Upload a photo, search a product, or paste an ingredients list. Get an instant verdict with a full breakdown of every ingredient — built for UK supermarket aisles.
Built for the moment you're staring at a packet in the aisle and the label is full of jargon.
Upload a photo of the product or its ingredients label, type a product name, or paste the ingredients straight off the back of the pack.
Every ingredient is cross-checked against our UK database of 80+ animal-derived substances and 30+ E-numbers.
Vegan, not vegan, or "may contain" — with a full breakdown and vegan alternatives you can buy in the UK.
Take a photo of the product or its ingredients label and upload it. Our AI reads the ingredients and gives you an instant vegan verdict — no typing required.
We check over 80 animal-derived ingredients and 30+ UK E-numbers. From E120 (carmine) to E1105 (lysozyme), nothing slips past.
Copy the ingredients from a product page or photo and paste them in. Our engine analyses every single one and flags anything non-vegan or ambiguous.
A "vegetarian" stamp doesn't mean vegan. A "free from" sticker doesn't always mean what you think. Here's what we do about it.
UK food labels can be misleading. Many products that sound plant-based contain hidden animal derivatives like whey powder, casein, or E-numbers derived from insects and animal bones. Even products labelled "vegetarian" may not be vegan, as they can still contain egg or dairy.
Supermarket own-brand variants add another layer of confusion. A "Free From" version of a product may be vegan while the standard version is not, even though they sit next to each other on the shelf. Our barcode scanner checks the specific product you have in your hand, not just the brand.
Every product is checked through multiple layers. First, we search our cached database of previously verified products. Then we query Open Food Facts, the world's largest open-source food database. If the product still cannot be found, our AI analyses it as a last resort, with results clearly labelled.
Our ingredient engine understands UK-specific formulations. Sugar in the UK is not processed with bone char. Lactic acid is typically synthetic. E471 (mono- and diglycerides) may come from animal or plant sources. We flag genuinely ambiguous ingredients separately from confirmed non-vegan ones, so you can make an informed decision. Read our full E-numbers guide.
Some of the most frequently missed non-vegan ingredients in UK products include gelatine in sweets and yoghurts, isinglass (fish swim bladder) used to filter beer and wine, carmine (E120) derived from crushed insects and used as red food colouring, and shellac (E904) used to glaze sweets and some fruit.
Even everyday products like bread can catch people out. Some loaves contain L-cysteine (E920), an amino acid often derived from animal hair or feathers used as a dough improver. See our full guide to hidden animal ingredients.
Many vegan checking tools are US-focused, which causes problems for UK shoppers. Global brands often have different recipes in different countries. McDonald's fries are vegan in the UK but not in the US. Walkers Prawn Cocktail crisps contain no shellfish. Some products are certified vegan in the UK despite containing ingredients that would be flagged elsewhere.
Our database, product aliases, and AI prompts are all tuned specifically for UK supermarket products. When you search for "Percy Pigs" or "Greggs sausage roll", we know exactly which product you mean and we check the UK formulation. Read our UK supermarket vegan guide.
Yes — fully free, no sign-up, no paywall, no premium tier. The site is funded by Amazon affiliate links on our alternative-product suggestions and a Buy Me a Coffee tip jar. You'll never see a "subscribe to continue" prompt.
For products with a barcode in Open Food Facts (3M+ products), accuracy is high — the data comes from the packaging itself. For AI-generated results, we clearly label them with an amber badge so you know to double-check the packaging.
Manufacturers change recipes without warning, so we always recommend a final glance at the back of the pack — particularly for allergies or strict dietary needs.
Some ingredients can be either animal or plant derived and the label doesn't say which. E471 (mono- and diglycerides), natural flavourings, vitamin D3, and glycerine are common examples. We flag these as ambiguous so you can decide for yourself or contact the manufacturer.
UK "vegetarian" labelling allows eggs, dairy, and honey. The Vegan Society sunflower trademark is the most reliable plant-based label — but most products aren't certified, which is why our scanner exists.
Yes! We now have a separate Is It Vegan Cosmetics checker powered by Open Beauty Facts. Scan or search shampoo, moisturiser, makeup, and toiletries. The ingredient engine checks for lanolin, beeswax, carmine, collagen, silk proteins, and 50+ other cosmetics-specific animal-derived ingredients.
You'll get the option to "Search with AI instead" — our AI fallback (gpt-4o-mini) generates a result based on what it knows about that product. AI results are always tagged with a clear amber warning. You can also paste the ingredients straight from the packet and our engine will analyse them on the spot.
No — it's a website that works straight from your phone's browser. If you want it to feel like a native app, hit "Add to Home Screen" in your browser menu and we'll install as a Progressive Web App with an icon, full-screen mode, and offline support.
We check every ingredient against a database of over 80 known animal-derived substances and 30+ UK E-numbers, cross-referenced with 3 million+ products from Open Food Facts.
UK food labels can be misleading. Products labelled "vegetarian" may still contain egg or dairy. Supermarket own-brand "Free From" versions may be vegan while the standard version is not. Our scanner checks the specific product you have in your hand.
Common hidden non-vegan ingredients in UK products include gelatine in sweets, isinglass in beer, carmine (E120) as red food colouring, and shellac (E904) in glazed confectionery. Learn more about hidden ingredients.
"May contain" allergen warnings are about factory cross-contamination, not actual ingredients. We analyse the real ingredients list. Always double-check the packaging — see our terms.
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This is a free tool built by one person with no corporate backing. ☕ Support the project
Is It Vegan? is a free tool built for vegans in the UK. Scan a barcode, search a product name, or paste an ingredients list to find out whether a food product is suitable for vegans.
1. Cached results — If the product has been checked before, the result is served instantly.
2. Open Food Facts — We query the Open Food Facts open-source database of over 3 million food products worldwide.
3. Ingredient analysis — Every ingredients list is checked against our database of over 80 known non-vegan ingredients and 30+ UK E-numbers including E120 (carmine), E441 (gelatine), E542 (bone phosphate), E631 (disodium inosinate), E904 (shellac), and E1105 (lysozyme). Ambiguous ingredients like E471 and natural flavourings are flagged separately.
Our E-number database targets UK products. Product name search understands UK brands — "digestives" finds McVitie's Digestives, "percy pigs" finds M&S Percy Pigs. Vegan alternatives suggest UK-available brands.
Can't find a product? Submit it with its ingredients to help other vegans.
This tool is for informational purposes only. Manufacturers change recipes and some ingredients can be animal or plant derived. Always check the packaging yourself. See our Terms of Service.
Get in touch at [email protected]
Last updated: April 2026
Barcode scans and searches are sent to our server to look up results. We cache product data (not personal data) to speed up future lookups. We do not store which user made which query.
Camera access is processed entirely on your device. No images or video are sent to our servers.
Local storage stores your recent scan history in your browser only. It never leaves your device.
Product submissions are stored in our database and visible to other users. Do not include personal information.
We temporarily process your IP address for rate limiting and abuse prevention. IP-based rate limit counters expire automatically — minute counters after 60 seconds, hourly counters after 1 hour, and strike records after 30 days. If you are temporarily blocked due to excessive requests, a ban record containing your IP may be stored for up to 7 days (or longer in cases of repeated abuse). We do not use IP addresses for tracking, analytics, or advertising. This processing is carried out under the lawful basis of legitimate interest (protecting the service from abuse).
No names, emails, accounts, location data, cookies, or cross-site tracking. We do not sell data to third parties.
Cloudflare hosts the site and processes requests. Cloudflare may process IP addresses and request metadata under their own privacy policy. Cloudflare privacy policy.
Open Food Facts — product search queries are sent to their open-source API to retrieve product data. Open Food Facts privacy policy.
OpenAI — when a product cannot be found in our database or Open Food Facts, we may send the product name to OpenAI's API (GPT-4o-mini) to generate an ingredient analysis. Only the product name is sent — no personal data, IP addresses, or device information is shared with OpenAI. Results from AI are clearly labelled in the app. Image uploads are sent directly to OpenAI's API for analysis and are not stored on our servers at any point — they are processed in memory and immediately discarded. Image uploads are rate-limited to 10 per hour and 20 per day per device. OpenAI privacy policy.
Google Fonts — fonts are loaded from Google's servers. Google privacy policy.
Google AdSense — we may display ads via Google AdSense, which uses cookies and collects data to serve personalised or non-personalised ads. You can manage your ad preferences at Google Ad Settings. Google advertising policy.
Amazon Associates — product alternative links use our Amazon Associates affiliate tag. Clicking these links takes you to Amazon.co.uk, which is governed by Amazon's privacy policy. We earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.
We may use Cloudflare Web Analytics — privacy-first, no cookies, no personal data, aggregate stats only.
Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, or delete any personal data we hold about you. The only personal data we may hold is your IP address in temporary rate-limiting records, which expire automatically. If you wish to request deletion of a ban record or a submitted product, contact us at the address below.
Last updated: April 2026
By using isitvegan.co.uk ("the Service"), you agree to these terms.
The Service checks whether food products are likely to be suitable for vegans by cross-referencing ingredients against a database of known animal-derived substances and querying third-party product databases.
The Service is for general informational purposes only. We do not guarantee any result is accurate, complete, or current.
(a) Manufacturers may change recipes at any time. (b) Some ingredients (E471, natural flavourings, vitamin D3, glycerine) can be animal or plant derived — labels often don't specify. (c) Our database may not include every animal-derived ingredient. (d) Third-party data may contain errors. (e) "May contain" warnings are about cross-contamination, not ingredients.
Always check the product packaging yourself, particularly if you have allergies or health-related dietary requirements.
The Service is not medical, nutritional, or dietary advice. Consult a qualified professional if your diet could affect your health.
(a) The Service is provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. (b) We are not liable for any damages arising from your use of the Service, including consuming a product based on our information. (c) We are not liable for errors or omissions. (d) Total liability shall not exceed £0, as the Service is free.
Submitted product data becomes publicly available. We may edit or remove submissions. Do not include personal information.
Do not: use the Service unlawfully; disrupt the Service; make excessive automated requests; submit false information; attempt unauthorised access.
The Service design and code are ours. Product data from Open Food Facts is used under the Open Database License.
Product suggestions and affiliate links are not endorsements. We accept no responsibility for third-party content.
We may modify, suspend, or discontinue the Service at any time without notice.
We may update these terms. Continued use means acceptance.
Laws of England and Wales. Courts of England and Wales.