Understanding food labelling
Vegan food labelling
There is no legal definition of vegan food in UK law, but businesses must label food accurately and not be misleading.
If a food label says that a product is vegan or safe for vegans, it means that no ingredients of animal origin were intentionally used in the making of the product.
A vegan label does not guarantee that the product contains no ingredients of animal origin.
Vegan food could be prepared in areas and factories where allergens or ingredients of animal origin are present. This means that ingredients of animal origin could be in the product because of cross-contamination.
If a food business has labelled a product as vegan, but has identified a risk of cross-contamination, they should make this clear on the label. They can do this by using precautionary allergen labelling (PAL), such as a ‘may contain’ statement.
This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).
If you have an allergy or intolerance
You should not assume that a product labelled as vegan is safe to eat if you have a food allergy or intolerance to:
- milk
- eggs
- crustaceans
- fish
- molluscs
Food safety labels such as ‘free-from’ or ‘allergen-free’ are a guarantee that the specified allergen is not in the product. Food businesses who produce ‘free-from’ or ‘allergen-free’ food products must follow strict processes to prevent cross-contamination.
However, businesses do not have to follow these processes to label food as vegan, so there is still a chance of cross-contamination with allergens of animal origin.