Name: NSF’s New Vegan & Cruelty-Free Certifications: What Food Brands Need to Know
Uploaded: 2025-11-12T19:16:10.896Z
Duration: 51 min 36 s
Description: NSF’s New Vegan & Cruelty-Free Certifications: What Food Brands Need to Know

Transcript for "NSF’s New Vegan & Cruelty-Free Certifications: What Food Brands Need to Know": Hello, everyone, and welcome to today's NSF webinar, NSF's new vegan and cruelty free certifications, what food brands need to know. Our speakers today are Jen Birkebile from NSF's technical team and Britney Spraker from Michelle's Granola. Before we start, this session will be recorded and will be available tomorrow so you can review the information again as many times as you need by accessing the same login link you used today. To ensure the best audio and video quality, your cameras and microphones will remain turned off. Your questions are important, so please use the q and a space on your console to send your questions during the session. At the end of the presentation, Jen and Britney will come on stage to help answer as many of your questions as possible. A brief note about NSF. Since 1944, NSF has been at the forefront of global efforts to improve human and planetary health. As an independent internationally recognized organization, we play a crucial role in developing robust public health standards. NSF participates in strict evaluation, auditing, and certification processes for a range and products of services. You can see a list of NSF services on this slide and a collection of the certifications that are available through NSF. Before we begin, we have a news announcement. NSF recently acquired Cambium Analytica. With the addition of Cambium Analytica, NSF is now positioned to meet the accelerating demands of clients resulting from macro trends and providing clients with access to integrated best in class solutions at scale. If you wanna learn more about Cambium Analytica, scan the QR code seen here. We'll now begin our presentation with Jen's section about the vegan and cruelty free certification with NSF. Thank you, Ken. Welcome, everyone. I'm excited to talk to you today about NSF's new vegan and cruelty free certification program. My name is Jen Birkebyl, and I'm the technical scheme lead for food product claims at NSF. We offer a variety of on pack certification claims in the food space. And today, I will be focusing on how our new vegan and cruelty free certification program can be beneficial for you and your products. Before we dive into NSF's vegan and cruelty free certification program, let's talk about these terms in general and their markets. Veganism is a philosophy and way of living that excludes animal exploitation and cruelty. For most people, this means a diet free of animal products, including meat, dairy, eggs, and honey, which are often replaced with plant based foods like fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds. Many vegans also avoid non food items made from animals or products tested on animals. So why are consumers choosing veganism? Animal welfare is at the forefront of the vegan movement. A 2019 study by Vomad suggests that around sixty eight point one percent of vegans are motivated by animal welfare. This is followed closely by their health at seventeen point four percent as veganism has been shown to contribute to a lower risk of heart disease and type two diabetes. Finally, the environment, is the third reason at nine point seven percent, with the meat and dairy industry being one of the main contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. Other reasons include veganism as a religious or cultural choice or due to allergies. Why might you want to label or market your product as vegan? Well, it's estimated that one to three percent of the world's population is vegan. That's around 79,000,000 people globally. In The US, two percent of people identify as vegan, up from point two percent in 2012. These individuals are more likely to be female, younger, and have higher incomes. Of course, even more individuals are reducing their meat intake. You may have heard of the term flexitarian. This is someone who follows a primarily vegetarian or vegan diet, but occasionally consumes meat, poultry, or fish. A recent study found that eleven percent of Americans identify as flexitarian. A 2025 Fortune Business Insights report stated that in 2023, the global vegan food market was worth approximately $37,370,000,000 and it is set to reach $103,000,000,000 by 2032. Now let's talk about cruelty free. Cruelty free products are manufactured or developed by methods that do not involve experimentation on animals, which is commonly referred to as animal testing. This claim is frequently found on cosmetics, personal care, and household products, although, of course, it can be found on other product types as well, such as food. How popular is this claim? A 2020 study from Frame found that 84 of respondents wouldn't buy cosmetics if they knew that the product itself or one or more of its ingredients had been tested on animals, 81% would not buy a household product if they knew the product itself or one or more of its ingredients had been tested on animals, and 77% cited not tested on animals as a factor in their decision to buy a cosmetic or household product. Not only that, but the global cruelty free cosmetics market was valued at over 14,800,000,000.0 in 2023 and is projected to reach over 23,500,000,000.0 by 2030. So the markets for both vegan and cruelty free products are growing, and labeling your products with these claims can give you access to these growing markets. So let's talk briefly about being certified for a vegan or cruelty free label claim. Certification defines your label claim, giving consistent meaning to the claim and ensuring that all products meet that definition. A self made label claim can be unclear or at worst misleading. What one consumer or manufacturer considers vegan to mean, for example, might differ from what another considers it to mean. On the other hand, a product that is certified vegan by NSF has a clear, written, consistent definition that all products are verified to meet. Certification gives this label claim meeting. The Accountability Economy Comes to Retail white paper from 2021 found that only 16% of respondents fully trust self made claims on dietary supplement packaging, Only 16% fully trust self made claims on cosmetics and personal care packaging, and only 14% fully trust self made claims on over the counter drug packaging. 73% of values oriented shoppers, such as vegans, are influenced by product certification when purchasing a product. Certification of label claims can increase product sales, communicate brand values, and provide proof of process and quality assurance to name a few. Trust is key with the consumer. Certification provides a third party verification that what the label says is actually true because someone is verifying it. So let's talk about NSF's vegan and cruelty free certification requirements. Developed in 2025, NSF's vegan and cruelty free certification program offers brands a credible third party verification to demonstrate their commitment to animal welfare, health, and the environment across food, supplements, cosmetics, personal care, household, and other product categories as approved by NSF. So if you don't see your product category listed in these first five, still reach out to us. We're willing to consider all product types for this certification, and we certify worldwide. Our vegan and cruelty free certification is covered in one protocol for both label claims, although manufacturers can decide to get certified for just vegan, just cruelty free, or both. Vegan certification with NSF includes both product and facility requirements. Let's take a look at the product requirements. Certified vegan products must not contain ingredients or processing aids that are derived from animals or contain animal products. In addition, ingredients and processing aids must not contain animal derived GMOs, and ingredients and processing aids must not have been subject to animal testing when developed specifically for use in the certified finished product unless required by law. So let's talk about these real quick. Let's break these down. These first two bullet points here, we're looking at the ingredients and processing aids. They cannot be derived from animals. They cannot contain animal materials and they cannot contain animal derived GMOs. We want it to be very explicit about what is not permitted in both ingredients and processing aids used in certified vegan products. The third bullet point then, ingredients and processing aids must not have been subject to animal testing, one developed specifically for use in the certified finished product unless required by law. We want our certified vegan manufacturers, when they are able to control whether or not the ingredients and processing aids are tested on animals, we want them to be able to exercise that control and say, no, we are not allowing this to be tested on animals. So that means when a manufacturer of a vegan product is working with an ingredient or processing aid manufacturer to develop an ingredient or processing aid specifically for use in their finished product, that those ingredients and processing aids are not permitted to be tested on animals unless required by law. Finally, certified products themselves shall not be subject to animal testing at any time, including but not limited to during research and development. We do require documentation for each ingredient and processing aid to confirm compliance. We also require documentation to confirm that food contact packaging manufacturing does not contain animal derived materials. And finally, we do review product labels to confirm that the correct use of the NSF certified vegan mark is in place. Vegan facilities must have standard operating procedures or SOPs in place that address the requirements in the protocol. SOPs must be submitted to NSF to confirm compliance, and records must be kept on file at the facility for a period of two years. Let's take a look at the SOPs that are required. The facility is required to have an ingredient and processing aid approval procedure that addresses vegan integrity of raw materials, including those ingredients, processing aids, and the packaging. The facility must have a storage and handling of ingredients, processing aids, and products procedure. And this procedure must include measures to eliminate cross contamination and commingling of vegan and nonvegan ingredients and processing aids, and clear identification and segregation of ingredients, processing aids, and finished products that are and are not vegan. The facility must have a cleaning and sanitation procedure. This must demonstrate that the facilities that are not dedicated vegan prevent cross contamination, which includes a risk assessment to identify potential contamination risks associated with equipment, facility design, and production schedules. The procedure must also include a cleaning schedule with defined frequencies and a record of cleaning events, as well as a method for evaluating the efficacy of the cleaning procedures and a record of the efficacy checks if applicable. The facility must have an employee vegan training program. This must ensure that employees are trained annually on the sources and areas within the facility where vegan and non vegan ingredients, processing aids, and products are located and the safe handling and cross contamination prevention thereof, and the training must cover a basic understanding of the NSF vegan certification requirements. The facility must also have a traceability and recall procedure. This procedure must ensure that the facility has a documented product identification system in place to ensure that the product is clearly identified during all stages of production, from ingredient and processing aid receipt to the customer. So this procedure must have a method for controlling nonconforming product, including a recall or market withdrawal if necessary. It must also have a system in place for notifying customers and NSF when the finished product is determined to be eligible for a withdrawal or recall, as well as notification of NSF immediately in the event that a finished product fails to meet the requirements and immediate initiation of a disposition plan for the noncompliant product. Finally, the facility must have a complaint SOP that ensures that they have in place policies and procedures to handle and resolve complaints related to vegan compliance. That's it for NSF vegan certification requirements. So let's take a look at the requirements for NSF certified cruelty free. There are fewer requirements for this than there are for vegan, but like for vegan, there are both product and facility requirements. Certified cruelty free products must not contain ingredients or processing aids that have been subject to animal testing at any time, including but not limited to during research and development. In addition, the certified cruelty free products themselves shall not be subject to animal testing at any time, including but not limited to during research and development. Similar to vegan, cruelty free labels are reviewed for correct use of the certified cruelty free certification bar. Cruelty free facilities must also have standard operating procedures in place that address the requirements of the protocol. And again, records must be kept on file for a period of two years. But for cruelty free, there are fewer SOP requirements. You can see here, facilities are only required to have a traceability and recall procedure and the complaint procedure. Just like for vegan, the traceability and recall procedure must have a documented product identification system in place, a method for controlling nonconforming product, notification when the finished product is determined to be eligible for withdrawal or recall, and notification of NSF immediately when a finished product fails to meet the requirements, and immediate initiation of a disposition plan. And like for vegan, the complaint procedure must cover the handling and resolution of complaints related to cruelty free compliance. I wanna compare the two certifications quickly to drive home what requirements are the same between the two and what are different. So on the left, we have an x in the vegan column if that requirement applies to vegan. On the right, we have an x in the cruelty free column if that requirement applies to cruelty free. And in the center in bold, we have the requirements. So first up, ingredients and processing aids shall not be derived from animals or contain animal materials or animal derived GMOs. This is only a requirement for the vegan certification. Up next, ingredients and processing aids shall not be subject to animal testing. That sentence is in its entirety the requirement for cruelty free. For vegan, there are a couple more caveats. This only applies to ingredients and processing aids, again, that are developed specifically for use in the final certified product unless that animal testing is required by law. Up next, products shall not be subject to animal testing. This is a requirement for both vegan and cruelty free. SOPs on recall and traceability and complaints, this is also a requirement for both vegan and cruelty free. And then the additional SOP requirements on ingredient and processing aid approval, storage and handling, cleaning and sanitation, and employee vegan training. Those are only a requirement for vegan certification. So hopefully, this gives a clear picture of what is needed for each of the certifications. If you are interested in becoming certifications becoming certified vegan or certified cruelty free, it is never too soon to start preparing. So as you start to think about that, here are some of the things that you might want to consider doing. First up, compile a list of all facilities that are manufacturing your products, all of the products that you want to have certified, and all of your ingredients, processing aids, and their manufacturers and suppliers that you're using in your vegan and cruelty free products. Compile a formulation for each of the products that you're seeking to have certified. Start to compile ingredient and processing aid specification sheets and ensure that these sheets indicate the composition of the ingredient and compile your finished product labels. For vegan certification only, compile documentation for each ingredient and processing aid confirming that it is not derived from animals, contains no animal products, and contains no animal derived GMOs. For vegan only, ensure that your ingredients and processing aids that you are having developed specifically for use in your vegan finished products, Ensure that those are not subject to animal testing unless it is required by law. For vegan, compile vegan compliance documentation for your food contact packaging. And for vegan, conduct and document your vegan training. For cruelty free only, compile documentation for each ingredient and processing aid confirming that it is not subject to animal testing at any time, including but not limited to during research and development. And for either certification for both, ensure that your facility does not subject your finished products to animal testing, and update your SOPs to comply with the NSF vegan and cruelty free requirements. Now that you've started to prepare for your certification, let's talk a little bit about the certification process with NSF. This process may look familiar to you if you are certified to any other NSF programs. It begins with a connection with our sales team. You're then connected to a dedicated account manager, and you work to submit your application. You'll respond to any findings or requests for additional information, and then certification is granted. So easy peasy. Right? Let's dive into each of these. But before we do, I wanna point out that neither the vegan nor cruelty free certifications require an on-site audit, and neither of them require any finished product testing. So up first, you are connected with the NSF sales team. The NSF sales team is your first point of contact for your vegan and cruelty free certification with NSF, and you're connected with an exact account executive who will provide you with more information about the certification process and answer any of your questions. The account executive will also gather some basic information from you to understand your certification needs and to develop a quote. It's best to reach out to NSF and be connected with sales six weeks prior to any certification deadlines. But, of course, we can we can and will try to meet your deadlines that you have. Once you've signed a quote with sales, you will be connected with a dedicated account manager. They will begin your certification process and request your application documents. This will include include a complete list of facilities, products, and ingredients, product labels and formulations, ingredient compliance documents, and facility SOPs. So all that prep we just talked about that you've done will be very useful at this point. Once the documentation is submitted, NSF will begin our internal review of your application. A little bit more about the application though, there are some documents that NSF will provide to you to fill out. The first of which is the vegan and cruelty free compliance plan. This is a form that you will fill out detailing all information, practices, policies, and procedures about the products and facilities that you are seeking to have certified as vegan or cruelty free or both. We will also provide you with a client account form. This is a spreadsheet where all of your manufacturing facilities are located. You will also list all of your products that you're seeking to have certified as well as all of the ingredients and processing aids and their manufacturers or suppliers. If you are certified with NSF for another program, you might already have a client account form, which is great because we can pull it over from whatever program you are certified with us for and use it for vegan and cruelty free. We will also supply you with declarations. We have a supplier vegan declaration, and this is a form that you can give to your vegan ingredient processing aid and even packaging suppliers where they can confirm that the whatever material they're supplying you is not derived from animals, doesn't contain animal products, and doesn't contain animal derived GMOs. For cruelty free, similarly, we have a supplier cruelty free declaration. Again, you can use this form and have your suppliers fill it out and sign it to confirm that the ingredient and processing aid that they are supplying to you is not tested on animals. And then finally, rounding out the application process. As we've already discussed, any other supporting documentation you have to submit, that might include your labels if you have other facility certifications, your SOPs, of course. If you have a warehouse, we might ask for you to fill out a warehouse affidavit. If your operation is complex, we might ask for a flowchart. But those are the main parts of the vegan and cruelty free application that we will ask you to submit. Now, again, once you've submitted all that, we will review it internally. And if there's anything we need, we will issue a finding. This finding might be issued for a couple reasons. We need more information. Something's not compliant. But whatever we're asking, we must receive back from you and approve all of the information and documentation that you've submitted in your response prior to certification. So for vegan and cruelty free, some of the common findings that we see include, first, missing documentation. So you've submitted your application packet, but you forgot to submit one of your labels or we're missing a compliance affidavit for one of your ingredients or processing aids or maybe for the packaging. We will issue a finding to let you know, hey. Please submit this label that's missing. Please submit this document that's missing. Another common reason is that documentation has been submitted that is insufficient. So maybe we get some sort of document for an ingredient or processing aid. It sort of confirms what in it, but it doesn't confirm that it is completely free of animal materials. Well, we will come back to you and say, hey. We need additional information to confirm it's not derived from animals, does not contain animal materials, doesn't contain animal derived GMOs. And if you want, the easiest way to get that, provide this vegan affidavit to your supplier for them to sign. Finally, the last reason to issue a finding is perhaps that documentation submitted demonstrates a nonconformance. So this is I think occurs less often, but it is possible that documentation could be submitted confirming for example, confirming that an ingredient or processing aid does contain animal materials. In that case, that ingredient or processing aid is not compliant. So we will issue a finding. And at that point, the options are to find another ingredient or processing aid supplier, one that is compliant, or to perhaps proceed with certification of other products that do not contain that ingredient or processing aid and kind of put that on hold until you're able to find a replacement for that ingredient or processing aid. So, again, once findings are issued, if they are issued, we are looking for your response. We will review it and approve it, and then certification is granted. So what you can see from that is that perhaps what will hold up certification the most is actually the findings. That's out of our control. So the more quickly that you respond to any findings that are issued during any certification process, the more quickly that the certificate can be issued. The vegan or cruelty free certificate that is issued to you once you're certified lists the client, and it lists all of the certified products. The certified products are also listed on NSF's public listings website. Of course, certification doesn't stop here. Certification is renewed annually, including a review of products and ingredients, and any changes made throughout the year to certified products must be sent to and approved by NSF prior to implementation. Now let's discuss the benefits of getting certified vegan and cruelty free with NSF. When you certify your products with NSF, you're not just building trust by ensuring that your products meet the relevant standards. You're also building trust by working with a company that has eighty years of experience delivering assurance across the food industry internationally, ensuring food safety and enabling organizations to deliver customer and consumer confidence. NSF certification is a pledge of assurance. It signifies that our products consistently meet or exceed standards, instilling confidence in quality and safety for consumers, retailers, and regulators. NSF has certified over 657,000 products. We conduct over 300,000 audits per year, and we have over 160 published standards and protocols. Our 2021 brand research validates that NSF is seen as trustworthy, respected, high quality, and reliable with 59% of brands and companies saying that NSF certification for a food or beverage product would be favorable to both the product and the company. Certification with NSF offers unmatched credibility. Our globally respected mark assures consumers your vegan and cruelty free claims are beyond self declarations. It's an efficient process. There's no facility audit required, and the workflows are standardized via NSF Connect where we have streamlined the documentation submission process and the review process. That gives us a faster time to certification with a quick turnaround and reduced administrative burden. You're able to build consumer trust with transparency and alignment with health, wellness, and ethical trends, and this provides a cost effective entry into a competitive category with scalable certification options. Vegan and cruelty free with NSF offers a broad scope. We certify foods, supplements, cosmetics, personal care, and household products under one program, and you can utilize both claims with one process to achieve the two claims in one certification. And, of course, you can bundle with additional NSF certifications. NSF offers several other food related certification services, including non GMO project verified, NSF certified gluten free, braised without antibiotics, certified plant based, USDA organic, certified NSF ANSI three zero five personal care, which identifies personal care products containing organic ingredients. We also offer content certified and certified NSF ANSI four fifty five for dietary supplements, cosmetics, or over the counter drugs. We also offer several food safety certifications, FSSC 2,200, BRCGS, SQF, IFS, and Global GAP. In addition to certification, NSF offers services in several other areas, such as food agriculture, food packaging, food retail and grocery, to name a few. NSF can be your one stop shop for not just certification, but for training, consulting, testing, any of your company's needs. So are you ready to take the next step and certify your products as vegan and cruelty free with NSF? Reach out. We will provide you with a quote and identify any other opportunities that NSF can work with you to meet your needs. Just scan the QR code on the screen to get started on your NSF vegan and cruel. Thank you for that, Britney. We're going to now before we move to q and a, we have one other item that we want to share for everyone. NSF also offers training. If you're ready to learn more about food certification, food claims, any of those things, It is we offer both in person and virtual training. In fact, we have some virtual training coming up, getting to know Canadian food labeling. That's on November 25. And then we also have some training on non GMO project standards. That's coming up on December 8. So if you're interested in any of our food training, you can scan the QR code seen here, and, that will take you to the training page on nsf.org. I'm gonna ask that, Britney and Jen join me on stage now as we move toward the q and a portion of our event, and we'll get things started. One of the questions that we got early on that I can tackle is, will a recording of the presentation be sent to attendees? Because standards do evolve, we don't send recordings out because we don't want outdated information in out in the, in the environment. So, we won't be sending a recording of this. However, this webinar does remain on demand as mentioned earlier. So anytime anyone wants to come in and watch the webinar again, you can certainly use it by using the same registration link you used this time, or you can share that registration link with anyone inside or outside of your team if you want them to see the webinar itself. I have a question first off for Jen. It looks like one of our attendees indicated that they've been gathering information to start the certification process, but one of the ingredients is not under the cruelty free certified suppliers. So they have been trying to ID that. I think the issue might be with the ingredient itself because of the mentions here that the ingredient is pork oil. Is an ingredient like that automatically going to be a disqualifier for cruelty free, or is there a nuance there? That's a great question. So I'll start by reminding everyone that the requirement for the ingredients in cruelty free are not that they are cruelty free certified themselves, but in fact, just that they are not tested on animals at any time. So in general, if you are sourcing an ingredient or processing aid, you don't have to request a cruelty free certificate. You can get an affidavit from your supplier confirming that it meets the requirements and is not tested on animals. That said, our cruelty free certification is focused currently on, products that do not contain animal materials, but reach out and that's something that we can discuss in more depth with you. Great. Thank you. And along those lines, if a product qualifies for NSF vegan certification, then does that or does it not automatically meet the criteria for cruelty free certification? Can you expand a little on that? Yeah. That's a great question. There are slight nuances. As I mentioned, the the excuse me. The vegan certification has some additional requirements that the cruelty free certification does not. But the one difference, if you are, what did you say, Ken? If you're already vegan, but you are considering cruelty free, Right. for. vegan, the requirements for the the requirements for lack, I'll say, lack of animal testing on ingredients and processing aids is a little less strict than it is for cruelty free. So as far as the products themselves, in both cases, the certified finished products cannot be tested on animals. So if you're vegan, you've already got that requirement. For SOPs, vegan requires recall and traceability and complaints. So does, cruelty free. So you've already got that. Now for vegan, the ingredients and processing aids that are developed specifically for use in the final product are not permitted to be tested on animals unless required by law. That's kind of a mouthful, but for cruelty free, the ingredients and processing aids are not permitted to be tested on animals, period. So that is where you may need to find additional documentation for your ingredients and processing aids. If you are already vegan but considering cruelty free, that's probably where the additional work will be. We'll be confirming that all of your ingredients and processing aids are not tested on animals period and, you know, maybe sourcing some new ingredients and processing aids if your existing ingredients and and processing aids do not meet that requirement. Great. Thank you. We had a question about kind of long term view of the the certification. So, can you talk a little bit about is there ongoing compliance monitoring expected after certification? How does NSF ensure continued adherence to the standard? Yes. Excellent. There is an annual renewal process during that time. You'll hear from us to say, we're starting your annual renewal. So that's a good ping to remind you to let us know if you want to make any updates. But at that point, if there's no updates, we will review everything we have on file for you. So we will be re reviewing your client account form listing all of your facilities, your products, your ingredients and processing aids. We will be confirming continued compliance of all of those things. We will be confirming continued compliance of your standard operating procedures at your facility. So we are reviewing those annually, and the expectation for our clients is that anytime there is a change, either to the products themselves, to your ingredients and processing aids, to your labels, to your SOPs, to your manufacturer or to your product packaging, you will need to reach out to NSF proactively and let us know prior to making that change because it is something we will need to review and approve prior to implementation. So there's the annual renewal that happens automatically, and then there's an additional piece that falls onto the client of reaching out to us anytime you're making changes. That's great. Thank you. We have a couple of other questions that have come in that I think, Britney is more positioned to answer. So one of them sort of centers around how does your team manage the documentation and the back and forth with NSF? I know NSF has a platform called NSF Connect that clients use during the process. But, can you talk a little bit about how Michelle's Granola managed the the the process in terms of that way? Yeah. So our account manager was very communicative, in sending those reminders and things like that. I think our communication back and forth was more so with our suppliers and trying to get the documentation, that they needed to provide for us to be able to submit. But the NSF connect platform and the, client account form that Jennifer mentioned were our main means of communication, and that just very clearly lays everything out. For example, any of our findings that we needed to submit additional documentation for, it was very clear what needed to happen, and what exactly we needed to go back and ask for or, provide. Yeah. On that on that note, there's sort of a related question that had come in, about sort of unexpected challenges or learning moments during the process, particularly when it comes to verifying ingredient sourcing or manufacturing practices. Anything surprise you in that process, or was it We did have one one supplier of packaging that we determined we could not actually certify that as vegan. So that was a little unexpected of a challenge because our previous certification didn't require the packaging documentation. And it's nothing else is really unexpected, I would say. I would say as far as learning moments, it would just reinforce the need to communicate early, and get everything together as early as possible to be able to hash out kind of what what needs to be done because, a lot of times, suppliers are not they're not, aware of the requirement and what require that requirement really means requirement. So just being able to communicate with them what exactly it is that we need, and being able to have that communication over and over again, and be proactive about. it. I know that it's early days yet. You're newly certified. But, you know, is there anything you could talk about in terms of either the impact that it may have had internally or externally for your brand or your customer trust or retail partnerships. Or if it's too soon for that, maybe just talk about how this aligns with brand values and your customer expectations. So I would say, so far, the impact we've seen internally, it's a point of pride for us, being part of a new program through NSF, who, as I mentioned before, we we have several other certifications through. It's given us a lot of a lots of a lot of visibility. And then, another exciting update, we put the vegan logo, we moved it from the back of our packaging to the front of our packaging. So that is very exciting, and very forward of us. And I think that once that packaging goes to market, it'll reinforce customer confidence. They'll know that it's not just marketing. It's something that is trusted, scientifically backed, and and well known. And then it it just it continues it helps us continue our growth in plant based in the plant based market. Well, that's great. Thank you. And we're always glad to hear about the mark. We're getting around to the front of the package that, that's great for our consumers because it helps everybody know, what products can be more can be considered safer or more trustable. So we appreciate that. I think that's all the questions that we have right now. So I'm gonna take a moment to thank you, Britney and Jen, for your information today and to thank our listeners for coming in and listening. Again, this webinar is gonna be available on demand going forward. But if you have any questions at all or you're ready to start your process with NSF in terms of vegan and cruelty free certification, I direct you to nsf.org. There are several pages on that in our knowledge library about these new services. And there's a contact us page, and there's a contact us form on every page of NSF. So you can use that to reach out and say I'm interested, and someone will get back get back to you as soon as we possibly can. So thank you again to our presenters and thank you to our listeners and, thank you. That concludes today's webinar.