Plamil - The Vegan Trademark - Dairy-Free?

[bwilson]

I'm vegan and wondered whether members of this forum use the Vegan trademark to establish whether a product is dairy-free?

Plamil (a completely dairy-free manufacturer) is concerned about the Vegan trademark being used alongside 'may contain' statements (see http://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/trademark.htm). Under trading standards/FSA guidelines a product cannot be labelled as vegan alongside a 'may contain' statement, but for some reason the Vegan Society are allowing this to be used alongside their symbol. This seems confusing to me at least (especially as the number of people with dairy intolerance is larger than the number of vegans and therefore it may be used as a surrogate for 'dairy-free' - I know I choose products that are labelled 'dairy-free' because I'm vegan). What do you think?

Bob

PS If you feel strongly on this there is a petition at: http://www.plamilfoods.co.uk/petition.htm

[rebecca c]

It is confusing. I am not vegan but have family members who have been in the past. I look at the ingredients to be sure something is dairy free, if the ingredients seem unclear or there is any ambiguity I dont buy it.

[Copper]

I never rely on the Vegan trade mark as I always read the list of ingredients.

I will pay more attention and see if anything I buy has the trade mark along with may contain dairy.

Too many food items have the warning "may contain traces of dairy" these days. I am only intolerant so take the risk and I have been fine so far. It is not a helpful form of labelling.

[Johanna]

I had an interesting chat with Green and Blacks, because my son, who is allergic to dairy, has been able to enjoy most of their chocolate. Some months ago Allergy UK let me know that G&B were changing their labelling to say "may contain", but recently in the ingredients milk was listed as the final ingredient.

I was gutted and rang them to ask why - however, following an audit, because they use the same production lines, and because some tiny amount (and I can't remember the micrograms) could be identified, althought they HAVE NOT changed the recipes, by law they HAVE TO change the labelling. As such, he can still have the chocolate. I know this, but I shan't be telling family etc, as I think it is too confusing for them (I spend my life checking labels so it's the norm for me).

In this litigious society, companies have to protect themselves, but by the same token it's hard for us consumers. But there's nothing to stop you picking up the phone to them, or emailing them. They're very helpful.

I tend to trust the vegan sign, but still look at ingredients, and not just the allergen info, having found "butter" in a list, but not listed as containing dairy!!!