Does new labeling law protect vegetarians? - Brief Article

Nutrition Health Review, Summer, 2003 by P.W. Zimmerman

Many vegetarians have asked about the degree of protection provided to them by new nutritional labeling regulations. It is clear that, in some areas, vegetarians will gain insight and information about products that they are buying. This is true both in regard to the specifics that the new regulations mandate and the omissions now, found on some products, formerly listed as suitable for vegetarians. Nutritional companies are somewhat more aware of their responsibilities under the new rules and are deleting information that is openly misleading.

One area, however, is of intense concern to vegetarians and to those with dietary restrictions because of health or religious reasons. Some items do not have to be listed, even under the strictest interpretation of the new regulations.

For example, Company X wishes to make a tablet of vitamin A. The company purchases a raw material that is precoated with animal gelatin. The label need not include the fact that a substantial amount of an animal product is being incorporated into the supplement. Thus, the vegetarian is at the mercy of the manufacturer.

Sometimes even a phone call to the company has not yielded the appropriate information. A label for a so-called vegetarian product included the words "contains collagen." Upon being pressed, the manufacturer admitted that collagen was indeed just another name for animal matter.

The only way a vegetarian consumer can be 100 percent sure that a nutritional product is animal-free is to purchase from a company that is supervised by a reliable certifying agency.