What is Vegan Certification?

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.

Liquids such as beer, wine, maple syrup, 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 supplier, producer, manufacturer, or independent party for any type of research 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.