Vegan Certification
One mark, two answers: nothing animal-derived in the formula, and no testing of the product on animals by or for you — checked by a person.
Vegan certification is independent verification that a product contains no animal-derived ingredients and is not tested on animals by or for the company. V-Cert certifies vegan claims through a remote review of formulations, ingredient specifications and supplier declarations against a written standard, and issues a numbered certificate any buyer can check by QR code — no account, no email.
Tell us what you make and a certification reviewer scopes your quote with you.
Vegan certification
Get my quoteWhy this claim pays
$8.1B
U.S. retail sales of plant-based foods reached $8.1 billion in 2023.
Vegan stopped being a niche shelf a decade ago. What changed recently is the question buyers ask next: who verified it? A self-declared “vegan” flag costs nothing and proves nothing; a certificate with a public record answers the question before it’s asked — in a retailer onboarding form, in an export file, in a customer’s two-second label check.
Source: Plant Based Foods Association / SPINS, 2024 · verified 2026-07-03
Four checks, one reviewer, your whole file
Every ingredient, to its origin.
Additives, carriers, coatings and processing aids are checked against the standard’s exclusion list — down to the clarifying agent your juice supplier never puts on a label.
No animal testing by or for you, in scope and on paper.
Documented supplier policies cover the finished product and its ingredients — a fixed policy, not a pledge.
Declarations, read by a person.
Signed supplier paperwork for every input that could be animal-derived. Gaps pause the clock; they don’t end the review — your reviewer names the missing document, you send it, the review resumes.
A certificate anyone can check.
Your certificate is issued the day the decision is made, and its status travels with its number — suspensions included. One scan settles any buyer’s doubt.
Most failed vegan claims are not dishonest — they are untraced.
Animal-derived inputs rarely arrive under recognizable names. They come as colors, carriers, coatings, clarifying agents and vitamin sources — often two or three steps up the supply chain, in ingredients your own supplier buys from someone else. A formulation team can assemble an entirely plant-forward product and still carry an input it has never seen named.
That is what the review exists to trace — and why it runs on signed declarations from the party that actually knows, not on reading the finished label. Most files arrive with one or two gaps; your reviewer names each one precisely enough to close it, and the review resumes the day the document lands.
Where animal-derived ingredients hide
None of these inputs makes certification impossible: each has a documented plant-based, mineral, synthetic or fermentation-derived alternative — and when a review finds one, your reviewer names the specific gap and the document that closes it.
| Input | Typically hides in | What the review asks for |
|---|---|---|
| Carmine (E120) | Red and pink shades in confectionery, beverages, cosmetics | Color specification naming the source — cochineal is animal-derived |
| Gelatin | Capsules, gummies, glazes, clarified juices | Capsule or glaze specification plus a supplier declaration |
| Casein and whey | Flavor carriers, protein blends, “non-dairy” creamers | Carrier composition from the flavor house |
| Isinglass | Fining (clarifying) agent in juice and beverage processing | Processing-aid declaration from the producer |
| Bone-char refined sugar | Refined cane sugar, depending on the refinery | Refiner’s declaration of the decolorization method |
| Vitamin D3 from lanolin | Fortified foods and supplements | Source declaration — lichen-derived D3 is the vegan route |
| Shellac (E904) | Glazes on confectionery, coffee beans and tablets | Glaze specification naming the resin source |
| L-cysteine | Dough conditioners in bakery | Supplier declaration of fermentation origin |
| Omega-3 oils | Fortified foods and softgels | Source declaration — fish oil versus algal oil |
| Beeswax (E901) | Coatings on fruit, confectionery and cosmetics | Coating specification — plant waxes are the alternative |
E-numbers follow the EU additive numbering system; the same substances appear under other names in US ingredient lists. Linked inputs open their ingredient library entries.
Built for your scope — and plain about the rest
Built for
- Food and beverage producers launching or relabeling vegan SKUs
- Supplement brands replacing gelatin, lanolin and fish-derived inputs
- Cosmetics brands pairing vegan with cruelty-free in one review
- Exporters whose buyers want a certificate they can verify by QR
Not built for
- Retail programs that require a specific vegan trademark by name — some chains do
- Buyers whose contracts require an on-site audit scheme
If that’s your buyer, we’ll tell you before you pay anything.
Process — three steps
Apply · online
Apply online
Your marks, your product category, your scope — no documents needed yet, and nothing to pay at application.
Review · documents, not visits
Remote desk review
A named reviewer works through your formulations, ingredient specifications and supplier declarations against the V-Cert Vegan Standard — no site visit.
Issue · decision day
Certificate + mark artwork
Your certificate arrives with its own number and QR code, alongside mark artwork in four formats. From that day a buyer can check the number without going through you.
Typical desk review: 5–10 business days from complete documentation.
What the Vegan mark requires
These are the requirements themselves — not a summary of them.
- No ingredients, additives, carriers or processing aids of animal origin
- No testing of the finished product or its ingredients on animals, by or for the company, within scope
- Signed supplier declarations for every ingredient with possible animal origin
- Cross-contact controls documented where lines share animal-derived inputs
- Mark used only on certified products — never as a company-wide claim
Vegan certification at a glance
| Scope | Food · supplements · cosmetics |
|---|---|
| Review model | Remote desk review of documents, wherever you manufacture |
| Quote | Calculated at application — nothing to pay until you approve |
| Standard | V-Cert Vegan Standard |
| Verification | Every certificate carries a number and a QR code — anyone can check it, current status included |
| Renewal | Annual — a re-review of deltas and refreshed declarations |
Go deeper
Every vegan product is vegetarian by definition — add that mark for a document, not a second application. Non-GMO shares most of the same origin paperwork, and cosmetics files can add Cruelty-Free to the same review. One application, one review, one invoice.
Tools and ingredients for a Vegan claim
Four working instruments for this claim — check your file, look up an ingredient, read the guides, and arm the person who signs off.
Questions the page hasn’t answered
How is V-Cert different from V-Label or Vegan Society trademarks?
They are separate programs with separate owners — we claim no equivalence to either. V-Cert is remote-first, and what its mark requires is written out in full on this page. If a retailer requires a specific trademark by name, that requirement decides — send it to us and we’ll answer plainly.
Do you audit our facility on site?
No — certification runs on documents, not visits. What the reviewer reads at each stage, and what happens when a document is missing, is covered on how the review works.
What documents do we need to prepare?
A complete ingredient list per product, ingredient specifications, and supplier declarations for any input with possible animal origin. The checklist below names every document — most small and mid-size applicants assemble the file within days.
Is V-Cert accredited?
V-Cert is an independent certification body and is not ISO/IEC 17065 accredited. What each mark requires and the rules for granting, suspending and withdrawing certificates are published, and every certificate is verifiable by QR code.
What does vegan certification cost?
Your exact figure is calculated at application and shown before any payment. How quotes are built — marks, product category, SKU band — is on the pricing page.
How long does vegan certification take?
The typical review window is stated in the process strip above. The fuller answer — including the two clocks you control before ours starts — is in how long vegan certification takes.
Desk-Review Document Checklist (Vegan)
Every document our reviewers ask for in a vegan desk review — one email field, nothing else.
Page last updated
Your vegan claim, ready to prove
Start the application whenever your file is ready — a person reads every one.
- Free to apply
- No card, no deposit — nothing is payable until you approve a quote.
- Your quote, scoped to you
- Your quote is scoped by a certification reviewer who has read your product list.
- We disqualify ourselves out loud
- If a desk review — or V-Cert itself — is not the right fit for your scope, we say so at the quote stage.
Not sure the Vegan mark fits your file? Ask the V-Cert Certification Team before you apply — a reviewer reads every message.
info@v-cert.org