Study finds milk or egg present in one third of vegan products

New analysis conducted by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute has found that one in three meat substitutes labelled as a vegan product contains animal-derived ingredients, more specifically, milk and egg.

With so many plant-based brands popping up in grocery stores globally, it has never been easier to adopt a vegan lifestyle. Or so we thought.

New research conducted by the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) has found that one in three vegan-labelled products on sale in national grocery stores still contain milk or egg in their formula.

This is problematic because, when the organisation asked the public what a ‘vegan’ product should be, the vast majority (76 percent) said that a vegan label should indicated that the product it is totally free from animal-derived products. This includes milk, butter, eggs, fish, and shellfish.

At present, the UK has no legal guidelines attributed to what makes a product officially ‘vegan.’ Without these laws, food companies are able to falsely label items containing animal-derived products as vegan-friendly without consequence.