Evaluation of the labeling of vegetarian and vegan products marketed in Aracaju-Sergipe

Resumo

The increasing demand for vegan and vegetarian products highlights the need for standardized labeling, but the lack of specific regulation in Brazil makes this uniformity difficult. Given this, the objective was to develop a checklist to evaluate the labels of different categories of vegan or vegetarian products marketed in Aracaju, Sergipe. The proposed checklist was based on Brazilian labeling legislation and comprised 35 questions. A total of 587 labels from 197 product brands marketed in hypermarkets across different neighborhoods of Aracaju were evaluated. The main issues identified involved inadequacies in the nutritional information table (36%) and in the indication of the number of servings (18%). 18 hypermarkets in 13 city neighborhoods were visited, where 50.1% of the products belonged to the “Other products” group, 27.4% were “Bakery and confectionery products,” and 9% were “Dairy” products. The most frequent non-conformities included problems with the legibility of the nutrition facts table and inconsistencies in nutritional claims. The study allowed for the observation of an unequal distribution of these products in establishments and a high rate of labeling irregularities, aggravated by the lack of specific regulation for vegan and vegetarian products.