Vegan certification vs no certification

Annie Woohoo!

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Apr 20, 2018
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37
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  1. Vegan
Hello Vegan forum!
Whatever you can answer honestly will be helpful!
  1. When you're purchasing a packaged product, does it make a difference to you that it is
    • vegan certified with seal vs just stating that it is vegan on packaging
  2. Would you pay more money for something that has 2 or more certification?
  3. How does the certification affect your buying decision?
  4. What do you look for in your food? What can you do without?
    • Vegan
    • Organic
    • Non-GMO
    • Gluten-Free
    • Fairtrade
  5. How likely are you to trust non-certified labeling?


Any additional thoughts?

Thank you so much for your help!!!
 
Hi Annie, and welcome to the forum.

I'm not sure I'm a good candidate for your survey, as I don't buy a lot of packaged/processed foods. I tend to stick with whole foods, but I will answer your questions from my perspective.

1. Rather than looking for certification, I just read the ingredients. Seeing the seal is reassuring though, in most cases.

2. I would not pay more money for something with multiple seals of vegan approval. Again, the ingredients are what counts for me. What do the ingredients list...that's the question I ask. Furthermore, if the price was outrageous, I probably wouldn't consider it anyways.

3. I care more about organic certification in the produce section. That said, I always check for non-GMO labels.

4. I look for quality and freshness. I could live without the gluten free, and Fairtrade, since I never usually buy those products that would be relevant to this, like coffee, chocolate, breads and flours. I do use flour on the odd occasion, but it doesn't need to be gluten free for me. I will also sometimes buy non-organic veggies, depending on the type of fruit or veggie. If they're in the dirty dozen, I buy organic or not at all.

5. I trust ingredients lists. Certification is nice, but not always necessary. However, if something like soy is in the ingredients, I would want to see a non-GMO certification. Again, as I mentioned, I mostly buy whole foods, so I don't run into this too often. Mainly just when buying condiments, etc.


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When buying packaged prepared things I always look for organic. Here in California, only non-GMO things can be listed as organic. but not vice-versa.
Don't care about gluten-free. I actually eat gluten. Just a few things I insist on Fair Trade: chocolate and coffee.
Mostly I look at the ingredients.
And fresh produce I look for organic.
 
Long ago, the first time I went to college, I thought I wanted to be a public school teacher. We had to take an overview class of theory of education. There are classicists. Classical educators believe in a canon of academe. Music, art, math, geography, religious, grammar. Pragmatists cater to other facets of the whole student and to the overall outcome of education.

It's similar with veganism. If it's Vegan certified that's awesome and I love that...but if working class people are technically vegan with canned goods, Top Ramen and beans, I'm aligned with PETA on preferring real world progress over personal purity.
 
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When buying packaged prepared things I always look for organic. Here in California, only non-GMO things can be listed as organic. but not vice-versa.
Don't care about gluten-free. I actually eat gluten. Just a few things I insist on Fair Trade: chocolate and coffee.
Mostly I look at the ingredients.
And fresh produce I look for organic.

I do agree with Lou, as a California resident I favor organic or non-GMO ...I favor non GMO for scientific reasons. It's only been proven that GMOs are safe in the short term for human safety. There is no study proving long term safety and there are multiple studies showing agricultural and environmental harm from the patents on GMO seeds and how the pesticides used to treat those crops affect our dear bees.
 
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