Vegan & vegetarian legislation

27 September 2022

While the number of people claiming to be vegan or vegetarian continues to increase across the EU, the legislative framework is sometimes unclear and allows misleading information to appear on labels in order to confuse consumers.

Along with national vegan and vegetarian associations, SAFE has been advocating for a clear definition of what vegan and vegetarian food is, as well as a call for the creation of European vegan and vegetarian logos.

SAFE urged the European Commission to act on the basis of article 36.3 of the Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 Food Information to Consumers, which clearly states that: “Commission shall adopt implementing acts on the application of the requirements for food information provided on a voluntary basis to the information related to the suitability of a food for vegetarians or vegans”.

The purpose of this action was to provide a list of the fundamental requirements that vegans and vegetarians expect to be associated with food that is suitable for them. In other words, what are the essential characteristics that make a product suitable to be labelled as suitable for vegans and/or suitable for vegetarians. 

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Vegan & vegetarian legislation