Vegetarian Labelling: Why

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Vegetarian Labelling Why How

• Vegetarian Society (Singapore)
• www.vegetarian-society.org

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Thank You

• To SPRING for organizing this seminar
• To all of you for attending
• VSS looks forward to liaising with food
  manufacturers

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Vegetarian Society (Singapore)

• Founded 1999
• Affiliated with International Vegetarian Union
  www.ivu.org
• 175 members all-volunteer organisation
• 1750 subscribers to free e-Newsletter
• www.vegetarian-society.org
• info_at_vegetarian-society.org

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Why Vegetarian Labelling

• VSS Favours Labelling of Products Suitable for
  Vegetarians

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Types of Vegetarians

• Lacto-ovo eat eggs and dairy
• Lacto eat dairy, but not eggs
• Vegan no animal products
• Non-veg issues garlic, onion, root vegetables

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Reasons for Choosing Vegetarian Food

• Health
• Food safety
• Compassion for other animals
• Environment
• Reducing World Hunger
• Religion/Spiritual
• Not just Buddhists and Hindus

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Vegetarians Worldwide

• No reliable numbers, but certainly in the 10s of
  millions, probably over 100 million
• Even more meat-reducers (people who are trying to
  eat less animal flesh)
• UK market exceeds GBP900mn, with meat reducers
  included
• More than 5 million vegetarians in US
  http//www.vrg.org/nutshell/poll2000.htm

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• A report from Mintel (Marketing Intelligence)
  published in June 2000 identified nearly half of
  the UK population as vegetarian "appreciators"
• The demand for such products continues to grow
  with the only resistance in the retired age groups

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Vegetarianism in Asia

• Religion part-time vegetarianism
• Increasing health consciousness
• Avian Flu stopping the Flunami
• Environmental concerns
• Traditions

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Size of the Local Market?

• Buddhism is the largest religion many Buddhists
  are full or occasional vegetarians
• Same for Hindus and Sikhs, as well as Sai Baba
  devotees
• Jains are full-time vegetarians
• Tourists from India and elsewhere

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• Health consciousness growing
• More veg items at NTUC and more salads
• Government campaign to eat more fruit veg, and
  for healthier restaurant cuisine
• Greater concern for nonhuman animals
• Singapore one of the worlds top veg cities,
  based on what vegetarians tell us

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Concerns of Local Vegetarians

• Non-vegetarian rennet in cheese
• Chicken stock in soup
• Veg items cooked in the same oil or with same
  utensils as non-veg items
• Unknown items, e.g., natural flavours
• Fortified foods
• Some vegetarians need B12
• Some foods fortified with Omega 3

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How to Do Vegetarian Labelling
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UK Veg Society

• 25 full-time staff overall at UKVS
• Largest existing veg labelling scheme in terms of
  products involved, 3 full-time staff
• CEO Tina Fox tina_at_vegsoc.org
• Staff do factory, restaurant visits
• Works w/ government Food Standards Agency
• Sub-licensed in Europe, Australia, S. Africa, and
  elsewhere

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• Scheme intended to benefit the Society and the
  licence holder
• Society helps promote the products and
  restaurants
• Details at Societys website http//www.vegsoc.or
  g

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UK Vegetarian Societys Label

• Its a seedling, not a V or a tick
• First used 1966 registered 1976
• Officially administered by a trading company,
  VSUK Ltd, wholly owned by the UKVS
• Schemes criteria have changed over the years

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UK Veg Society Criteria

• Animal flesh
• Meat, fish or bone stock or stock cubes
• Animal carcass fats
• Gelatine, aspic, or gelatine-based products
• Eggs or egg products, other than free range
• Royal Jelly

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• E numbers containing any of the same
• A code number given to food additives by EU
• Products or ingredients animal-tested since 1986
• Genetically modified products or ingredients
• No cross-contamination with non-veg products made
  at the same site

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What Makes Foods Non-Veg

• Ingredients
• Many little-known animal-based products
• e.g., Cochineal, (E120 crushed beetles to produce
  red colourant)
• Processes, e.g., fish products used in making
  some beers or to remove sediment from fruit
  juices
• http//www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1314887,
  00.html

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Non-Veg Ingredients

• http//www.vrg.org/nutshell/faqingredients.htm
• http//www.vrg.org/catalog/fing.htm
• http//www.ivu.org/faq/animal_derived.html
• http//www.ivu.org/faq/maybe-animal-derived.html

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UK Veg Society Fees

• License fee for using the trademark ranges from
  GBP300/yr GBP10,000/yr
• Fee calculated based on the number of products,
  turnover and difficulty of licensing
• The price here would probably be lower, as a
  newly launched label carries less impact

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Monitoring

• More than 2000 products licensed searchable
  database, even McDs http//www.seedlingshowcase.
  com/db.
• On rare occasions, license has been withdrawn
• Company didnt cooperate
• e.g., put the label on a new product but didnt
  tell the Society about the product

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• Society members monitor
• if a product with label really been approved
• if there is a company with good products that
  should be contacted about licensing

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Cooperating with Companies

• Society helps companies with food
  development/tasting does talks for staff
• Facilitated by the Societys cookery school
• Society does a yearly award ceremony for top veg
  products and services http//www.vegsoc.org/award
  s/2004/ceremony.html

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Other Schemes

• There is a smaller EU veg labelling scheme
• Vegan Society UK has a much smaller scheme
• Individual supermarket chains, such as Tesco and
  Safeway, have schemes
• Question is validity of a scheme
• Will people trust a company to police itself?

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Wording

• Sometimes, labels are accompanied by words to
  show differences
• For example, a vegetarian label, with suitable
  for vegans for those products that contain
  absolutely no animal-derived ingredients
• In some countries, multiple languages are used

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Will a Veg Label Turn Off the Non-Veg?

• Probably not
• Non-Muslims eat halal food
• Non-Jews eat kosher food
• Many people enjoy being veg part-time
• People buy for veg family member/friend
• Veg food may be seen as safer, given bird flu and
  the fact that most food poisoning is linked with
  animal-based products

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Pluses Minuses

• A Singapore Veg label
• Plus we set criteria
• Minus recognition needs to be built
• An International Veg label
• Plus broader recognition
• Minus how to agree on criteria
• Strict list of ingredients
• Plus no label needed
• Minus ignorance about ingredients

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In Conclusion

• VSS respects the knowledge and concerns of food
  manufacturers
• We look forward to working with you to further
  our common goals
• george_at_vegetarian-society.org
• www.vegetarian-society.org