Vegan CheckMost apps give a verdict. This one gives the reason.
Scan a barcode and Vegan Check reads the whole ingredient list — then names the specific ingredient that decided it, so you learn as you shop.
Every result is explained. You decide what to do with it.
E120 is crushed insects. E904 is insect resin. Some sugar is filtered through cattle bone. None of that is written in a way you would notice. The hard part of eating vegan has never been the obvious ingredients. It's the ones with a number instead of a name.
Barcode to answer, in the aisle.
Point the camera, read the result, put it back or put it in the basket. No account, no typing.
Point at the barcode
The ingredient list is pulled from a global food database in a second.
Every entry is checked
Each ingredient and additive is tested against animal-origin criteria, including the coded ones.
You get the reasoning
A clear verdict, plus the ingredient that caused it — so you can make your own call when it matters.
The ones you would never spot.
Meat and milk are easy. These are the ingredients that make a product non-vegan without ever looking like it.
- Hidden dairy — casein, whey, lactose, butterfat under other names.
- Hidden egg — albumen, lysozyme, ovalbumin.
- Insect products — E120 carmine, E904 shellac, beeswax, propolis.
- Animal additives — E441 gelatin, E542 bone phosphate, E913 lanolin.
- Process ingredients — isinglass in beer, gelatin fining in wine, bone-char refined sugar.
Built to make you need it less.
Reasoning, not verdicts
Because each result names its ingredient, you learn the recurring offenders and stop reaching for your phone.
Search without a barcode
Loose produce, bakery items, restaurant dishes — type the name and get the same analysis.
Scan history
Everything you have checked stays available for the next shop.
An answer you can act on in three seconds.
Designed for one hand, in a supermarket, with a trolley in the other.
The ingredients worth learning once.
A short list of additives accounts for almost every surprise. Learn them and the label stops hiding things.
9 foods that aren't as vegan as you think
Sugar, beer, orange juice, red sweets: everyday products that fail on an ingredient nobody mentions.
Read the guide
Which E-numbers are vegan? The reference list
Which additives are animal-derived, which never are, and which are genuinely ambiguous.
Read the guide
5 best vegan food scanner apps in 2026
What separates a useful vegan scanner from a guessing machine — ours included, weaknesses and all.
Read the comparisonGood to know.
How accurate is it?
It is exactly as accurate as the ingredient list it reads. Where a label says only “natural flavouring” or “emulsifier”, the origin is genuinely unknown, and the app reports that rather than guessing. On a fully declared list it is reliable.
Does it cover processing aids?
It flags the well-documented ones — isinglass and gelatin fining in drinks, bone-char refined sugar — but these are often not required on a label at all. Where the information does not exist, no scanner can produce it.
Vegan or vegetarian?
The analysis is for vegan criteria: anything of animal origin, including dairy, eggs, honey and insect derivatives.
What does it cost?
The download is free. Scanning and analysis run on the in-app purchase.
Which devices?
iPhone, on a recent version of iOS, with a working camera.
Stop reading labels in the aisle.
Scan it, read the reason, and move on with your shopping.
Download on the App Store