Let's do this and get recognized!
What is the Certified Vegan Logo?
Distributed and recognized globally, the Certified Vegan Logo is a registered trademark for products that do not contain animal products or byproducts and that have not been tested on animals. The certified logo is easily visible to consumers interested in vegan products and helps vegans to shop without constantly consulting ingredient lists. It also helps companies recognize a growing vegan market, as well as bringing the word Vegan—and the lifestyle it represents—into the mainstream. (Please keep in mind, however, that the logo is not yet on every vegan product.) The Certified Vegan Logo is currently on thousands of products manufactured by over 1000 companies.
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The Certified Vegan Logo is administered by the Vegan Awareness Foundation (official name of Vegan Action), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about veganism and assisting vegan-friendly businesses.
Dietary Notes: By ingredients, Certified Vegan products are dairy-free/non-dairy, egg-free, and vegan. However, for those with food allergies, please check with the company on their manufacturing processes for all varieties if potential allergen cross-contamination is an issue for you. Many companies that make vegan products are using shared machinery.
NOTE: The Certified Vegan Logo is permitted on products owned by companies and manufacturers located in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and US territories but is distributed and recognized worldwide.
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Certified Vegan Standards
In order for a product to be approved for Vegan Certification, it must not contain meat, fish, fowl, animal by-products, eggs or egg products, milk or milk products, honey or honey bee products, insects or products from insects such as silk or dyes, or sugar filtered with bone char or be processed with any animal products or by-products.
Products may not contain or be sourced from leather, fur, silk, feathers, down, bone, horn, shell, wool, cashmere, shearling, angora, animal skin, suede, or mohair.
Sweeteners may not be filtered or processed with bone char.
Prebiotics and probiotics must be cultured on or with a culture medium free of animal products or by-products..
Liquids such as beer, wine, maple syrup, vinegar, and fruit juices may not be filtered, defoamed, or clarified with animal products.
Products must not have involved animal testing of ingredients or finished products by the manufacturer after the year 2009 for any type of research or testing purposes whatsoever to include environmental safety, feed or nutrition trials, toxicity testing, or animal tests or trials "as required by law" to include third-party testing and may not be tested in the future.
Products may not contain any animal-derived GMO's or animal-derived genes used to manufacture ingredients or finished product.
In addition, companies must submit and have approved by the Vegan Awareness Foundation that acceptable steps are taken to thoroughly clean and sanitize all surfaces, vessels, utensils, and machinery used between vegan and non-vegan production cycles to minimize cross-contamination if shared machinery is used.
No Animal Products
Products approved to carry the Certified Vegan logo must not contain animal products or ingredients of meat, fish, fowl, animal by-products (including silk or dyes from insects), eggs or egg products, milk or milk products, honey or honey bee products, or be clarified or finished with any animal products.
No Animal Testing
Animal Testing is defined by Vegan Action as the use of animals (live or deceased) for any type of research purposes whatsoever to include environmental safety, feed or nutrition trials, toxicity testing, or animal tests or trials "as required by law" including contracted testing by another company, since the year 2009 and does not intend to test on animals in the future. This must be confirmed for individual ingredients, ingredient components, as well as the final product.
No Animal GMO's
Products must contain no known animal-derived GMOs or genes used to manufacture ingredients or finished products.
Provide Verification
All ingredients must be verified that no animal products or animal by-products were not used in the manufacturing of ingredients or sub-ingredients.
What is the cost for getting products Certified Vegan?
There is a $100 non-refundable application fee to apply. If approved and finalized, this fee will be applied to your first annual licensing fee payment. All fees are in USD (United States dollar).
We ask for an annual licensing fee of each company (not for each product) for use of the trademarked “Certified Vegan” logo. The licensing fee is assessed by the company’s annual revenue from the previous fiscal year (not based on the vegan product or brand) and is due before permission is granted to use the “Certified Vegan” logo.
The licensing fee helps support the Vegan Certification program and promotes vegan products worldwide!
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I certify my company and vegan products?
Submit an application through our online form. NOTE: We do not certify companies, restaurants, food trucks, farms, or manufacturers – we certify individual products.
Why do you charge money for the certification?
Licensing fees help fund the certification program, protect the legitimacy and proper use of the trademark, and assure that the certification program will continue in the future. We charge an annual licensing fee (for an unlimited number of products/skus) based on the company's annual revenue from the previous fiscal year.
What is the time frame for completing certification?
It is different for every application dependent on the number of products being submitted and the number of ingredients per product. We cannot give an exact answer but we aim for 4-6 weeks (it may be 6-8 weeks for larger submissions). We politely ask that you do not inquire by phone or email as we will contact you once a Vegan Certifier begins to review your application.
Do you accept products that contain refined sugar?
We do not allow sugar (or other sweeteners) that are refined through bone char to carry the Certified Vegan Logo. Any companies that use cane sugar, beet sugar, corn syrup, coconut sugar, date sugar, molasses, agave, maple syrup, or brown rice syrup in their products must send a statement from the sugar supplier that guarantees that they do not use animal products in the production of that sweetener.
What about fertilizers, do you make sure animal products are not in fertilizers?
We do not request or require documentation on fertilizers that are used on food products that are Vegan Certified. In addition to that being impossible for most companies to even attain that information, we recognize that all natural soil has animal waste and animal detritus present.
Are Certified Vegan Products "veganic" or confirmed to not be grown with animal by-products?
We do not take into account soil, fertilizer, or farming practices when reviewing documentation for Vegan Certification. If we were to account for animal by-products in outdoor soil and farming practices, then nothing would qualify as vegan. We base our Certified Vegan standards on ingredients, animal testing, and processes for individual ingredients and the final product. We started the Certified Vegan Campaign for ethical reasons (to reduce the greatest harm to animals and those are ones bred and raised for food) and to make it easier to become vegan and choose vegan products. We want to support companies making a genuine effort in making vegan products and we don't want it to be an impossible venture as that would not serve anyone.
Why do you accept products that are manufactured on shared machinery?
We do allow companies to use shared machinery (machinery that also runs products containing animal products/ingredients) in the production of their products, but most of those products carry a label that says so. Companies must provide documentation of the steps that are taken to thoroughly clean the machinery.
Even though the machines are guaranteed to be cleaned thoroughly between non-vegan and vegan batches, shared machinery may contain trace amounts of eggs or dairy for example. For this reason, a Vegan Certified Product may not be acceptable to individuals with food allergies.
In addition, many vegan companies lease non-vegan kitchens and equipment from other companies to produce their products and many companies make vegan and non-vegan items on the same machines. It is extremely expensive for these small companies to purchase dedicated vegan machinery of their own. In fact, many vegan companies may not exist if they had to purchase their own equipment.
When we were starting the Vegan Certification Campaign we had to establish what was going to be considered vegan. Most products with vegan ingredients would not be considered vegan under the strictest standards because of some form of processing contamination. We decided that we would not exclude products that may possibly contain trace amounts of contamination. We consulted with other prominent vegan organizations and we all agree that vegan purity is more harmful than helpful.
Our motivation is working to end cruelty to animals and we don’t feel that avoiding trace amounts of animal products in vegan foods helps end animal suffering. It is far better for the animals that these vegan products exist. It is far better for people to realize that they have vegan options instead of nothing. If there were fewer vegan options how many people would become vegan?
We are working to end cruelty to animals by showing the non-vegan food industry that there is a market for vegan products. Once there are more vegan products available, more people will want to become vegan. As more people become vegan, more companies will make more vegan products and will be able to afford dedicated machinery. As it stands now, most people think veganism is too hard, restrictive, and expensive. When more vegan food is available it will be easier to find cheaper vegan options so people will find it easy and accessible to be vegan. Making veganism appeal to all is the only way veganism will grow and therefore cruelty to animals will lessen.
How does Vegan Action define No Animal Testing?
The definition of ‘no-animal testing’ is defined as no use of animals (live or deceased) for any type of research or testing purposes whatsoever to include feed or nutrition trials, toxicity testing, or animal tests or trials "as required by law" and not being tested by another company or independent contractor since the year 2009 and will not be tested on animals in the future.*
*Plant-based proteins are currently one of the most popular ingredient trends within the food and nutrition industry and have been ground-breaking in making the transition away from animal-based foods easy, healthy, accessible, and affordable. In addition, protein is an essential nutrient that is necessary for the growth and maintenance of muscles and other organ tissues, and it is important for companies to be able to make protein claims on their product packaging.
In order for companies in the U.S. to make a protein claim on their packaging, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has required that they include percent Daily Value for protein in the nutrition panel on the package for all proteins, and more recently, all plant-based proteins, such as pea protein. However, the %DV must be based on the “corrected protein value” not the amount that is simply declared on the Nutrition Facts Panel. This corrected value utilizes the PDCAAS. PDCAAS, or Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score, evaluates a food's protein quality. It's a method of evaluating the quality of a protein based on both the amino acid requirements of humans and their ability to digest it. The PDCAAS has been adopted by FAO/WHO as the preferred method for the measurement of the protein value in human nutrition.
Beginning in 2014, the FDA mandated the use of animals in feed trials to determine the PDCAAS. The protein is fed to a test animal in order to collect and evaluate their feces. This is considered animal research and is not consistent with Vegan Action’s guidelines of No Animal Testing prior to the year 2009 in order for a product to be approved for Vegan Certification.
As an animal welfare organization, first and foremost, we had to make a decision whether or not we should consider and approve products for the Certified Vegan designation if they contain plant-based protein ingredients that have been PDCAAS tested but they would otherwise meet our criteria. We conducted our own independent search for non-animal tested plant protein manufacturers and were unable to find any that met our guidelines and the demand required of companies. Despite the animal feed trial requirement, we made the decision to accept these ingredients for several reasons. First, these companies unfortunately do not have an alternative; every major manufacturer of plant-proteins has now conducted these animal feed trials so that their ingredients are FDA compliant. Second, we know how access to a multitude of vegan options, especially products that carry the Certified Vegan logo, makes it easier for people to opt for plant-based foods. Third, we know that suddenly labeling plant-based protein products as “not vegan acceptable” will deter people from choosing plant protein options, in direct opposition to our organization’s goal. This will maintain unethically high levels of animal suffering within the food industry and harm the movement towards a better world where less animals are eaten. Finally, once manufacturers have completed the PDCAAS evaluations, the FDA does not require repeated animal feed trials to maintain product compliance. We recognize not everyone will be in full agreement of this decision, however we truly believe this determination is in the best interest of the animals and hope you will continue to support our work.
What about Animal Testing that doesn't kill the animal?
We do not permit an ingredient or product that has been tested on any non-human animals in Certified Vegan products to include feed trials, skin tests, nutrition panels, etc. For that reason, some pet foods have not qualified for Vegan Certification.
What about the Impossible Burger, could that be Vegan Certified?
While the Impossible Burger is completely free of animal products in ingredients, there is one ingredient that was recently tested on animals and therefore it would not qualify for Vegan Certification. We recognize that this product is really popular with meat-eaters and has replaced many cow burgers being purchased over years having a significant positive impact for the animals.
Can Cultured Meat be Vegan Certified?
While we greatly support the cultured meat movement and will encourage folks to choose it over factory farmed animals, we will not Vegan Certify cultured meat due to our guidelines. Because animal cells and/or proteins are required for growing the product, it would not meet our Certified Vegan requirements of "not being sourced from animal products or animal by-products." We believe this option will soon be a viable, affordable, and accessible option that will reduce animal suffering and death as well as detrimental impacts to the environment. Even though it does not meet criteria for being Vegan Certified, we consider this a win for the animals and the Earth and look forward to cultured meat being available worldwide.
What are the Animal Testing Guidelines for vegan certification?
We recognize that just about everything, every ingredient, has been tested on animals at some point. However, we want to make sure we are not contributing to animal research, therefore we do not allow any ingredients or ingredient components that have been tested on animals since the year 2009 to be permitted in Certified Vegan products.* As of January 1, 2024, Vegan Action has updated the last date of permitted animal testing for ingredients for Vegan Certification from the year 2000 to the year 2009.
We want to continue to incentivize ingredient manufacturers to opt out of animal testing and use alternative methods as well as providing companies access to ingredients that meet our guidelines.
Many international ingredient manufacturers made an agreement to decrease or cease animal testing in order to be compliant with the European Union testing ban. The first EU ban came in 2004, which prohibited the testing of finished cosmetic products on animals. Subsequently, the ban on testing ingredients used in cosmetics products for the purpose of proving compliance with the regulation was officially implemented in 2009.
*Animal Testing Guideline Exception - Plant-based proteins are currently one of the most popular ingredient trends within the food and nutrition industry and have been ground-breaking in making the transition away from animal-based foods easy, healthy, accessible, and affordable. In addition, protein is an essential nutrient that is necessary for the growth and maintenance of muscles and other organ tissues, and it is important for companies to be able to make protein claims on their product packaging.
In order for companies in the U.S. to make a protein claim on their packaging, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has required that they include percent Daily Value for protein in the nutrition panel on the package for all proteins, and more recently, all plant-based proteins, such as pea protein. However, the %DV must be based on the “corrected protein value” not the amount that is simply declared on the Nutrition Facts Panel. This corrected value utilizes the PDCAAS. PDCAAS, or Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score, evaluates a food's protein quality. It's a method of evaluating the quality of a protein based on both the amino acid requirements of humans and their ability to digest it. The PDCAAS has been adopted by FAO/WHO as the preferred method for the measurement of the protein value in human nutrition.
Beginning in 2014, the FDA mandated the use of animals in feed trials to determine the PDCAAS. The protein is fed to a test animal in order to collect and evaluate their feces. This is considered animal research and is not consistent with Vegan Action’s guidelines of No Animal Testing prior to the year 2009 in order for a product to be approved for Vegan Certification.
As an animal welfare organization, first and foremost, we had to make a decision whether or not we should consider and approve products for the Certified Vegan designation if they contain plant-based protein ingredients that have been PDCAAS tested but they would otherwise meet our criteria. We conducted our own independent search for non-animal tested plant protein manufacturers and were unable to find any that met our guidelines and the demand required of companies. Despite the animal feed trial requirement, we made the decision to accept these ingredients for several reasons. First, these companies unfortunately do not have an alternative; every major manufacturer of plant-proteins has now conducted these animal feed trials so that their ingredients are FDA compliant. Second, we know how access to a multitude of vegan options, especially products that carry the Certified Vegan logo, makes it easier for people to opt for plant-based foods. Third, we know that suddenly labeling plant-based protein products as “not vegan acceptable” will deter people from choosing plant protein options, in direct opposition to our organization’s goal. This will maintain unethically high levels of animal suffering within the food industry and harm the movement towards a better world where less animals are eaten. Finally, once manufacturers have completed the PDCAAS evaluations, the FDA does not require repeated animal feed trials to maintain product compliance. We recognize not everyone will be in full agreement of this decision, however we truly believe this determination is in the best interest of the animals and hope you will continue to support our work.
The link to this FDA requirement can be found online here.
I don’t think you should certify products that are not organic / contain petroleum products / contain hydrogenated oils / etc.
We understand and sympathize with these concerns. One of the goals of Vegan Action is to create growth in the vegan marketplace and increase the availability of vegan products.
Our primary reason for promoting a vegan lifestyle is to protect animals from suffering.Vegan Action is very concerned with the health of humans and of our environment, but we realize that in order to accomplish our goal of protecting animals, there needs to be a large variety of animal-free alternatives. We recognize that veganism must come to the mainstream before major changes will happen with animals and the environment. The only restrictions we are willing to put on our certification is: vegan or not vegan. Other separate companies issue trademarks for organic, no trans fats, etc. We truly believe that purchasing power will have an impact on companies that use chemicals and animal products in their manufacturing. Let them know that you don’t want these chemicals to be used! When companies see that it is profitable to market environmentally and animal-friendly products- the market will boom with new products.
What about natural insecticides, can those be Vegan Certified?
We do not offer Vegan Certification for a product whose sole purpose is to kill, even if it is what we would consider harmful parasites such as fleas or ticks to protect our companion animals. However, we would offer Vegan Certification for a product where the purpose is to deter insects, for example.
How do I market “Certified Vegan” products?
We appreciate a company’s commitment to producing vegan products. We will be happy to assist your company in promoting your certified products. We also welcome samples and marketing information about nationally distributed vegan products for consideration on our website and social media feeds. Additionally, we can arrange for product samples to be distributed at the Richmond Vegetarian Festival. This annual event is one of the largest of its kind in the country, and boasts attendance in the 10,000 range.
Do you certify companies owned by parent companies and multinational corporations?
We do approve use of the Certified Vegan Logo to brands owned by large companies and corporations.
Our motivation is working to end cruelty to animals and the goal of our Vegan Certification program is to make more vegan foods available to end animal suffering and death. It is far better for the animals that these vegan products exist. It is even better for people to realize that they have vegan options instead of nothing. If there were fewer vegan options how many people would even become vegan?
We are working to end cruelty to animals by showing the non-vegan food industry that there is a market for vegan products. Once there are more vegan products available, more people will want to become vegan. As more people become vegan, more companies will make more vegan products and will drive the market in a positive direction. As it stands now, most people think veganism is too hard, restrictive, and expensive. When more vegan food is available it will be easier to find cheaper vegan options so people will find it easy and accessible to be vegan. Making veganism appeal to all is the only way veganism will grow and therefore cruelty to animals will lessen.
Are Figs Vegan?
We consider figs just as "vegan" as any other fruit. The wasp entering the fig to pollinate the flower is a natural process and is not due to human intervention. Not every female wasp gets trapped in the fig however, if she does, she is enzymatically digested. This would be no different than insects and earthworms decomposing in soil. There are unintentional insects in much of the food we eat and are often unavoidable in commercial products. We permit figs in Certified Vegan products.
Is Palm Oil permitted in Certified Vegan Products?
We agree that the environmental degradation and animal suffering involved with most palm oil harvesting is devastating. However, because palm oil contains no animal products and is not tested on animals, these are the guidelines we use for Vegan Certification, and palm oil does qualify.
If we included how the environment and habitats were impacted, then almost nothing would qualify as ethically vegan. Growing and harvesting plant products, especially on a large scale, has immense environmental impacts and is the cause of many animal deaths. For example, harvesting potatoes kills tens of thousands of mice, voles, rabbits, and their habitats every year.Technically, there is no such thing as eating without harming anything but we all do the best we can.
By no means do we promote palm oil consumption and we do not promote any companies or their products; we share with the public the items that we have determined to be Certified Vegan.
Purchasing products that are vegan is one way of making better choices, but we can never be completely free of negative impacts as consumers. The good news is that there are many products in the market that are both vegan and free of palm oil to choose from.
What are some Common Ingredients that may be animal-based and found in products?
Lanolin, shellac, glycerine, caseinate, squalene, guanine, vitamin D, stearic acid, carmine, collagen, elastin, keratin, isinglass, castoreum, whey, gelatine, Hyaluronic acid, Chondroitin, enzymes, probiotics, omega-3s, etc. For a more detailed list, see this website for the A to Z listing.
Submit an application
Please fill out the online application and easily upload your documents through the application form. In addition, you must submit a $100 non-refundable application fee. If the application is approved and finalized, this fee will be applied to your first annual licensing fee payment.
Click on this link to make the application submission payment once you have submitted your application.
Submitting an application does not give the authorization to use The Certified Vegan Logo until the application is approved and permission is granted by The Vegan Awareness Foundation.
Unauthorized use of the Certified Vegan Logo is a violation of Federal Trademark laws. Altering the Certified Vegan Logo in any way is a violation of Federal Trademark laws.