Vegetarian and Vegan

Defining criteria for preparations of vegetarian and vegan foods/products

The guidance notes on the use of the terms ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ in food labelling in catering, manufacturing and the retail sectors in relation to those foods labelled or prepared as suitable for vegetarian and vegan diets needs to be more specific to the sources of ingredients used. I agree with the recommendations made by both the BNF and NCC not only to improve labelling but also to change the criteria in deciding the definition for both these terms.

To permit foods that are produced by, from, or with the use of live animals, for example, eggs will not be suitable for practicing Hindu or Jain vegetarians who would NOT agree to the rationale for the proposed criteria for what is vegetarian and would find it offensive on religious ground. Consuming eggs will make them Lacto-Ovo-vegetarians which they are not.

Vegetarians do not consume red meat, poultry, game, fish, insects or eggs and any products or by –products made with these foods.Except the Vegetarian Society in UK (which has shocked both these communities) approves such foods and allows using their logo for foods to be recognised as suitable for vegetarians, but vegetarians do not buy/eat such products. Vegetarian Society’s criteria must be for Western-Vegetarians, many of whom consume eggs, or fish or both. The term vegetarian should not be applied to foods made from or with the aid of such products.

The difference between "Vegetarians" and "Vegans" is that "Vegetarians"
consume milk and its products, provided the milk products are made using ingredients of vegetarian sources, such as vegetarian sources of rennet to make cheese. Thus vegetarians are in actual fact Lacto-vegetarians. Some vegetarians use honey, some Jains do not.

While the "Vegans" do not consume milk and milk products, honey, bee pollen or waxes.‘Vegan’ foods are prepared with the exclusion of any foods that were made from or with the use of animals or animal products of any kind.

My proposal for the criteria for preparation of ‘vegetarian products’ is as below:

Foods or food products suitable for vegetarians should be prepared with:

• exclusion of foods made from or with the aid of products derived from meat, poultry, game, fish, insects, eggs and its products or by-products, whether from slaughtered animals or from dead animals by natural death or death by other causes.  And exclusion as processing agents (e.g. fats and blood, rennet, bones, albumin, isinglass, gelatine, anchovies etc.). The products should be prepared without cross contamination of such above mentioned products.