Vegan associations in New Zealand have launched a petition advocating for clear and standardised vegan product labelling in response to what they view as misleading information.
The joint petition from the NZ Vegetarian Society (NZVS) and the Vegan Society of Aotearoa challenges what they describe as, “the increasing use of vague and misleading buzzwords on food packaging, such as ‘plant-based’ or ‘less dairy’. The petition calls on the NZ government to implement legislation that ensures consumers can make, “informed, ethical, and confident choices about the products they purchase.”
Besides raising concern for the use of terms like “plant-based” or “less dairy” for products that may contain animal ingredients, the organisations also point to how misleading labelling might affect those with food allergies, Jewish and Muslim people, or vegans and vegetarians.
“Clear and honest labelling is not just a matter of consumer rights, but a step towards a more transparent and ethical food industry,” said Ina Babic, spokesperson for the NZ Vegetarian Society.
“The NZVS also offers Vegan Certification and Vegetarian Approval for products, which consumers should look out for. With the current lack of legislation, these trademarks provide much-needed assurance that products meet strict criteria, helping to protect consumers from misleading labels.”
The petition calls attention to a series of reports concerning products currently on the NZ market that the vegan organisations identify as having misleading labels.
A recent report by The Spinoff, for example, addresses ice cream products by brand Much Moore that carry the labels “more plant based” and “less dairy”, despite the fact that the products still contain milk products and, in the case of certain flavours, “gelatine from beef”.
Consumer NZ agreed with the Vegan Society’s concerns, a spokesperson for the organisation saying: “Our take is this packaging risks misleading New Zealanders – given the product contains milk, milk solids and gelatine from beef, the word ‘more’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting.”
The Ministry for Primary Industries, however, said it believed Much Moore’s labelling was compliant with the Food Standards Code as it did not make claims that the product was vegan or dairy-free.
“Gelatine from beef and milk solids are clearly listed as ingredients,” the ministry’s food safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle told TheSpinoff.
The current Food Standards Code in NZ does not include requirements for labelling that relates to people’s personal values/ethics such as ‘halal’ or ‘kosher’, environmental concerns like carbon footprint or palm oil labelling, animal welfare concerns, or human rights issues.
The vegan groups’ petition calls for an action on a range of areas, including but not limited to:
- Standardising “Plant-Based” labelling to be exclusive to products that are 100% derived from plants; banning misleading terms such as “less dairy”.
- Clarifying “Vegan” labelling to meet the criteria of being GMO-free, involving no animal testing and preventing animal cross-contamination in production.
- Clarifying “Vegetarian” labelling to be reserved for products that contain no meat and clearly indicate any use of animal by-products (such as gelatine, rennet, or certain colourants).
Those wishing to sign the petition may do so here.
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