ProVeg celebrates landmark ISO standard empowering consumer choice

A recently released worldwide standard will help to boost confidence in the global plant-based food sector, according to ProVeg International.

The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) publishes the standard, which is titled “Plant-based foods and food ingredients — definitions and technical criteria for labelling and claims.”

Martine van Haperen, a food service and food industry specialist at ProVeg International, stated, “We anticipate the new standard to have a significant impact on industry.”

“It could be a first step towards governmental legislation regarding the labelling of plant-based foods, further solidifying consumer trust in this product claim, in addition to providing guidance for voluntary corporate labelling policies,” Van Haperen stated.

According to ProVeg International, consumer research shows that ‘plant-based’ is one of the most appealing claims to label products that don’t contain animal ingredients.

Previously, there was no internationally recognised guideline on how this claim should be used. As a result, foods containing animal ingredients are occasionally labelled as ‘plant-based’, which risks confusing consumers and damaging their trust in this claim.

The ISO standard provides clear guidance for manufacturers and retailers worldwide to preserve and promote ‘plant-based’ as a claim that is widely trusted and appreciated by consumers.

“Adherence to ISO standards is voluntary, so we need to wait and see how this standard is received and implemented across various cultural, economical and political spaces,” Van Haperen said.

“However, ISO is a widely respected institute and this standard was created with input from food industry partners and NGOs around the world,” she added.

For the past three years, Martine van Haperen has represented ProVeg in the worldwide ISO working group developing a standard for products that can be labelled plant-based.

ISO is a very influential institute and this standard will likely influence both corporate and governmental food-labelling policy.

The standard will cover two types of foods:

1. Food with no animal ingredients which can be labelled plant-based.
2. Food with limited and conditional use of animal ingredients.

Foods in the second category cannot be labelled plant-based, except with a qualifier, for instance as “plant-based vegetarian”. They can also be called something else, like “plant-strong”. This is left up to the manufacturer to decide. The use of animal-derived ingredients must be clearly and transparently highlighted on the label to prevent consumers from being misled.

“While this second category isn’t what we would define as strictly plant-based, it’s a compromise, helping to satisfy mixed-stakeholder politics. Given the strength of the first category, ProVeg welcomes the new standard, which reflects strong consensus among industry, consumer groups and other stakeholders,” van Haperen said.