Ambiguous vegan food labels could pose a safety concern for allergy sufferers, writes Nick Hughes
Pay a visit to your local supermarket this weekend and you won’t be short of choice if you fancy a meat-free supper. The growth of vegan or plant-based products (the terms are often used interchangeably) has been one of the defining food trends of the past five years as businesses latch onto an opportunity to build a lucrative new product category. The number of new packaged consumer goods launched globally with a plant-based claim increased by 302% between 2018 and 2022, according to data from market research company, Mintel. In January 2024 alone, at least 2,100 new vegan products and menu options were launched to mark this year’s Veganuary campaign during which 25 million people worldwide gave up animal products for the month, organisers reported.
Although the number of people identifying as strictly vegan, whereby they eschew all animal products, remains relatively small in Western European countries (research company Statista puts the figure at between 2-4% of national populations), the trend for people to adopt flexitarian diets, whereby they cut down on meat and dairy for environmental or ethical reasons without abstaining entirely, has further boosted market demand for plant based meats, milks and all manner of other products. But this newfound demand for vegan foods has come with risks attached for businesses, regulators and consumers – in particular those with allergies to animal proteins. Under EU, Irish and UK food law, there is no clear definition of the term ‘vegan’ which is considered a dietary suitability claim, not a food safety description. This means it shouldn’t be taken as a guarantee that a product does not contain animal-derived ingredients. The same is true of ‘plant-based’ descriptions, which are arguably even more ambiguous and marketing-led than a vegan claim (is it just the ‘base’ of the product that consists of plant ingredients or the entire product?).
Consumer expectations
The problem is that an ambiguous legal position doesn’t align with clear consumer expectations of products labelled as vegan or plant based. Last year, the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) published the results of a consumer attitude survey which found that over three quarters (76.4%) of consumers believed that food labelled as vegan should be completely free of anything derived from an animal, while almost half (49.6%) thought that foods labelled as plant-based are vegan. Among respondents with an allergy to milk, 84.6% believed vegan foods were safe for them to eat.
The CTSI has warned that the lack of a legal definition for vegan food could be putting lives at risk. In a policy paper accompanying the 2023 survey, it cited the tragic case of Celia Marsh, who had a known allergy to milk and died in 2016 as a result of anaphylaxis after eating a ‘vegan’ wrap from the food-to-go chain Pret A Manger, which contained milk protein as a result of unintentional cross-contamination.
The CTSI also highlighted research carried out by Hampshire and Kent Scientific Services which found that 24 (39%) out of 61 products labelled as vegan contained egg or dairy when tested in a laboratory, including 13 dairy alternatives and 48 meat alternatives.
The professional body is now calling for more clarity on what can and can’t legally be described as vegan and plant-based food, including legal thresholds for how much of an animal-derived ingredient a vegan product can contain. So how are regulators responding to the challenges around vegan product descriptions and the risk to consumers?
Raising awareness
In the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) ran an awareness campaign in March highlighting the risk of food labelled as vegan to people with allergies. It followed FSA research showing that 62% of people who react to animal-based products, or who buy for someone who is, are confident that products labelled vegan are safe for them to eat.
The FSA’s campaign was aimed at supporting people who have an allergy to milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans or molluscs and encouraged people with allergies, or who buy for someone who has, to always check for a precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) statement such as ‘may contain’ on products labelled vegan to decide on whether it’s safe to eat. The campaign followed a similar warning issued by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in 2020, which advised consumers allergic to, or intolerant of, animal-derived food on the possible dangers of consuming vegan products in the belief that such foods are completely free from animal-based allergens.
Legal loopholes
The reality is that foods labelled as vegan currently carry no such guarantee. EU food law (retained in Great Britain following Brexit) places the responsibility on food businesses to ensure that any information they provide does not mislead the consumer. Vegan descriptions are voluntary labels used to support a dietary choice and should not be used for food safety purposes since they could contain traces of animal-based ingredients where they are prepared in areas alongside products such as egg, milk, fish, crustaceans or molluscs.
As one food safety expert explains, the undeclared and inadvertent presence of low levels of animal-derived contaminants in a vegan-labelled food would be difficult to legally prove as misleading since the term vegan is not defined and so doesn’t necessarily mean completely free of animal-derived foods.
In its campaign, the FSA highlighted the distinction between allergen-absence claims, such as ‘milk-free’, and vegan claims. The former, although voluntary, are considered absolute claims meaning they can be used as food safety information by consumers. Businesses making a free-from claim should only do so following a rigorous risk assessment of the ingredients, process and environment of the product’s whole supply chain including finished product testing.
Yet the message that vegan descriptions should not be treated as gospel does not appear to be getting through to consumers. The FSA’s research found that 54% of those who are hypersensitive to products of animal origin have used vegan labelling to indicate whether a food is safe to eat at least sometimes when buying packaged food, while 53% of those who buy for someone with a food hypersensitivity to products of animal origin have used vegan labelling in this way at least sometimes when buying packaged food.
Although the CTSI welcomed the FSA’s campaign to raise awareness of the issue and acknowledged consumer education as “a crucial cog in the consumer protection landscape”, it wants to see regulators go further and create a legal definition for vegan and plant-based food including the development of tolerance thresholds for animal protein in vegan or plant-based products.
“Consumer education alone should be seen as a stopgap whilst we campaign for changes in the legal framework for selling food so that consumers can make informed choices, and food businesses have clarity about what the phrases means,” says CTSI Chief Executive, John Herriman.
Regulators themselves have previously highlighted the benefits in having certainty around the use of terms like vegan. On issuing its warning to consumers in 2020, FSAI Chief Executive Officer, Dr Pamela Byrne said: “Once the legal status of vegan-labelled foods is fully addressed at EU level, it will be clearer as to what levels of animal-derived ingredients will be tolerated in foods calling themselves vegan. Only when such guidelines are available will susceptible consumers be better equipped to judge for themselves whether or not they can safely consume vegan foods.”
Yet four years on, there remains little sign that the issue is seen as a high priority for EU policy makers. The EU Food Information to Consumers (FIC) Regulation states in article 36, regarding voluntary food information, that the European Commission shall adopt implementing acts on information related to suitability of a food for vegetarians or vegans. However, agreement on a legal definition for vegan food is not expected to be reached in the near future.
In the UK, since a vegan label is not a food safety label, responsibility for policy sits not with the FSA but with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), however it is understood there are no immediate plans to create a legal definition for vegan foods along with tolerance thresholds.
Voluntary measures
For now, non-legislative measures to help consumers make more informed choices are filling the regulatory void. The Vegan Society has operated its Vegan Trademark since 1990 which is used to certify over 65,000 vegan products around the world including food and drink items.
“Our Vegan Trademark shows products are vegan to our rigorous standards as far as is practical and possible, and that efforts have been made to avoid cross-contamination,” says Claire Ogley, Head of Campaigns, Policy and Research at the Vegan Society. However, she says it’s essential people understand that a vegan label does not necessarily mean the product is allergen-free and people with allergies should always check the allergen labelling on products before consuming them.
The use of a PAL on a vegan product will feel to some like an unsatisfactory compromise since it too is a voluntary statement, albeit work is ongoing to integrate the use of PALs into regulatory frameworks. For its part, the FSA rejects the notion that its advice to use a PAL alongside a vegan label if cross-contamination can’t be ruled out will simply create greater confusion among consumers over whether they can or can’t safely consume these products.
“It remains our fundamental principle to ensure consumers have clear and accurate allergen labelling to support people in the UK living with a food allergy,” says Dr James Cooper, Deputy Director of Food Policy at the FSA.
In the meantime, the market for vegan food products is expected to continue its rapid expansion: a 2021 report by Bloomberg Intelligence predicted fivefold growth in the global market for plant-based foods between 2020 and 2030 to reach a whopping $162bn by the end of the decade.
With the stakes getting higher with each passing year, some clarification on the use of terms like vegan and plant-based cannot come soon enough for businesses and consumers alike.
ABOUT NICK HUGHES
Nick Hughes is a freelance writer and editor specialising in food and environmental affairs. He contributes articles to specialist publications including The Grocer and Footprint and is the author of numerous reports and whitepapers on food-related issues. Nick has previously worked in advisory and policy roles for DEFRA and the World Wildlife Fund.
