plant-based

This term is primarily used in commercial and nutritional contexts to signal a specific dietary choice or product formulation. It carries a modern, health-conscious, and ethical connotation, often serving as a more marketable alternative to the word vegan. While veganism is a strict philosophy excluding all animal products, plant-based focuses on the source of the ingredients, though in practice they are often used interchangeably in food labeling.

Because it is a compound adjective, it is almost always used attributively before a noun, such as in plant-based milk or plant-based diet. It is rarely used as a standalone predicate adjective without a noun following it in professional culinary or medical descriptions.