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We are banning Kashi brand products from vegan certification and putting the Kellogg Company under negative watch.
Many years ago, there was almost nothing labelled vegan which led to people making things from scratch. Fast forward to 2022, there are many foods labelled vegan, but we are faced with having no idea exactly what it means, even from organizations that self-identify as vegan or businesses that self-certify.
For years we have been working to encourage businesses that do not meet vegan certification standards to not label their products as vegan and engage in “veganwashing”, and it’s starting to have some effect. But, we have seen products labelled vegan that fail our vegan certification and exploit animals more than an equivalent one not labelled vegan.
The labelling of traditional honey under a vegan label is at best pure incompetence, but coming from a for-profit business with sales of about USD $14 billion in 2021, it seems unlikely they could not afford the price of certification or hire an expert to make sure this does not happen.
It’s clear that the Kashi brand cannot be trusted with the vegan label, and for that reason we are banning all Kashi products. In addition, since Kashi is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kellogg Company, we are putting the Kellogg Company under negative watch. This means that if we find evidence of systemic issues at the corporate level that result in the egregious misuse of the vegan label and exploitation of animals under the umbrella of veganism, we will ban all Kellogg Company products from certification.
You can report the exploitation of animals perpetrated under the umbrella of veganism; we take all reports seriously and take appropriate action. This report came from the public and after investigating we decided that a ban was appropriate. If anyone has evidence of abuse or exploitation of animals under the guise of veganism, please contact us.
It is the foundation of veganism to allow people to change their actions. This is why we contacted both Kashi and the Kellogg Company prior to this publication and gave them time to fix these problems. Unfortunately, the Kellogg Company initially wanted to continue exploiting animals under the umbrella of veganism presumably at least until all the packaging they had printed ran out, somewhere around March 2023. More importantly they have not agreed to implement any plans ensuring this would not happen again.
We want businesses to understand this message clearly: in our society, the exploitation of animals is rampant and we are forced to live with it for the time being, but we will never allow this to occur under the umbrella of veganism.
What is ethically wrong with killing, animal testing or any other form of animal exploitation is not where it occurs in the supply chain, or whether it occurs to an animal that looks like a cow, but that it occurs at all. Always support products, services, certifications and organizations that align with your beliefs. Ours are clear and our dedication to our vision is unwavering.