Plant-Based seems to be the hot new term applied to food these days, but what doesn’t it mean?  Can you be sure that a food labeled “plant-based” contains no animal products? Unfortunately, the answer is No.

Here at Vegetarians of Washington, we choose to use the term “plant-based” to mean vegan (avoiding all animal products) with a preference toward whole foods, but there is no standard definition of the term.  The term “vegan” does have a clear definition – in dietary terms it denotes avoiding all products derived wholly or partly from animals, although it’s not a federal legal definition.  The definition of “vegetarian” is similar but allows for, but does not require, dairy and egg-based ingredients to be included.

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