Tuesday 14th November 2023
One of the most common questions we get asked at the lab is: “Can you test whether [my product] is vegan?”
The simplest answer is no. Veganism is an ethical movement to avoid animal consumption, not an analytical metric against which a product may be measured. There is no legal definition of “vegan” - though ISO 23662:2021 (1) does lay out general requirements.
That doesn’t mean that we can’t help, however.
Given that most product recalls of vegan foods that are due to the unintended presence of allergens rather than contamination with meat, it is doubly important that manufacturers are certain of the integrity of their products, to ensure both quality and safety.
Here at ALS, we can test for traces of egg proteins, milk proteins, fish and crustacea down to trace levels – in some cases well under one part-per-million.
We can also test foodstuffs for eight different species of animal DNA down to a level of 0.1% meat in the test sample.
So, whether you are looking to monitor your supply chain, verify the effectiveness of your cleaning, or just get some analytical piece-of-mind, we may be able to assist!
Or, for more information on trademarking your product as Vegan, see the Vegan Society (2) or Vegetarian Society (3) websites.
References:
- ISO 23662:2021 - Definitions and technical criteria for foods and food ingredients suitable for vegetarians or vegans and for labelling and claims (https://www.iso.org/standard/76574.html)
- The Vegan Trademark | Trusted Vegan Labelling | Business (vegansociety.com) (https://www.vegansociety.com/the-vegan-trademark)
- The Vegetarian Society Approved vegetarian and vegan trademarks - about - Vegetarian Society (vegsoc.org) (https://vegsoc.org/vegetarian-and-vegan-approved-trademarks-business/)