Vegetarian, vegan certification available in Canada
VegeCert today launched its vegetarian and vegan certification.
Food products qualifying for VegeCert’s certification will have their packaging branded by the VegeCert symbol and the appropriate designation–either ‘Certified Vegetarian’ or ‘Certified Vegan’.
The Toronto Vegetarian Association has worked closely with VegeCert, a non-profit organization “We endorse the standards created and enthusiastically support this initiative,” said executive director David Alexander in a press release.
“Over the past few months, we surveyed our constituents asking if they would be interested in the VegeCert certification and overwhelmingly, 97 per cent responded ‘yes’,” he added.
Vegetarians and vegans represent approximately four per cent of Canadian and U.S. consumers while approximately 10 per cent of all consumers support a ‘vegetarian inclined diet’ according to Harris interactive 2008.
VegeCert's inspections are performed by COR, Canada's largest kosher certification agency that has has been servicing the food industry for over 60 years and now certifies over 65,000 products at over 1,000 facilities across Canada.
“There is considerable crossover between kosher certified food products and vegetarian and vegan diets, so VegeCert can leverage COR's expertise and offer a service for food manufacturers that allows them to market their products to growing consumer demographics," said Richard Rabkin, VegeCert’s managing director, in the release.
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