The Food Safety and Standards Authority Of India (FSSAI) on Tuesday introduced a new logo to classify vegan food. In addition to that, the agency has also drafted a new set of rules for vegan food products, news agency ANI reported. Here’s how the new logo looks like.

Also Read: Can you eat eggs and still be a vegan? 

Earlier in India, the food was classified only as vegetarian and non-vegetarian. For the representation for vegetarian food, a green dot was used while a red mark was put for non-vegetarian food products. 

The new logo classifies completely vegan products with a mark V that is drawn in green colour.

Also Read: What is vegan milk? All you need to know about the milk PETA India wants Amul to use

This is the first time that the Government of India has recognised vegan products and mentioned the requirements for compliance with food standards. The revised rules come following the growing popularity of veganism in India, especially after the COVID-19 outbreak.

“There is a movement for veganism. There are many people who are allergic to milk and want to avoid animal products completely. For them, we have the vegan food logo that will help people to make their choice,” Arun Singhal, Chief Executive Officer of FSSAI told ANI.

According to FSSAI, vegan foods are those foods that do not make use of any ingredients, additives, or processing aids of animal origin. This may include milk and milk products, fish, poultry, meat, egg, honey, or materials of insect origin such as silk, dyes, or bone char.

“The food products or ingredients to be called vegan shall not have involved animal testing for evaluating the safety of the final product or ingredient and shall not contain any animal-derived GMOs or products prepared using an animal-derived gene for manufacturing the ingredients or products,” read the draft rules.  

Meanwhile, Twitter users have hailed the decision and the new logo with warm reactions.

While some users suggested that this should not be limited to just food products and should be used to demarcate cosmetics and clothing brands as well, others call it a new beginning to the start of a cruelty-free movement.

“This is wonderful news! We should extend this to more than just food. Vegan logo should be on things we wear, places we go to as well!, wrote a Twitter user.