An update on the Cruelty Free Cleaning article I posted last month.
I contacted Asda for clarification on the labelling of their eco friendly range of cleaning products. I wanted to know why some products were labelled as suitable for Vegetarians whilst others are suitable for Vegans, if they were BUAV approved and whether or not their products were pending Vegan society approval.
They phoned me the next day and left a voicemail to let me know they were going to get in touch with the Product Technologist, which I was impressed with. This is the email they then sent me:
‘Thank you for your patience whilst I’ve been looking into your query.
I’m pleased to say I’ve heard back from our Product Technologist about the BUAV symbol on vegan products.
Asda do not currently subscribe to BUAV for certification of retail branded products and we subscribe to FRAME who run a similar scheme. There are no plans to subscribe our Products to BUAV currently. Products that state suitable for Vegetarians or Vegans contain no animal derived ingredients within the formulation.’
This answered my question regarding BUAV approval. But didn’t clear up my confusion regarding: why some are suitable for Vegetarians and others Vegan. If none of them are tested on animals and don’t contain animal derived ingredients – surely they are all Vegan? So I emailed them back asking the same question. This is the response I got:
‘As **** said we subscribe to FRAME who run a similair scheme to BUAV our products are not pending Vegan society approval as FRAME does not require this and it is not a legal requirement.
Products that state suitable for Vegetarians or Vegans contain no animal derived ingredients within the formulation.
Thanks again for your contact and if there’s anything else I can help you with, please let me know.’
So they repeated to me again the statement I am confused over, (think I’m hitting my head against a brick wall with this one!) But they did answer my question regarding Vegan society approval.
Asda doesn’t seem to think Vegan Society approval is important, because it is not required by law. This is a silly move Asda, just because something isn’t required by law, doesn’t mean it’s not important. It is the difference between having customers purchase your products and customers that will happily go elsewhere if they are not getting what they want. Listen up Asda, Vegans aren’t the minority you clearly think we are, you should want us on your side.
Here is the link for the website of FRAME, http://www.frame.org.uk/ this is who Asda subscribe to regarding their animal testing policy.
And here is a link to The Vegan Society website http://www.vegansociety.com/businesses/trademark/opportunities.aspx and why Vegan Society registration is important, the benefits it brings to your business.
