Vegan Criteria
CheckVegan checks ingredient composition, not marketing claims. Here is exactly how we decide whether an ingredient is vegan, not vegan, or unconfirmed, what we do and don't evaluate, and how our checker relates to formal vegan certification.
How we classify ingredients
We classify an ingredient as vegan if it contains no animal-derived components at any point in its production, whether that's the ingredient itself, a processing aid used to make it, or a substrate it was grown or fermented on. Every ingredient in our database gets one of three classifications:
Sourced from plants, minerals, chemical synthesis, fermentation, or biotechnology such as precision fermentation and cell culture. No animal or insect involvement at any stage.
Confirmed to come from an animal or insect. This includes obvious sources like meat, dairy, and eggs, and less obvious ones like beeswax, shellac, carmine, gelatin, and silk.
The exact same ingredient can be produced from either an animal or a non-animal source, and the name alone doesn't say which. Only a supplier declaration can confirm it.
What counts as animal-derived
We classify an ingredient as not vegan if it, or any processing aid used to make it, comes from any of the following:
- Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy, and honey.
- Insect-derived substances, including beeswax, shellac, carmine (cochineal), and silk.
- Animal-derived processing aids and clarifying agents, including gelatin, isinglass, animal-derived enzymes, and bone char used to filter sugar.
- Animal-derived textiles and materials, including leather, fur, wool, down, feathers, cashmere, angora, mohair, and suede.
- Animal-derived culture media, substrates, or feedstocks used anywhere upstream in fermentation or biotechnology production.
Why some ingredients are "unconfirmed"
Some ingredients, such as glycerin or certain fatty acid derivatives, can be produced from palm oil, other plants, or animal fat, depending entirely on which supplier a manufacturer buys from. The finished ingredient is chemically identical and carries the same name either way, so there is no way to tell the source apart from the name on a label.
Unconfirmed doesn't mean unsafe or low quality. It means our database can't verify the origin from the ingredient name alone. For brands going through vegan certification, a supplier declaration typically resolves an unconfirmed ingredient to either vegan or not vegan.
What we don't evaluate
Our classification is about ingredient origin and composition only. It does not cover:
- Animal testing. Whether an ingredient or finished product was tested on animals can't be derived from ingredient composition alone. It depends on decisions made by suppliers, manufacturers, and others further up the chain, so it falls outside what our classification covers.
- Cross-contamination. We check what's on the ingredient list, not what happens on a production line. Shared equipment, facility contamination, and supplier hygiene practices are outside what an ingredient list can tell you.
- Environmental impact, animal welfare in farming, GMOs, palm oil sourcing, fair trade, and other ethical or sustainability considerations beyond animal-derived content.
How we keep this current
Classifications are made to the best of our knowledge based on available scientific and regulatory sources, and are reviewed periodically. Every glossary entry shows a "last reviewed" date. If you think a classification is wrong, you can report it from any ingredient page.
