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INTRODUCTION
6 April 2006
LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO THE USE OF THE TERMS ‘VEGETARIAN’
AND ‘VEGAN’ IN FOOD LABELLING
Misleading labelling
6. Claims such as, 'suitable for vegetarians' or 'suitable for vegans' are
subject to the general controls in sections 1 to 4 of the Trade Descriptions Act
1968 (prohibition of false or misleading trade descriptions).
7. Claims such as, 'suitable for vegetarians' or 'suitable for vegans' are
subject to the general controls in sections 14 and 15 of the of Food Safety Act
1990 (prohibition on selling food not of the nature, substance or quality
demanded and falsely describing or presenting food). The 1990 Act extends
to Great Britain. There is parallel legislation in Northern Ireland.
9. The terms ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ in food labelling are used voluntarily
by industry. Where these terms are absent, consumers rely on the list of
ingredients.
10. The Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (as amended) require that
ingredients be listed in descending order of weight. There are certain
ingredients, details of which are given in Regulation 17, which need not be
named. The 1996 Regulations extend to Great Britain; there is similar
legislation in Northern Ireland.
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required to be listed except for very limited exemptions for some compound
ingredients (Regulation 7(b) and (c)). The exemptions are,
These exemptions do not override the need to label allergenic ingredients and
only apply where an ingredient makes up less than 2% of the final product.
Allergen labelling
In alcoholic drinks
Apart from the two exemptions above that relate to egg, the presence of eggs
must always be labelled on pre-packed foods.
In other foods
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GUIDANCE ON THE USE OF THE TERMS ‘VEGETARIAN’ AND ‘VEGAN’
IN FOOD LABELLING
Vegetarian
13. The term ‘vegetarian’ should not be applied to foods that are, or are
made from or with the aid of products derived from animals that have died,
have been slaughtered, or animals that die as a result of being eaten.
Animals means farmed, wild or domestic animals, including for example,
livestock poultry, game, fish, shellfish, crustacea, amphibians, tunicates,
echinoderms, molluscs and insects.
Vegan
14. The term ‘vegan’ should not be applied to foods that are, or are made
from or with the aid of animals or animal products (including products from
living animals).
15. The table (Annex A) sets out how this Guidance applies in practice.
There are over 50 additives that are sometimes of animal origin, depending
on how they are made. The vegan Guidance requires such additives to be
derived from non-animal sources. However, additives originating from
products of live animals, e.g. those from milk or eggs, would be suitable for
products labelled as vegetarian. The vegetarian and vegan Guidance
excludes products that have been made using processing aids, that are non-
vegetarian or non-vegan respectively, even though they may not be present in
the final foodstuff.
16. Food businesses may find the websites of the Vegetarian and Vegan
Societies helpful in providing information on the origin of additives, processing
aids and flavourings. (Note: The Agency is not responsible for the content of
these websites.) The home pages of the websites of these societies are
www.vegsoc.org and www.vegansociety.com/html.
Cross contamination
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CONTACT DETAILS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
18. The address for all correspondence relating to the issues set out in
this advice is:
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ANNEX A
Exclusion or A B C D E F G H
Inclusion of A Livestock, Fish, Shellfish, Insects Slaughter by- Products made Processing Products of Products made from
to H from/in Red Crustacea, products (e.g. from A to D aids (made living animals or with the aid of G
products meat, Amphibians, fats and blood) (e.g. gravies, stock from A to including (whether or not in the
Poultry, Tunicates, and gelatine, E) used insects, (e.g. final food) such as
Game etc Echinoderms, additives, whether or milk, eggs, cheese made with
Molluscs flavourings and not in the honey, bee vegetarian rennet,
carriers) final food pollen or yoghurt made
(e.g. waxes) without the use of
isinglass) animal gelatine,
whey, additives,
flavourings and
carriers, (e.g.
lecithins)
Vegetarian x x x x x x √ √
Vegan x x x x x x x x
Key: x = Excluded √ = Included