Usually, yes. Most supermarket tubs are rapeseed, sunflower, palm or coconut oil, plus water, salt and an emulsifier. But margarine has no legal duty to be plant-based. EU marketing rules define it as a spread made from vegetable and/or animal fats, with up to 3 percent of the fat allowed to come from milk. That gap is where the exceptions live: Lätta Original, a big brand in Germany, contains 5 percent buttermilk, and the UK’s Flora Buttery had buttermilk in it from 2020 to 2023.
We read the manufacturers’ own product pages on 27 September 2026. This is a label check. Nobody tasted anything.
Contents7 chapters
What can make margarine non-vegan
The first margarine, patented in France in 1869, was made partly from beef tallow and skimmed milk. Modern tubs have mostly moved on. When a German consumer advice centre looked at 49 margarines in Rostock supermarkets in late 2023 (a small, non-representative sample), seven of them contained animal additives.
Dairy. Buttermilk, whey, yogurt, skimmed milk powder, butter. Milk is a declared allergen in the UK and EU, so these show up in bold on the ingredient list. Easy to catch.
Vitamin D. Lots of margarine is fortified, and industrial vitamin D3 is commonly made from lanolin, the grease in sheep’s wool. The label usually just says “vitamin D”. In a 2013 German complaint, Becel Classic was sold as “purely plant-based” while its D3 came from wool fat; the maker said the claim referred to the oils and fats. Vitamin D2 and lichen-based D3 are the vegan versions. More in our explainer Is vitamin D3 vegan?
E471 (mono- and diglycerides). In almost every tub. They can come from plant oils or animal fat, and the label won’t tell you which. Our guide Are mono- and diglycerides vegan? covers how to tell. Lecithin, the other common emulsifier, is almost always soy or sunflower, see Is lecithin vegan?
Fish oil. German consumer magazine Öko-Test notes that some spreads add omega-3 from fish oil. Germany’s Vitaquell uses algae oil for the same job.
Gelatine. Low-fat spreads need a binder, and gelatine is one technical option. None of the lists we read included it, but reduced-fat tubs are where to look.
How to check the label
- Look for a vegan trademark. The Vegan Society sunflower or the V-Label settle the question, including E471 and vitamin D.
- Scan the bold allergens. Milk, butter, buttermilk, whey, yogurt, cream: not vegan.
- Treat “plant-based” with care. In Germany, a “plant” claim on margarine tolerates up to 2 percent animal fat. “Suitable for vegans” or a certification is the stronger claim.
- Vitamin D with no source? D2 is plant-derived. Plain “vitamin D” without a vegan claim leaves the source open. Ask the brand.
- Recipes change. Flora dropped dairy from its whole range in 2019, put buttermilk back into Buttery in October 2020 and made it vegan again in autumn 2023. A tub you checked three years ago proves nothing today.
Margarine brands, checked (as of 27 September 2026)
We only call a product vegan when the manufacturer says so. Flora, Stork, Becel, Rama and Lätta all belong to the same company, Flora Food Group (formerly Upfield).
| Brand | Market | Vegan? | What the maker says | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flora | UK & Ireland | Yes | Original certified by The Vegan Society; Buttery and Lighter “suitable for vegans”; Plant B+tter 100% plant-based | flora.com |
| Vitalite | UK | Yes | Dairy-free since 2003, “vegan-certified” spread. Trademark of Dairy Crest (Saputo Dairy UK) | vitalitedairyfree.co.uk |
| Pure | UK | Yes | Maker lists its Sunflower and Buttery Taste spreads as vegan | puredairyfree.co.uk |
| Stork | UK | Not stated | Maker’s site shows plant ingredients plus vitamin D, but no vegan claim. Check the pack | bakewithstork.com |
| Alsan | Germany | Yes | All Alsan margarines vegan, plant-based emulsifiers | alsan.de |
| Rama | Germany | Some | Green-lid “Rama 100% pflanzlich”: made for vegans, vitamin D2. “Rama mit Butter”: 9% butter, no. Classic Rama: vitamin D source not given | rama.com |
| Becel | Germany / Canada | Depends | German tubs say “100% plant-based” but not vegan, vitamin D source not given. Canada sells a dedicated “Becel Vegan” | becel.ca |
| Lätta | Germany | Some no | Original contains 5% buttermilk, Joghurt 5% skimmed-milk yogurt | laetta.com |
| Country Crock Plant Butter | US | Yes | Maker: all its Plant Butters are vegan | countrycrock.com |
In the US, Country Crock makes a vegan claim only for its Plant Butter line, not for its classic buttery spreads. Recipes and fortification vary by country, so an answer for a UK tub doesn’t carry over to one in Ohio.
Margarine vs butter
The law. In the EU, “butter” is protected: 80 to 90 percent milk fat, from milk. Full-fat margarine sits at 80 to under 90 percent fat, reduced-fat versions at 60 to 62 or 39 to 41 percent, and anything else has to be called a “spread” with its fat percentage.
Baking. A full-fat block or tub usually swaps for butter one to one. Light spreads carry too much water for pastry and tend to spit in a frying pan. For block-style options, see our roundup of vegan butter.
Palm oil. Flora’s UK range is palm-free. Vitalite and Stork both list palm oil; Vitalite calls its palm sustainable.
Climate. Flora claims at least 77 percent less climate impact than dairy butter, based on the company’s own life-cycle assessment. The direction is plausible. The number comes from an interested party.
Health. Whether margarine or butter is “healthier” depends on the fat profile and the amount. Nutrition experts talk through questions like this on our podcast.
Buttermilk, lanolin, fish oil: who pays for them
Label debates are about percentages and footnotes. The animals behind the ingredients never come up.
Buttermilk is left over from making butter. For cows to give milk, they have to calve, year after year, and the calves are usually taken away early. Lanolin comes from sheep farmed for wool. Fish oil comes from fish that were caught or farmed and killed. A by-product is still part of what keeps these industries paid.
In Germany alone, around 746 million pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, horses and poultry were slaughtered in 2025, fish not included, according to the federal statistics office Destatis. That these animals feel is recognised in science and in law: in the 2024 New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness, and in Article 13 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which calls animals sentient beings. A hint of dairy flavour on toast doesn’t outweigh that.
This position doesn’t depend on any nutrition study. It would hold even if butter turned out to be perfectly healthy. And it goes beyond the fridge: leather, wool, down, eggs and the male chicks, animal testing.
With margarine, switching costs you nothing, since the vegan tub is usually on the same shelf. For more everyday products with hidden animal ingredients, use our Is it vegan? checker, and if you want the bigger picture, start with our list of the best vegan documentaries.
FAQ
Is Flora vegan?
In the UK and Ireland, yes. Flora’s product pages call Original, Buttery and Lighter suitable for vegans, and Original carries The Vegan Society trademark. Flora Buttery contained buttermilk between October 2020 and autumn 2023.
Is Stork vegan?
Stork’s own website lists plant-based ingredients and added vitamin D, but makes no vegan claim. Some retailers sell a Stork baking block labelled vegan. Check the pack you’re holding.
Does “dairy-free” mean vegan?
Not automatically. A dairy-free spread can still contain fish oil, vitamin D3 from lanolin or E471 from animal fat. Look for “suitable for vegans” or a vegan trademark.
Can I swap butter for margarine in baking?
Yes, with a full-fat margarine or baking block, usually one to one. Light spreads hold too much water for cakes and pastry.
How we researched this
Brand information comes from the manufacturers’ product pages, accessed on 27 September 2026. A product counts as vegan in the table only if the maker says so. Where the maker only says “plant-based” and leaves the vitamin D source open, we say so. We did not taste or test anything. Background on the rules and on how often dairy turns up comes from a 2024 market check by the consumer advice centre of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the German consumer portal Lebensmittelklarheit and Öko-Test. Climate figures come from the manufacturer, which is a party to the question. Recipes change; the pack in your hand is what counts.
Sources
- Verbraucherzentrale Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Margarine market check (German, August 2024)
- Lebensmittelklarheit: Becel classic complaint (German, 2013, archived)
- Öko-Test: Ist Margarine eigentlich immer vegan? (German, April 2024)
- Green Queen: Flora UK spreads are vegan again (October 2023)
- Manufacturer pages: Flora, Vitalite, Pure, Stork, Alsan, Rama, Becel Canada, Lätta, Country Crock, accessed 27 September 2026
- Deli Reform: History of margarine (German)
- Destatis: Press release no. 049, February 2026 (German)
- Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Annex VII, Part VII (spreadable fats)