TORONTO,  May 30, 2012….VegeCert today launched its vegetarian and vegan certification.
Effective immediately, 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. “We endorse the standards created and enthusiastically support this initiative,” said Executive Director David Alexander.
“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 US consumers while approximately 10 per cent of all consumers support a ‘vegetarian inclined diet’ according to Harris interactive 2008.
One of the attributes that makes VegeCert unique is that it does not certify products by simply verifying a list of ingredients that make up a particular product. Its inspectors make real time inspections to its manufacturing facilities to ensure that VegeCert certified products conform to VegeCert’s high standards.
VegeCert’s inspections are performed by COR, Canada’s largest kosher certification agency. COR has been servicing the food industry for over 60 years and now certifies over 65,000 products at over 1,000 facilities across Canada and beyond.
According to Richard Rabkin, VegeCert’s Managing Director, “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.”
A number of food manufacturers have already signed up for VegeCert certification, said Rabkin. One such company, Toronto-based Sweets of the Earth, produces vegan baked goods. “Being vegan is an essential part of our brand identity,” said Ilana Kadonoff, the company’s founder. “It is important for us to have an outside agency certify our products as vegan and that’s why we are thrilled to be VegeCert vegan certified.”