Co-op Own-brand Vegetable Soup No Longer Vegan

Hi! This is my first posting so, apologies if I'm in the wrong forum or if someone else has already posted this topic.

Although I would normally make my own vegetable soup, it's always handy to have a tin in the cupboard as a contingency. Until recently I bought tins of plain vegetable soup from The Co-op's own-brand "Loved by Us" range. When I went to replenish my store last week I noticed that the vegetable soup tin had a new label (there were both old and new examples in the same shelf location with identical bar codes for comparison), and on inspection of the ingredients list I found that cow's milk is now included in the new version. I ask you, who adds 'milk' to vegetable soup?! (unless you're making a 'cream of...' style soup, which this is not).

I contacted The Co-op's customer services to check this out, to be told that they had changed the recipe due to complaints about the old recipe being "too spicy." I asked how adding cow's milk would address the issue of 'spiciness' (I never found it too spicy) but no answer was given. I asked why they didn't simply reduce the amount of spice - again, no answer. I asked if they were aware that they had now made that particular stock item unsuitable for about quarter of a million (exactly how many are we?) people in the UK, but again the reaction I received was one of corporate insouciance.

I would like to instigate a campaign of complaint against this dismissive and misguided attitude, raising the issue of how much of a backward step The Co-op has taken in such an unnecessary and pointless move.

Please join me in making a formal complaint to The Co-op. They can be contacted by freephone on: 0800 0686 727
or by completing an enquiry form at: https://secure.co-operativefood.co.uk/contact-us/

Thanks for listening,

Andy