World Vegan Day 2025

Every year on 1 November, people across the globe celebrate World Vegan Day. A day that goes far beyond diet. It’s about sustainability, compassion, and accountability. What began as a commemoration of The Vegan Society’s founding in 1944 has evolved into a global platform for re-examining how our everyday choices on what we consume, produce, and purchase affect not only animals but also people, the planet, and organisational ethics.

In an age of corporate transparency, ESG reporting, and environmental accountability, veganism isn’t just a lifestyle. It is a lens for understanding how businesses can operate more responsibly. For regulated organisations, from health and social care to education, manufacturing, and hospitality, World Vegan Day invites a critical reflection: How do our systems, supply chains, and compliance frameworks uphold ethical and sustainable standards?

In this blog, Anna Nova Galeon will explore the meaning and origins of World Vegan Day, define the key concepts behind veganism, and unpack its growing relevance for regulated sectors. We’ll also examine how organisations can align vegan and plant-based principles with compliance, sustainability, and governance obligations, and how ComplyPlus™ helps teams turn awareness into measurable action.

What is World Vegan Day?

World Vegan Day is observed annually on 1 November, marking the founding of The Vegan Society (UK) in 1944. The term “vegan,” coined by the Society’s co-founder Donald Watson, represented not only a dietary preference but a philosophy that seeks to avoid all forms of exploitation and cruelty to animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose.

In 2025, the day continues to highlight the growing interconnection between food systems, environmental impact, and corporate ethics. For organisations bound by strict regulatory frameworks, it serves as a timely reminder that ethical and sustainable decisions are no longer optional. They are integral to compliance, governance, and reputation management.

Defining key terms

• Veganism: A philosophy and lifestyle that excludes all animal-derived products, not only in food but also in materials, testing, and production processes

• Plant-based: A diet or product primarily made from plants. While often used interchangeably with vegan, it focuses more on health and nutrition than ethical philosophy

• Highly regulated organisations: Entities operating under strict compliance and audit frameworks, such as the CQC, Ofsted, HSE, or ICO, where accountability, documentation, and governance are essential to meet legal and ethical obligations.

Why World Vegan Day matters for regulated organisations

World Vegan Day offers more than a dietary reflection. It is an opportunity for regulated organisations to strengthen ethics, sustainability, and compliance across their operations:

1. Ethical and sustainable supply chains

Animal-derived materials or products can introduce reputational, environmental, and ethical risks. Whether through procurement, catering, or product manufacturing, organisations must increasingly ensure that sourcing practices align with sustainability standards, traceability, and social responsibility.

By exploring vegan alternatives such as cruelty-free textiles, plant-based menu options, or biodegradable packaging, leaders can reduce environmental impact while demonstrating ethical governance in line with ESG commitments.

2. Compliance, labelling, and consumer protection

In regulated sectors like healthcare, food service, and education, clarity in labelling, nutrition, and allergy management is vital. Misuse of the term “vegan” or cross-contamination in food preparation could lead to regulatory breaches, safety incidents, or complaints.

Embedding vegan awareness within staff training, procurement, and quality systems helps ensure that all claims, ethical, nutritional, or sustainability-related, are accurate, auditable, and legally compliant.

3. Workplace culture and inclusion

Dietary inclusivity is increasingly recognised as part of equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategies. Supporting vegan staff and customers with appropriate food choices and ethical workplace practices reflects organisational empathy and cultural competence. In health and care environments, for example, offering vegan meals or cruelty-free uniforms can directly enhance service experience and staff wellbeing.

4. ESG and reporting accountability

Regulators, investors, and consumers now expect transparency on environmental and ethical metrics. Vegan and plant-based initiatives can feed directly into ESG reporting frameworks by reducing carbon emissions, supporting ethical sourcing, and lowering waste.

World Vegan Day thus provides a meaningful moment to showcase measurable action, aligning ethical awareness with quantifiable compliance outcomes.

Practical actions for regulated organisations

The following practical actions can help regulated organisations embed vegan awareness into governance, compliance, and sustainability frameworks:

1. Conduct a material and supply audit: Identify where animal-based products are used within your operations, from uniforms to catering supplies, and evaluate vegan or sustainable alternatives

2. Update policies and training frameworks: Incorporate clear definitions and awareness of vegan and plant-based concepts into policy documents, supplier codes of conduct, and staff training programmes

3. Engage stakeholders in awareness activities: Use World Vegan Day as an internal campaign, host workshops, share sustainability updates, or collaborate with local suppliers offering vegan options

4. Monitor emerging regulations and standards: Stay informed on evolving labelling, procurement, and animal-testing regulations, ensuring that all compliance documentation and supplier records meet current legal standards

5. Integrate data into ESG and quality reports: Track vegan/plant-based initiatives as measurable sustainability indicators within annual reports, audits, and board reviews. 

A case in point: Catering in a healthcare setting

Consider a hospital that implements a Vegan Awareness Week each November. Procurement ensures all meals meet vegan certification, staff receive allergy and nutrition updates, and waste is monitored. The initiative is logged under the hospital’s CQC Well-Led evidence and ESG metrics.

This small change not only strengthens compliance and governance documentation but also demonstrates cultural awareness and environmental responsibility, a tangible reflection of the organisation’s values in action.

Beyond the menu: A broader compliance perspective

World Vegan Day isn’t just about food, it’s about rethinking systems. From manufacturing and pharmaceuticals (reducing the use of animal-derived testing agents) to textiles and packaging (adopting cruelty-free materials), vegan principles are becoming an integral part of corporate due diligence.

For compliance officers and governance leaders, it’s a call to view ethical responsibility not as an afterthought but as a measurable standard integrated into risk registers, audits, and performance frameworks.

Strengthen your ethical compliance with ComplyPlus™

At The Mandatory Training Group UK, we believe that awareness should translate into action. Our digital compliance ecosystem, ComplyPlus™, helps regulated organisations embed ethics, sustainability, and accountability within their day-to-day operations.

Through intelligent training management, audit tracking, and policy integration, ComplyPlus™ empowers leaders to:

• Document and evidence ethical sourcing and ESG commitments

• Deliver staff training on sustainability, inclusivity, and compliance awareness

• Align corporate governance frameworks with evolving ethical and regulatory standards.

Join the movement towards responsible and sustainable governance. Discover how ComplyPlus™ can help your organisation strengthen its compliance culture today, on World Vegan Day 2025, and every day thereafter.