Misuse of Vegetarian Society Trademarks

Consumers need to know that their food, cosmetics, homecare, clothing and footwear  – and everything where practicable – meets their personal ethical standards. The Vegetarian Society trademark certifications can help customers identify and choose these products.

We are very protective regarding the use and misuse of our certification marks. Customers, who rely on our certification marks, need to know that they can trust the products they purchase and therefore need to know that the trademarks are being used correctly and accurately, ensuring that brands and products have completed our strict registration and certification process.

What is Misuse?

Our certification scheme uses a thorough and detailed checking procedure to ensure that all of the ingredients and processes used are in accordance with the relevant certification mark’s criteria. If a product features a trademark without having gone through that procedure, it could lead to consumers buying and using products that don’t align with their lifestyles.

Occasionally it is brought to our attention that companies may be using our trademark certifications, in ignorance rather than malice, and do not realise that there is a registration and certification process. Common examples include brands using honey and marketing their products as ‘vegan’. Because no animal has died, some people incorrectly assume this means that honey is vegan. However, vegans do not generally eat honey, and would not be happy to learn that it was used in a product that they had been incorrectly informed was vegan. Such a product would not have met Vegetarian Society Vegan certification criteria, and it is important that this is addressed.

It is essential that trademark users renew their licence agreement and update us with any additional trademark-candidate products, in addition to any recipe and ingredient changes – so that we can ensure that their products continue to meet the standards of the certification mark they would like to use.

Should a client decide not to renew for any reason, there is an obligation to remove our certification marks. Failure to remove them will constitute misuse, as once the licence period has expired, we are not privy to any updates or changes the client may have made.

Changes to Certification Marks

You may also still see these older Certification Marks – as not all businesses have transitioned their packaging to the newer logos. In 2025, with the addition of the Plant-Based trademark, we needed to modernise and distinguish our certification marks to be clear and recognisable across the market. These older marks will be phased out over time.

We believe that everyone has the right to trust that the products they buy meet their personal standards and ethics. Correctly used certification marks help people know they can trust the products they have chosen. Every time our certifications are misused and used without being paid for, it takes away funds which enable us to continue our campaign and education work for the betterment of Animals, People and the Planet.

How will the Vegetarian Society respond?

We’re taking action against misusers of our trademarks. We will be actively pursuing any companies who are using our certification marks without an existing licence agreement, whether this be clients with expired licences or companies who have never been through the certification process with The Vegetarian Society.

We are committed to ensuring that all products which carry our certifications have gone through our strict process to ensure that they meet the required criteria – which means that customers know that they can trust products carrying our certification marks.

We’ve created an email address you can use to help us identify and work with brands to ensure that their products meet The Vegetarian Society Standards – should they want to use the certification marks.

If they have no interest in correctly registering their products, then they will be asked to remove the illegal use of our certification marks, failure to remove these will result in legal action to protect our intellectual property, the integrity of the certification marks and consumers from making purchases where they have been mislead.

Whether you are a concerned individual, or another business who has reason to believe a competitor may be using our accreditation scheme incorrectly, let us know.

Contact us at misuse@vegsoc.org