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How we check

Bunny Search tells you what the lists and the label say, with the source and how sure we are.

Updated · Rules version 2026.10.1

This page explains the method behind brand checks and the Ingredient Check. For what the Ingredient Check flags and what's free, see the ingredient scanner.

Is this brand cruelty-free?

Which lists we track and how we keep them current: where brand statuses come from.

What's in this product?

How each name is recognized

Labels print the same ingredient in different ways: as an INCI name, with brackets, with a color-index number or with a typo. We try these steps in order, and the first one that finds the name wins.

  1. Exact name. The name as printed, ignoring capitals, spaces and punctuation: "PEG 100 Stearate" and "PEG-100 Stearate" are the same ingredient.
  2. Other names in the same item. The name without its brackets, the part in brackets, and names separated by slashes: "Aqua/Water/Eau" is water, and "Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter" is shea butter.
  3. Color-index (CI) numbers. A CI number anywhere in the item: "Natural Red 4 CI 75470" is carmine.
  4. Common names. Everyday names we added by hand, such as "shea butter", and every name on our animal-origin list, such as "carmine".
  5. A careful fuzzy match. For small typos and misreads, such as "Sodium Laurel Sulfate" or "Tocopheral". It allows one wrong letter in a short name (none below six letters) and up to three in a long one, and only when the first letter and any numbers are the same and a single ingredient is the closest match. It's never used for words the AI marked as unreadable.

The rules then look at every form of each name, so an animal-derived ingredient, a silicone or a paraben is still flagged when its exact name isn't in our table. Names we can't match are listed as not recognized. What the rules find goes into the sections of "What we found": Animal-derived, May be animal-derived, Allergens & warnings, Parabens, Palm oil, Environment and More details.

Two rules worth knowing:

Certainty levels

The vegan part of every result has one of four levels. The label alone decides it.

Not vegan
The list includes an ingredient that comes from animals, for example carmine (CI 75470), which is made from insects.
Possibly not vegan
Some ingredients, such as glycerin, can come from animals or other sources. The label doesn't say which; only the maker knows.
Couldn't check every ingredient
We couldn't recognize enough of the list, or it looks cut off, so we don't give an answer.
No animal-derived ingredients found
None of the ingredients we recognized is on our animal-origin list. We show how many we recognized. This isn't a certification: we can't see how suppliers make each ingredient.

The other sections appear only when the list has something for them. We never say a product has "no allergens": below the EU labeling thresholds, fragrance allergens don't have to be named on the label.

Facts, not ratings

"What we found" lists facts with a source, for example that an ingredient is a labeled fragrance allergen in the EU, or a silicone. Tap one in the app to see its sources. The EU list is explained on the fragrance allergens page.

A fact about an ingredient (a hazard) is not the same as a risk from this product. Risk depends on how much is used and how you use it, which a label can't tell us. So we don't score products or rate them as good or bad for you.

Apps such as Yuka and Think Dirty rate products; Bunny Search doesn't. See how the apps compare.

Photos and AI

Who reads the photos and where they're processed is in the privacy policy.

The animal-origin list

We curate a list of ingredients that are, or can be, made from animals, with their other names and color-index (CI) numbers.

138 materials: 113 always from animals, 25 that may be. Cross-checked against PETA's Animal-Derived Ingredients List (checked ).

See every material, with the names it goes by on labels, in the A–Z list of animal-derived ingredients.

What we deliberately don't flag

Some ingredients on PETA's list are normally made synthetically, by fermentation or from plants when they're used in cosmetics. We don't flag them:

When the name itself says the source, we do flag it: "Silk Amino Acids" and "Keratin Amino Acids" are animal-derived. Only the maker knows for sure how each ingredient was made; if it matters to you, ask the brand.

Where the data comes from

Every fact in the app shows its sources. These are the sources of the ingredient lists and every source rules version 2026.10.1 cites. For laws, the date is when they were adopted or signed; for websites, databases and papers, it's when we last checked them.

Ingredient lists

Ingredient names and the animal-origin list

Laws and regulations the rules cite

Other sources the rules cite

We can be wrong

Brands change owners and policies, formulas change, photos can be misread, and databases have mistakes. The pack in your hand is always the final word.

If something looks wrong, tap "Report an error" on the product in the app. A list read from photos is hidden when enough people report it, and we ask for new photos.

You can also email support@bunnysearch.app, for a product or for a brand's status.

Rules version

Rules version 2026.10.1. Every result in the app shows the rules version it was checked with. When we change a rule, the version changes.

App updates are listed in what's new.

Not medical advice. With allergies, always read the physical label.

Check a label yourself

Every fact in a result shows its source, and every result shows its rules version.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play

Free download · Brand checks free · Try the Ingredient Check for free

After the short setup, tap 'What's in this product?' on Home.

Ingredient names and functions: European Commission CosIng database, © European Union, CC BY 4.0. Retrieved 2026-09-28. Functions lower-cased and abridged.

Contains information from Open Beauty Facts, available under the ODbL.

Some ingredient lists: data provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (openFDA).