The Looking-Glass and VeggieGlobal
Ethical Labelling Campaign ...
The NOVA
Key©®

International Investigation, NOVA Key Discussion and Case Studies

Also read the Comments and Letters Page

Labelling in the UK and the worldwide labelling fiasco

The United Kingdom is leading a trend towards providing a wealth of information on its food products ... to the point where everyday consumers are overwhelmed by lines of symbols and indecipherable nutritional information. A quick glance at a product to check ethical suitability can turn your shopping experience into a hair-ripping fiasco - The game is called scrutinize-the-label and this has become an increasing pastime for many ethically minded shoppers, not just in the UK but the world over. This is because, the powers that be seem to think that a consumer is happy to spend hours standing in a shop dissecting the wording on labels. First you have to wade through reams of nutritional wording before finding the actual ingredients listing - even tinier and harder-to-read - but which is in fact the info most people with ethical or dietary preferences really need to know. Ask any consumer what aspects of a product's information is most important to them and most will say they need to know how natural or not the item is - Is it or isn't it suitable for vegetarians - Is it or isn't it organic - Has it been tested on animals. If some consumers don't particularly care about any of these ethical choices they are often even less likely to care about the nutritional values of a product ... So why are UK consumers being bombarded with confusing dietary info? Apparently it's because the country is getting too fat. To try and curb obesity, consumers are foremost provided with tables and figures to explain how fatter they might get if they eat the packet of biscuits they are pondering over in the supermarket aisle. Although providing dietary information on a food product is a good thing, do people really consider weighing up all the figures these labels provide before choosing to by the product or not? We think not. Such dietary labelling should be displayed in a sensible proportion on the packaging so if consumers want to do the maths before buying the product then they can. Our research shows that checking the NOVA Key is of priority interest for the ethical consumer while automatically providing an ample, quick-look indicator for general health considerations. Consumerism and environmental ethics are fast becoming an inseparable marketing combination and our voters realize that the NOVA Key is the answer to solving what has become an otherwise over-complex labelling conundrum.

"Current labelling systems are a farce - particularly "V" for vegetarian and Organic (Bio) - After your weekly shop the chances that you have inadvertently bought products which are against your ethical preference are extremely high."

If you browse the aisles of any supermarket in the UK you can find hundreds of product examples, which leave you confused as to whether or not they are vegetarian friendly or animal friendly.
Here is a typical example of veggie labelling confusion. Waitrose is a popular supermarket chain in the Southern UK. Their self-applied policy is to "V" label many of their own brands suitable for veggies. At the time of writing it's own brand of Bran Flakes did not contain a "V" label, but the Kellogg's equivalent did. Does this mean that Waitrose Bran Flakes contains parts of dead animals but the Kellogg's version doesn't? Or is it that Waitrose forgot to put a "V" label on this particular product? (even though they label all their cereals otherwise). Waitrose have, however confirmed that their Bran Flakes do not contain animal products. They have simply forgotten to print a "V" label on the box.
Nestle's "Cinnamon Grahams" are suitable for veggies while "Golden Grahams" are not according to Nestle UK's vegetarian listing*. But to confuse us further, neither product shows any indication on the packet which or which isn't suitable for veggies.
Because there are some breakfast cereals, sweets, biscuits etc. that do contain animal products, this random labelling practice just confuses vegetarian shoppers. However, many veggies might buy unlabelled breakfast cereal, naively thinking that it must be an oversight that it's not labelled. Surely a breakfast cereal can't possibly contain dead animals? Well in fact quite a few do.
And to confuse things even more, a vegetarian might buy a pot of yoghurt assuming that all yoghurts are surely vegetarian? But a closer look at the ingredients shows that some brands contain gelatine.
Where certain brands of chocolate display veggie labels, many others don't - and again many chocolate bars and sweets contain parts of dead animals.
It's a minefield of uncertainty, and this is just the very tip of the iceberg.
*Nestle UK online Vegetarian Products list January 2002

International awareness and naivety - USA, Europe, Australia and elsewhere

Some countries have no form of veggie labelling whatsoever.
The United States focus on additive listings rather than a products' suitability for vegetarians. This is simply due to legislative reasons aimed to protect manufacturers against lawsuits from consumers who may suffer allergic reactions to food additives. In fact food manufactures in the US are reluctant to label foods for vegetarian suitability.
In the UK and other parts of Europe however, labelling foods has taken on a promotional identity all of it's own, particularly since the organic revolution. Some manufactures are labelling foods "organic" even though the product may always have been "organic"… it's a good excuse to raise the price of the product!
Giving your product a greener profile is all rage now, and since the UK have begun veggie and organic (bio) labelling, some supermarkets and manufactures have turned this to their commercial advantage. Selling "green" is now big business; and of course any positive effect towards promoting foods and other products that are environmentally or ethically friendly is a good thing. However, it's becoming increasingly noticeable that subliminally misleading labelling along with green-style promotion is exploiting both meat-eaters and vegetarians equally. A NOVA Key voter in Australia pointed out a that a product claiming suitablility for vegans contained egg. Via our Australia and New Zealand corespondents we are noticing quite a few ethical labelling discrepancies or sheer naivety by manufacturers and sellers.

There are many naive shoppers who believe that because a product displays an "organic label, it must surely be suitable for vegetarians. Organic wine is a good example, since it's not necessarily suitable for vegetarians. It only means that the grapes used to make the wine are grown without the use of chemical pesticides or chemical fertilizers. However, the clarifying and fining agents used in the wine making process can contain various animal derivatives including blood, gelatine, and isinglass - which comes from the bladder of the sturgeon fish. Cheeses that are made with organic milk may well contain animal derived rennet. A ready-made organic vegetable soup could have non-vegetarian Worcester sauce in it (which contains anchovies). In Germany we find many cases of food products labelled as "Bio" (their description for "organic") but which contain animal products (more on German labelling below) In fact, organic or Bio has become such an over-hyped trend, and it's use on food labelling so questionable that consumers are becoming increasingly sceptical of its validity.

The NOVA Key also investigates labelling across Europe. Although the European Union is supposed to regulate some kind of consistency relating to products it sells within its borders, (the most barmy being how curved bananas are supposed to be) our research shows that EU countries overall have a labelling structure that is wide open to multiple interpretations. Much boils down to each country having different consumer habits. In Germany for example, there is now a strong trend towards "bio" products, which also ties in with mainland Europe's more localized approach towards food sourcing. UK supermarket consumers still revel in being able to cheaply buy almost anything they can think off, imported from every corner of the world, but countries like Germany traditionally prefer to shop for locally sourced products from town markets ... Fresher, tastier and cheaper with only a few food kilometres to contribute to its carbon costs. Sourcing foods from local growers also means the products can be trusted, according to NOVA Key research in Germany. Although the "bio" labelling trend has integrated into the German shopping experience quite seamlessly, German's are beginning to question the validity of "bio" because so many imported bio-labelled products are flooding the market of which there is no defined level of how "bio" (organic) a product actually is. As with most countries, there is no legislation as to how organic a product is before it can be labelled as such, and with so many dubious imported products claiming to be bio, faith in the product is waning fast. The word "bio" is being slapped on so many products, which clearly contain a random percentage of non-bio ingredients, that products not labelled bio may just as easily be considered bio in comparison. Meanwhile there is hardly a single food product sold in Germany describing whether it is suitable for vegetarians. When the term vegetarian is used, it's applied so loosely to the point where more often than not the product (often in restaurant foods) isn't actually veggie at all. As in the UK, some of the more hedonistic or pretentious Germans call themselves vegetarians even though they eat fish, non-veggie cheeses and platefuls of patisserie style cakes full of gelatine. During our investigations even long-established cheese shops in this traditionally meat-fuelled country don't know what cheeses they sell contain animal rennet or not. (But even in the UK we have come up against this ignorance) And, never assume that something which is called "vegetarisch" in a German restaurant actually is pure vegetarian.
In Italy, the bio revolution is in full swing, and in such a corrupted way that if everything that the Italian food industry claimed to produce in it's own country (for example olive oil) really was as described on the packaging there wouldn't be enough space in Italy to actually grow it all.
So, if you are a "real" vegetarian living in mainland Europe, the NOVA Key sympathizes with your frustration. Get in touch with your concerns and stories when you Vote for the NOVA Key

A loosely applied trend … where fashion and compassion get all mixed up.

For some consumers, keyword presentation on the wrapper is an important thing. This means that lifestyle-designed packaging is what can sell a food product. And if shoppers let them, manufacturers will continue to manipulate all consumers with pseudo-ethical gobbledegook because carefully worded descriptions on slick designed packaging - suggesting healthy and environmentally safe eating (and wearing) is a lucrative selling point for manufacturers (While the contents inside the package can often fall short of consumers expectations). The marketing industry has an unspoken golden rule; They know that style rather than principles sells to the richer, less judicious, or even green but naive shopper, who simply takes a product complete with its reassuring sound-bite at face value. Affluent pseudo-veggies can revel over a product for its status symbolism while artificially inflated prices match the flashy organic label. But something like "organic pesto" with a very green looking label certainly doesn't make it vegetarian because it may well contain animal derivatives - as it may always have done. A supermarket trolley filled with style statements means more profit to manufacturers simply because an ostentatious shopper is more concerned with social symbolism rather than caring about the product's true origins.
Even own-brand shops have begun to recognize labelling as a selling point… and as we've discussed, particularly "organic".
Without a two-way clarification process that the NOVA Key can provide, ethical labelling used as a lifestyle statement will always be open to double standards. Product labelling should not be applied only to appease the lifestyle-obsessed consumer and profit the seller ... it must be considered a prerequisite condition of manufacturing, without reason to misinform (or not inform at all) but to help initiate real environmental improvements and provide ethical clarity.

Why we need a clear non-partisan labelling system now ... more than ever

Carefully worded descriptions on trendy package designs suggesting healthy and environmentally safe eating (and wearing), is a lucrative selling point for the manufacturing industries. But the contents inside the package can often fall short of consumers expectations. Because consumers are becoming more conscious of what they are eating, manufacturers have taken advantage of the trend, which means labelling that promotes the product's health qualities is now overwhelming any clear indication of its ethical suitability for everybody.
Style rather than ethical principles sells to the less judicious shopper, who simply takes a product complete with its reassuring sound-bite at face value. While affluent pretend-vegetarians might revel in a product's symbolism, foods like "organic pesto sauce", for example, certainly doesn't make it vegetarian; because it may well contain animal derivatives. A supermarket trolley filled with style statements means more profit to manufacturers simply because a growing number of pseudo-ethical shoppers are more influenced by social symbolism: a statement about what looks good on their kitchen shelves as a "caring, ethical representation" rather than really understanding about the product's true origins.
Even own-brand shops have begun to recognize labelling as a selling point because of this trend … particularly "organic". But then in 2005, the reality of pseudo-labelling to appeal to trendy shoppers reared its head:
The UK Sunday newspaper "The Observer" published an article revealing that many food manufacturers are falsifying their products. Some manufacturers are claiming that their foods are organic when they aren't. We applaud the Observer for revealing what we have felt for sometime, that manufacturers are cheating consumers with false organic labelling. This revelation raises the urgency more than ever to introduce the NOVA Key as a legal requirement - and as soon as possible.

Passing off ordinary food as organic and bio - Suggesting that a product or food dish is vegetarian when it isn't. ... Because of the labelling hyperbole these issues are become a more common occurrence every day. Non-partisan NOVA Key labelling will begin to slow this trend, because a manufacturer will have the opportunity to display an honest ethical description. As one NOVA Key voter has commented "I see no reason for manufacturers not to do this (use the NOVA Key) unless they are ashamed of their products"

In late 2002 there were a couple of incidents of Black Widow spiders being found in grapes sold in UK supermarkets, which hadn't been treated with chemical pesticides. It's important to stress that such incidents are extremely rare and should not reflect on any safety aspects of organic produce. In such cases it's simply the lack of proper screening and washing of these natural products at the picking and packing stages. The companies involved need to raise screening standards to help eliminate such incidents completely. "Real" organic produce doesn't need this kind of negative publicity.

Read voters thoughts on the Comments Pages

Also read the Comments and Letters Page

 

SIGN THE PETITION Mail this Campaign to a Friend Have a Question? Here are lots of useful Q and A's For more choices, use the NOVA Key Campaign Menu top left of this page to explore. What You Can Do In Your Own Time To Help UNITED KINGDOM and IRELAND site visitors Due to the current state of labelling practices in the UK, it's worth keeping a vigilant eye open for products with "V" or "O" style labels on them. And if you have doubts about a product's authenticity as being totally meat free or organic etc, then contact the stores management or the producers themselves. Tell us about it as we will keep this site updated with your reports. Vote and add your comments Investigation and Case Studies Q and A's Nova Key Examples on Products Europe Mainland, USA, Canada, Australia, Asia and New Zealand site visitors Your observations and information about the labelling situation in your country is vital to our NOVA Key campaign. Tell us your thoughts and findings as we will keep this site updated with your reports. Vote and add your comments Investigation and Case Studies Q and A's Nova Key Examples on Products Copyright Information ©2000 onwards Looking-Glass and VeggieGlobal. Unauthorized use of the NOVA Key or copying / reproduction of any information on these pages is strictly forbidden and will be subject to prosecution. If you wish to help promote the NOVA Key Campaign on your website please contact us with your enquiry. Manufacturers wishing to apply to use the NOVA Key click here