Confusing vegan product labels

[IC_]

Hi,
Like many chains of stores in the world, one of the most popular discount chains in Poland sells a lot of products under their own in-store brands.

These are many different brands and series of products, but what I've noticed over the years, is that all of their store-brand cosmetic products have the same suspcious vegan label (assuming it's a product that has any vegan label at all).

This label is:
"Vegan Friendly"
and written next to it, or in a note in tiny print at the bottom of the label:
"Product without materials of animal origin"

This makes me question, is this a scam, is it supposed to fool people into thinking it's a vegan product. Since I suppose this could easily mean, that the product was processed using materials of animal origin, or tested on animals. That's unlike the Peta label I've seen on some cosmetics of actual brands, which clearly states "Animal test-free & Vegan".

The same discount store chain sells vegan food products as well, and these also don't have any official vegan label, but the label they have is more clearly stating "Suitable for Vegans" (or "Suitable for Vegetarians", which I obviously don't care about).

I've seen some other ambiguous "unofficial" vegan labels in the wild as well.
And a lot of generally unofficial labels that are not certificates as well, but that is clearly done to save costs.

This all makes me think, do we need to rethink how to interpret and trust vegan labels? In most cases with unofficial labels, I believed them anyway (with checking the list of ingredients myself too), but in the case of those very suspicious labels I described at the beginning, I've always personally decided against purchasing those products.

 

[Brian W]

I believe the official vegan label comes from the wretched UK Vegan Society who started life as a charity but became a business. I believe they charge the companies money to use the label making it more cost effective for them to create their own. I don't know how much they charge. Sadly, there is no official legal definition of the word vegan and vegan labels are a voluntary marketing claim.

Vegan Labelling Requirements: How to Label Vegan Food

 

[Lou]

I believe they charge the companies money to use the label making it more cost effective for them to create their own.

Vegan Labelling Requirements: How to Label Vegan Food

Yes that is sometimes true. Here I the states there are lots of companies that sell their certifications. However in many cases they do inspections and investigations to insure that their products are really whatever. This is especially important when the government doesn't have a definition or an agency responsible. the proceeds form the sales of the certification helps to pay for the process of certification.

If a company that makes a product is big enough they may find it cheaper to do their own certification process. I think Starbucks and Trader Joe's go that route.

the other thing is that the label "vegan" does not always help sales. Some companies shy away from using that label. because they believe that people don't want "vegan food". there are a lot of interesting examples of this but my favorite is the "I can't believe its not butter". they do make a product that they advertise as vegan (but it contains milk) and another that does not say vegan and has the exact same ingredients,

Original

www.icantbelieveitsnotbutter.com

 

[silva]

Yes that is sometimes true. Here I the states there are lots of companies that sell their certifications. However in many cases they do inspections and investigations to insure that their products are really whatever. This is especially important when the government doesn't have a definition or an agency responsible. the proceeds form the sales of the certification helps to pay for the process of certification.

If a company that makes a product is big enough they may find it cheaper to do their own certification process. I think Starbucks and Trader Joe's go that route.

the other thing is that the label "vegan" does not always help sales. Some companies shy away from using that label. because they believe that people don't want "vegan food". there are a lot of interesting examples of this but my favorite is the "I can't believe its not butter". they do make a product that they advertise as vegan (but it contains milk) and another that does not say vegan and has the exact same ingredients,

Original

www.icantbelieveitsnotbutter.com

Think you mixed these up--the Vegan Cant Believe doesn't contain any milk products

Vegan

www.icantbelieveitsnotbutter.com

I've never seen that, I do remember the kerfuffle with Smart Balance, when they had like 5 different kinds!
I've get the Country Crock plant based with olive oil, it goes on sale often enough, the sticks are good for baking

I check labels, but I don't obsess. The more demand for plant based products, the more plant based products and promotion.

 

[Second Summer]

I believe certification from the Vegan Society is relatively rare 'in the wild', presumably due to cost, but that is the one I would trust the most. I've also seen vegan certification labels from, I think, the European Vegetarian Society, which I also trust much more than the companies' own vegan-friendly labels. That said, I tend to trust labels that claim vegan-friendliness in most cases.

Although, given the choice, I would choose a product with the Vegan Society's or European Vegetarian Society's vegan certification labels over the companies' own labels.

 

[IC_]

I believe certification from the Vegan Society is relatively rare 'in the wild', presumably due to cost, but that is the one I would trust the most. I've also seen vegan certification labels from, I think, the European Vegetarian Society, which I also trust much more than the companies' own vegan-friendly labels. That said, I tend to trust labels that claim vegan-friendliness in most cases.

Although, given the choice, I would choose a product with the Vegan Society's or European Vegetarian Society's vegan certification labels over the companies' own labels.

I'm surprised you rarely see those, those are the two labels I see most often. And Poland isn't exactly considered a wealthy nation. Alongside those, I also often see official labels from Viva!.
-------------
I must still ask though, what do you all think of that first "Vegan Friendly" label I've mentioned? Do you think they might be trying to trick people, having to add that tiny footnote explaining the meaning of the label, so they can't potentially be held liable? This has been confusing me for quite a while now.

 

[Col]

I appreciate these plant-based labels on food products such as bread and cereals that are usually vegan and not tested on animals, but they may or may not have dairy or wool additives, so how else would I know in such a shop? The area of cosmetics and medicines has very shocking practises of testing on animals you are right. As others said the certified Vegan Society label covers both animal testing and ingredients, as I know of a plant-based washing conditioner that has been refused certification.
Peta labelling of 'Cruelty-Free' does not either cover everything though in the UK strangely, for example there is a type of soap by the brand 'Dove' that contains silk and has the Peta logo, I am not sure if the logo allows other animal based ingredients or not.

 

[Second Summer]

I'm surprised you rarely see those, those are the two labels I see most often. And Poland isn't exactly considered a wealthy nation. Alongside those, I also often see official labels from Viva!.

Maybe "rare" was too strong a word, but compared to the number of products with self-certified vegan-friendly labels I think it's a little bit unusual.

I must still ask though, what do you all think of that first "Vegan Friendly" label I've mentioned? Do you think they might be trying to trick people, having to add that tiny footnote explaining the meaning of the label, so they can't potentially be held liable? This has been confusing me for quite a while now.

I don't think they're trying to trick people, or at least I hope not, but it sounds like they're lowering the bar for themselves.