A journey to vegan testing in a family-owned company

Vegan cosmetics are the fastest growing vegan market and also the fastest growing sector in the personal care industry. In the US alone, the vegan personal care market is already worth over $4.1 billion/year. By 2025 its estimated that the global market will be worth over $20.8 billion/year.

With such a growing demand globally for vegan personal care products, more brands are looking at having vegan ranges and some are transitioning to fully vegan brands. The option of having accredited microbiology testing is essential for them. Companies should not have to choose between being able to sell their products to retailers that insist on accreditation or using microbiological culture media containing animal products.

Although the vegan cosmetic market is booming, testing without using animal products is still not available on a large scale. Even with the newly available vegan alternatives to the standard culture media, many labs shy away from offering vegan testing due to it being ‘commercially unviable’. This article details the journey of a laboratory whose passion for the vegan lifestyle and love of animals and the environment prompted them to start the process of providing a full suite of accredited vegan microbiology testing.