VIDEO | Analytical approach to validating vegan labelling

There has been an evident consumer shift towards plant-based products. This growing movement, especially for vegan products, has highlighted the unique and multi-factorial challenges and gaps in commercial testing methods to adequately meet market requirements.

The complex nature of food, combined with regulatory limitations and food safety and ethical concerns, presents the food industry with several analytical challenges to substantiate vegan labelling and claims.

Traditional DNA-based species testing methods are often utilized – in isolation – to confirm vegan product integrity. However, this approach has several limitations and challenges that need to be addressed to ensure the integrity of test results.

Since proteins are useful biomarkers in food analysis and are common analytes in a large range of animal and animal-derived ingredients and materials, they can provide evidence to confirm the authenticity of vegan products. Targeted proteomics offers a specific, sensitive, and accurate testing approach for detecting the presence of animal compounds in products and substantiating vegan product label claims.

By providing an overview of current laboratory data and case studies, this AOAC presentation by Hesrie Steyn will focus on the South African industry requirements for vegan products and highlight the impact it has on testing approaches for plant-based product assurance.