A process for producing a biologically-active botulinum neurotoxin type A complex comprising the sequential steps of: (a) culturing Clostridium botulinum bacteria in a culture medium which is entirely free of animal-derived products or contains animal-derived products in amount less than 1 % (w/v); (b) fermenting Clostridium botulinum bacteria from the culture medium in 1.8 to 82.5 L of a fermentation medium which is entirely free of animal-derived products or contains animal-derived products in an amount less than 1% (w/v); (c) harvesting the fermentation medium by removing cellular debris; (d) concentrating the harvested fermentation medium by filtration; (e) diluting the concentrated fermentation medium by adding a buffer thereto; (f) performing a first contacting step in which the diluted, harvested fermentation medium is contacted with an anion exchange chromatography medium so that biologically-active botulinum neurotoxin in the medium is captured by the anion exchange medium; (g) eluting captured botulinum neurotoxin from the anion exchange medium to obtain a first eluate; (h) performing a second contacting step in which the first eluate is contacted with a cation exchange chromatography medium to remove impurities from the first eluate, thereby obtaining a second eluate; (i) performing a third contacting step in which the second eluate is contacted with a hydrophobic interaction chromatography medium and eluted to obtain a third eluate; (j) processing the third eluate by diafiltration; and (k) filtering the processed third eluate to obtain a biologically-active botulinum neurotoxin type A complex-containing product having a potency of 1.8 × 10 7 to 6.6 × 10 7 units/mg; wherein at least one of the culture medium and the fermentation medium includes a vegetable protein, and no animal-derived enzyme is used to purify the botulinum neurotoxin; and wherein the process is carried out in one week or less. (a) culturing Clostridium botulinum bacteria in a culture medium which is entirely free of animal-derived products or contains animal-derived products in amount less than 1 % (w/v); (b) fermenting Clostridium botulinum bacteria from the culture medium in 1.8 to 82.5 L of a fermentation medium which is entirely free of animal-derived products or contains animal-derived products in an amount less than 1% (w/v); (c) harvesting the fermentation medium by removing cellular debris; (d) concentrating the harvested fermentation medium by filtration; (e) diluting the concentrated fermentation medium by adding a buffer thereto; (f) performing a first contacting step in which the diluted, harvested fermentation medium is contacted with an anion exchange chromatography medium so that biologically-active botulinum neurotoxin in the medium is captured by the anion exchange medium; (g) eluting captured botulinum neurotoxin from the anion exchange medium to obtain a first eluate; (h) performing a second contacting step in which the first eluate is contacted with a cation exchange chromatography medium to remove impurities from the first eluate, thereby obtaining a second eluate; (i) performing a third contacting step in which the second eluate is contacted with a hydrophobic interaction chromatography medium and eluted to obtain a third eluate; (j) processing the third eluate by diafiltration; and (k) filtering the processed third eluate to obtain a biologically-active botulinum neurotoxin type A complex-containing product having a potency of 1.8 × 10 7 to 6.6 × 10 7 units/mg;