are not even self-proclaimed vegans, but simply conscious consumers leaning into the healthier, vegan, plant-based lifestyle. The bottom line, consumers are looking for the BeVeg vegan symbol, and more than half of purchasing habits are based on a label.
