How to Skip the Chore of Reading Food Labels

Why having to read labels matters

• Some animal-derived ingredients are hidden behind unfamiliar names. You don’t want to accidentally eat something you wouldn’t want by not understanding the ingredient’s name.
• Ingredients can change over time. Sometimes manufacturers add or substitute ingredients without letting the consumer know.
• Things you wouldn’t expect to contain hidden animal products sometimes do. Products that are commonly thought of as vegetarian or vegan sometimes aren’t.
• Legislation doesn’t always require all ingredients to be mentioned – fining agents in alcohol for example don’t need to be disclosed on a label.
• Some manufacturers don’t always have a clear understanding of what is vegetarian or vegan and what isn’t.
• Reading the label itself can be difficult – they are often small and poorly optimised for the 75% of people worldwide who need some form of vision correction.

Common animal-derived ingredients:

• Gelatine – Gelatine is sometimes used in skin care products. It is extracted from bones and offal through boiling.
• Animal rennet – made from the lining of the stomachs of ruminant animals. 
• Cochineal (carmine/E120) – Carmine (and cochineal) are bright red dyes, formed from crushing insects.
• Isinglass – Isinglass is a type of collagen, made from drying out the swim bladders of various fish. Isinglass was traditionally made from sturgeons, although now it is made from a range of tropical fish.
• Shellac – Shellac is made from the resinous secretion of insects. It takes a vast number of insects to produce shellac – perhaps 300,000 to make just one kilogram.

The vegetarian and vegan-friendly ingredients to still be careful with

• Lecithin (usually plant-derived) – Lecithin is a natural fatty substance made of phospholipids, fatty acids, and choline, found in animal and plant tissues like soybeans, sunflower seeds
• Mono- and diglycerides (may vary) – Mono- and diglycerides are common food additives primarily used as emulsifiers to blend water- and oil-based ingredients that would otherwise separate. They stabilize the texture and extend the shelf life of everyday packaged foods like baked goods, ice cream, margarine, and peanut butter
• Xanthan gum – Xanthan gum is a popular food additive used primarily as a thickening agent, stabilizer, and binding agent. It is created when sugar is fermented.
• Yeast extract – Yeast extract is a natural flavouring and nutritional ingredient made by breaking down fresh yeast cells and removing the tough outer cell walls. It is rich in proteins, B vitamins, and naturally occurring amino acids that provide a savoury, “umami” flavour.
• Bee hive based ingredients – Some food and cosmetic manufacturers might include things that come from the bee hive (as opposed to honey) in their products, wrongly thinking that they are vegan. This might include beeswax or royal jelly.

Understanding food certification marks

What the Vegetarian Society Approved trademark means

The Vegetarian Society Approved trademarks are symbols you will see on thousands of products in shops all over the UK, EU, USA and many other countries. They certify that the products using them are provably either vegetarian, vegan or plant-based.

How certification simplifies shopping

When you see a Vegetarian Society certification mark, you know that the product you see it on is suitable for your lifestyle. This means you don’t have to check out the ingredients list in the same detail. If you have difficulty reading the small print on labels, you can spot the certification mark and be done with it.

Differences between vegetarian, vegan and plant-based marks

Vegetarian Trademark: Products free from meat, fish, and animal by-products. Free from animal testing and without animal cross contamination.

Vegan Trademark: Products contain no animal ingredients and are not tested on animals, and without cross contamination.

Plant-Based Trademark: Contains no animal ingredients, not tested on animals, no cross contamination. In addition, the products will have ingredients that primarily come from plants.

Why third party certification provides greater confidence than front-of-pack marketing

Vegetarian Society certifications are protected, recognised, and supported worldwide. With possibly the most widely registered vegetarian, vegan and plant based trademarks globally, you trust our trademarks with confidence across borders.

Unexpected examples of unsuitable  foods:

• Cheese – not all cheeses are vegetarian – many include rennets or other coagulants that come from animal ingredients.
• Wine and beer – many alcoholic drinks have traditionally used animal ingredients in the filtering process.

a Quick shopping friendly label-reading checklist

• Look for our certification logos. Vegetarian Society certification marks give you a symbol that you can trust.
• Don’t always trust the suitability statement. Some products don’t contain a mark, but do say ‘suitable for vegetarians / vegans’ or something similar. This isn’t always as provable as a certification mark, however.
• Scan the ingredients list if you have to. If you aren’t certain, read through the ingredients to see if there’s anything animal derived hidden inside the product. However, this can still be problematic, as it does not account for the production process.

make shopping easier with certification marks

Learning a handful of key ingredients can make shopping much easier. Knowing what common animal ingredients go by seemingly innocuous names can make it much easier to avoid them. However, this is not a simple or fool-proof process.

Certification logos are the quickest way to shop with confidence. When you see a Vegetarian Society certification mark, you can trust it fits your lifestyle and standards.

Learn more about our certification scheme process below.