Morrisons, one of the UK’s leading supermarkets, just announced its new commitment to vegan labeling. All of the Morrison-brand vegan products will be clearly labeled so consumers can purchase cruelty-free items with confidence.
The supermarket’s initiative is a result of a recent Animal Aid campaign, #MarkItVegan. The campaign launched in 2016 to persuade all major UK supermarkets to adopt clear vegan labeling on their store-brand products. At the time, few stores had developed a vegan label, though many offered vegan products. The products were labeled as “suitable for vegetarians,” but that still left vegan consumers scanning the back of the packages for any egg or dairy ingredients.
Animal Aid started a petition to demonstrate to supermarkets the mass customer appeal of vegan labels. To date, the organization has collected over ten thousand signatures, and the campaign has obtained success with several UK stores. Tesco, Asda, and Aldi have all committed to including vegan labels on their plant-based products, creating their own vegan logo to define their brand.
Morrisons has not yet launched its own vegan label system, but the company promised it would take effect this year. Animal Aid congratulated Morrisons for its new commitment in a press release. The organization’s vegan outreach campaign manager, Tod Bradbury, said, “We are absolutely delighted that Morrisons has made the decision to start to label their own-brand vegan products. This will make a huge difference to vegans, and those shopping for vegans, as well as anybody who is thinking about including more plant-based foods in their diet.”
To touch on the former “suitable for vegetarians” labeling, Bradbury continued, “Up until this point, Morrisons had been inconsistent with its vegan labeling, so this will clear up any confusion that this may have caused, and mean that those purchasing vegan products can do so in confidence.”
Animal Aid is continuing to ask other major supermarkets to commit to vegan labeling. The organization is focused on Marks & Spencer, Lidl, and Waitrose to “up their vegan game” and label their store-brand vegan products.
With the news of Morrisons latest commitment, Bradbury commented, “We hope that all other major supermarkets follow suit.”
Image Credit: Animal Aid. | Shutterstock
