What are the rules on labelling vegan food in the UK? | Veganism

The vegan diet has soared in popularity in the last five years but some meat substitutes labelled as vegan contain milk or egg, according to an analysis of products.

Market-research firm Mintel found that sales of products such as meat-free sausages had doubled from £289m in 2017 to £586m in 2021. Last year sales fell slightly by 6%, even though 49% of people eat meat substitutes regularly.

With the increasing demand for these goods, those in the supply sector are looking to meet those demands with a variety of products awash with terms such as vegan, vegan-friendly and plant based.

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) researched what people assume about vegan and plant-based products based on surveying 2,000 people.

They found 76% of consumers believe a vegan label means it is free from animal-derived products, especially allergens such as eggs, milk, fish and shellfish. CTSI analysis found, however, that one in three vegan products on sale actually contained milk or egg.

What does the law say?

The law on what is vegan is opaque, with no legal definition of the word. This means a vegan product does not have to be completely free of animal-derived products.

Can you complain if you feel misled?

If the labelling is misleading, the consumer can complain to trading standards, who would usually take the definitions of The Vegetarian Society and The Vegan Society and look to see if it meets those standards.

If misleading advertising caused a consumer to buy something they otherwise would not have, they can contact the Citizens Advice Bureau who will look at this in terms of consumer rights law. They can also complain to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

What about adverts?

In 2020, the ASA upheld a complaint against three adverts for Burger King’s plant-based “Rebel Whopper” burger. The ASA considered consumers would understand the ads’ “100% Whopper. No beef” tagline, and in particular the term “plant-based burger”, to mean that it did not contain any beef or animal products.

However, while the patty itself was plant-based, it was cooked on the same grill as meat products and the complete burger contained egg-based mayonnaise.

The ASA also considered that the presence of the “Vegetarian Butcher” logo, the ad’s green colour palette and the timing of the product release to coincide with Veganuary contributed further to the erroneous impression that it was suitable for vegans and vegetarians. The ads were ruled to be in breach of the rules and considered a misleading advert.

A spokesperson for the ASA said it was the government’s role to set legal definitions for foods. The composition of food products, their safety and labelling is overseen by trading standards and the Food Standards Agency.

They added: “From the ASA’s standpoint, we require advertising to be truthful. That means ads should not contain anything that is likely to mislead. If an ad for a vegan food prompted concerns that it was not 100% vegan we would stand ready to look into the matter.”

Do companies have to list known allergens in the ingredients?

By law, food businesses need to tell customers if what they sell contains any of the 14 listed allergens as an ingredient. This includes saying if there is an identified risk of cross contamination with milk, egg, among other things.

Precautionary allergen labelling regarding cross-contamination is voluntary, not compulsory or mandatory. Many vegan-marked products will also have precautionary statements about the risk of animal-derived allergens.

The 14 allergens are: celery, gluten-containing cereals, crustaceans eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya beans, tree nuts and sulphites.

However, for consumers with animal-derived allergens, a product marked vegan or plant-based is becoming synonymous with meaning safe for them to eat. The presumption is that these products will not contain any traces of anything animal-derived, including animal- derived allergens.

Chartered Trading Standards Institute’s polling shows that among respondents with an allergy to milk, 84.6% believe vegan foods are safe for them to eat. This belief was the highest (92.7%) among 35-44-year-olds.