"Products suitable for vegans aren’t always suitable for people who suffer with allergies so it’s important to know the difference" Vegan Society (UK)
Some people have very severe allergies that can result in anaphylactic shock, and they can die (fast) if they eat only tiny amounts of the allergen (usually a type of protein) they are allergic to.
Some people have very severe allergies that can result in anaphylactic shock, and they can die (fast) if they eat only tiny amounts of the allergen (usually a type of protein) they are allergic to.
Some people are allergic to animal-source proteins, e.g., proteins in meat, or milk protein, or egg protein. Some people are even allergic to leather – but that is another topic.
In a case from February this year (2023), a young woman (20 years old) in Italy who was severely allergic to egg and dairy died, after several days in a coma, after she had eaten a vegan tiramisu in a non-vegan café in Milan, Italy. The café is called "Mascherpa". In one English-language article online I have seen the café described as a café that specializes in food free from animal products but this is incorrect. Mascherpa is a traditional café with mostly non-vegan food that, at the time, also had a vegan tiramisu.
Now the important part for vegans:
To many long-term vegans with a bit of knowledge about the history and definition of veganism it will probably seem obvious that "vegan" - as in vegan dish, vegan product (including products with a vegan certification), vegan restaurant, etc. - does not necessarily mean that it is free from all traces of animal-source ingredients. A classic example is vegan dark chocolate (some of which are vegan logo-certified) if it is made by a non-vegan company. In almost all cases these chocolate bars will say "may contain traces of milk" or even just "may contain milk" EVEN THOUGH milk is NOT listed in the ingredients. And most vegans, in my experience, are totally fine with this. So far so good.
However, in very recent times (during the last few months) several articles (particularly from Germany [Präger et al. 2023, Reese et al. 2023]) have been published in scientific journals, usually authored by physicians in the area of allergology or dermatology, who have demanded that the label "vegan", especially of something is certified as vegan, e.g., with the yellow European Vegetarian Union (EVU) vegan logo or the UK Vegan Society's vegan flower logo, should be a "guarantee" that this food is entirely free from animal-source allergens and thereby safe for those with allergies to animal-source foods.
In addition, some research from Canada [Dominguez et al. 2023] shows that many people with such allergies assume that foods labelled "vegan" are safe for them to eat. This is, of course, not necessarily the case, and these individuals must be educated (by their physicians, I would suggest) that vegan labels, vegan logos, vegan certifications are NOT labels that provide information about the presence of allergens.
What this means for the vegan "movement" is that vegans and especially vegan organizations (especially those who provide vegan certifications), vegan businesses, vegan cafés/restaurants/caterers, etc. should NOT claim – I don't think they usually do – that their dairy-free foods are 100% free of dairy-source allergens, for example.
The same is true for all other allergens. Unless you have a production facility (e.g., kitchen in your restaurant) that is 100% vegan AND all of your suppliers (!) do too (i.e., you only buy from vegan companies – not very realistic at present) AND you are 100% certain that none of your staff will ever introduce animal allergens into your workspace, you cannot be sure that your workspace is 100% free of these allergens ... EVEN IF all these criteria would apply in your case you could not be 100% sure.
The Mascherpa café, the non-vegan café in Milano, in which the woman who died ate the vegan tiramisu is being sued and are under criminal investigation for grave criminal offences. One newspaper (L'Unione Sarda) headline from Italy reads "Tiramisu is not vegan, twenty-year-old allergic to milk dies: four suspects for murder".
This is, of course, insane. The tiramisu was vegan but it was made in a non-vegan café. Unsurprisingly it was not free from dairy-source allergens. I'm not sure if the café had labelled the vegan tiramisu as free from dairy allergens – if so this was a terrible mistake. But this mistake could easily be made because not everybody is an allergologist! And even those people with severe allergies to animal-source foods apparently do not seem to know the difference between "vegan" and "free from animal-source allergens" ... and it can be expected that most vegans do not necessarily know this either.
So, to be safe – and to keep their customers safe – all vegan cafés, restaurants, caterers, organizations, etc. should be very clear about this distinction.
Also see the blog post "Allergen vs Vegan Labelling" (from 2021) by the Vegan Society (UK) which states: "“The 2018 European Vegetarian Union (EVU) guidance, supported by FoodDrinkEurope, states that ‘the (potential) presence of inadvertent traces of non-vegan or non-vegetarian substances should not be an obstacle to labelling a product as vegan or vegetarian…as long as reasonable measures are taken to prevent contamination. The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark can also be applied to foods carrying a ‘may contain’ statement providing that there is robust evidence to show the risk of cross-contamination has been effectively managed.”
Vegan products may carry warnings about allergens from animal sources, and anyone concerned about these allergens should contact the company directly before purchasing."
Vegan products may carry warnings about allergens from animal sources, and anyone concerned about these allergens should contact the company directly before purchasing."
Vegan vs. "free from animal-source allergens" - these two terms are not synonymous!
Vegan Magnum ice cream is certified vegan by EVU - and loved by many vegans and "plant-based" near-vegans, but it's sold by Unilever, a corporation that conducts animal testing. However, all non-vegan companies actively engage in animal killing, e.g., for dairy, eggs, meat, etc. in their products.
The Vegan Society, however, has a slightly different position regarding animal testing, i.e., they state that THE PRODUCT (e.g., the vegan Magnum ice cream) is not tested on animals: "The Vegan Society ask that any product wishing to carry the Vegan Trademark contains no animal ingredients, has not been tested on animals (at the initiative of the company or on its behalf, or by parties over whom the company has effective control), and that cross-contamination is minimised as far as possible." Vegan Society (UK)
Widely recognized vegan certification logos. In mainland Europe, the yellow EVU logo is probably the most common one. But the Vegan Society's "vegan flower logo" is also well known.
The Vegan Society "V flower logo" is also well-known but not used for certifcation of products (as far as I know).
Anaphylaxis (here used with the same meaning as anaphylactic shock) and some typical symptoms that can lead up to it
