Mars have announced that their chocolate bars are no longer vegetarian as they contain whey. More here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2078833,00.html
Mars have announced that their chocolate bars are no longer vegetarian as they contain whey. More here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2078833,00.html
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
The Man from Mars says:
If the customer is an extremely strict vegetarian, then we are sorry the products are no longer suitable but a less strict vegetarian should enjoy our chocolate
We are saved in the end by the things that ignore us. Andrew Harvey
I do sometimes think I should have taken a career in marketting
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
Bill Hicks once did a really good piece on marketing...
"Seriously, kill yourselves"
Being vegetarian is a minefield - you can never be really sure if something has free range eggs in it or rennet or whatever. I think it's easier being a vegan quite honestly.
Vegetarians who eat products with non free range eggs in or free range eggs which come from farms who send chickens for slaughter might as well eat meat because their diet is no better than a meat etaers.
Hopefully this will make more veggies vegan.
Silent but deadly :p
I couldn't have said that better myself, Hemlock. Vegan is definitely much easier.
It's not just vegetarians who will be affected, they won't be suitable for people who keep kosher or halal either.
good to hear there is at least something positive to come out of this Tam Lin!
this is just another example of how diluted 'vegetarianism' has become in many people's eyes. i would never have knowingly eaten rennet as a veggie, so i guess i was an 'extremely strict vegetarian'. no wonder i went vegan then! i hope others will follow suit.If the customer is an extremely strict vegetarian, then we are sorry the products are no longer suitable but a less strict vegetarian should enjoy our chocolate
being vegan makes so much more sense
i wonder if the Vegetarian Society will have anything to say about this?
I agree Gorilla. You wouldnt believe some of the things the veggies i met at the weekend ate, i was so tempted to say something but i didnt want to start at someone elses celebrations. I know some wonderful veggies though but some just have no clue.
Yes, Gorilla, the Vegetarian Society has been commenting in a lot of the reports e.g.
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2079101,00.html
and they have also asked members to write to the local press about it (it's National Vegetarian Week soon so you never know, some of the letters might get published).
Edited to add link: http://www.vegsoc.org/news/2007/mars.html
Must say it hadn't crossed my mind that these products were suitable for vegetarians to begin with - I thought most of them weren't. But it's been a while since I checked.
thanks for the links, harpy. i tried to check the Vegetarian Society's website earlier but couldn't access it for some reason.
i expect many vegetarians wouldn't have made the connection that whey used in these products could be from non-vegetarian sources.
'vegetarian cheese' shouldn't contain rennet, but unfortunately many 'veggies' still eat cheese made with rennet. vegetarians who are as strict as i was though would be disgusted to learn that Mars products now contain slaughter by-products.
but as i and others have said earlier, this is why it's so much easier being vegan.
When I was veggie, I wouldn't eat cheese that contained animal rennet. Same goes for whey/whey powder. That made a lot of things non-veggie. So, this news would have been important to me.
"Do what you can with what you have where you are."
- Theodore Roosevelt
There are loads of vegetarians who eat fish, it doesn't mean fish is vegetarian
Animal rennet (calf stomach lining) is used in a lot of cheese production. As whey is a biproduct of cheese making the whey can be contaminated. I've no idea how likely this is, whether all whey contains a significant amount or it's very rare.
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
I believe the rennet is used early on, to separate the curds and whey.
"Do what you can with what you have where you are."
- Theodore Roosevelt
imagining i was still a vegetarian: even if the whey Mars used didn't actually contain the rennet itself, knowing the whey had come from non-vegetarian cheese would be enough to put me off the product. it's similar to non-vegetarian wine in my view, the animal-based finings may not be present in the product but they are part of the production, so i would want to avoid it.
i was a vegan in the making though, and i don't know how many other current vegetarians would feel the same way. hopefully they will all convert!
that's the difference, you were a vegan in the making.
The "average" vegetarian that I come across, doesn't seem to mind that part of milk means killing an animal to get or make that product.
I don't mingle with vegetarians a lot, but my impression is that the majority wears leather shoes?
There are different levels of being vegetarian perhaps, but I get the impression that the common denominator is "don't eat meat".
Fish or leather are not a big issue for them afaik?
Or do vegetarian boards also have heated debates on what's vegetarian or not?
i think a lot of vegetarians are vegans in the making if they're vegetarian for ethical reasons. often they just need a little bit of help or extra info to go vegan (like i did).
i expect a lot of 'vegetarians' who eat fish/non-veggie cheese/wear leather etc. know they're not really vegetarian but say they are to make life easier for themselves or because they want to be seen as veggie for some reason.
i don't think this issue should be ignored just because it won't bother some so-called vegetarians.
When I was ovo-lacto I used to avoid non-vegetarian cheese, but I had no idea that whey was not always veggie. It wouldn't have occured to me that a chocolate bar might have been unsuitable for me to eat.
I'm sure the majority of ovo-lactos are similarly ignorant. The labelling on food needs to be tightened up so that people can understand what they are eating without having to do a ton of research on every ingredient in every product.
I've registered my complaint in the hope that they will have to take note due to sheer number of comments...don't know if that's realistic though? I remember how people resolved never to eat a MacDonalds after Super Size Me and three months on...
If you want to complain to Masterfoods, you can do so here:
http://www.advisory.masterfoods.com/...umercare.co.uk
I think the definition of vegetarian is so blurry nowadays.
Of course this is never helped by people who eat fish and chicken and still call themselves veggie.
Personally when I was veggie I always ate vegetarian cheese, free range eggs, avoided gelatine, rennet and whey and also refused to wear leather so I guess I was a 'strict' veggie. But I know of many other people who did all these things mentioned and still called themselves veggie.
People tell me all the time it must be hard to be vegan, but I have to agree that acutally it's a lot easier as the 'perimeters' of what is vegan and what is not are far more clear (to me in any case!)
'I love Dandelion tea'
Mars bars get veggie status back
Mars has abandoned plans to use animal products in its chocolate, and has apologised to "upset" vegetarians.
It's great that they've changed it back... but still.. the sheer absurdity of trying to change them in the first place completely baffles me.
What a marketing/product 'improvement' department...
Great for who?
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
At the very least I think it's a good example that consumer pressure CAN make a difference
Blackadder: Baldrick, have you no idea what irony is?
Baldrick: Yes, it's like goldy and bronzy only it's made out of iron.
The whole thing reeks of marketing to me. In a way though it's done the veggie movement good, showing that it's financially beneficial to cater to vegetarians.
"I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
Yeah, it's great that they've seen sense to listen to consumer pressure, but I'm still shocked by how someone could have thought it a good idea to change to using whey in the first place, despite it alienating a sizeable proportion of the population on the grounds of moral/religious reasons.
The fact that they wanted to change the recipe in the first place shows a total lack of foresight on their behalf, and little respect for the wishes of a large chunk of their customer base.
Like I said, marketing. Look at all the free advertising they've got.
"I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
True. Very true, i'm sure a lot of people are thinking about Mars et al. now. But at the same time, those who might have been put off by the recipe change might still be weary about the cut-off date and whether any of the new versions are on the shop shelves.
I've lost a lot of respect for Masterfoods (assuming I had any in the first place) due to the recklessness of their initial decision and I certainly think of them in a negative light now. Whose to say other people do not also feel the same way, and thus this marketing move was badly played?
Those of us that care wether our food has rennet in it are in a very small minority, the vast majority of people that don't care have had the brand name shoved in their faces anyway - Now by doing a U-turn they've also pleased those that were annoyed in the first place.
You may have lost respect for them, but I don't really think they care what vegans think about their products.
"I don't want to live on this planet any more" - Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth
My vegan flatmate has just informed me that Mars have reversed the decision to use animal rennet in its products. I don't have a source at this moment.
Saw this and remembered this thread
http://uk.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUKL2069954720070520?feedType=RSS
LONDON (Reuters) - Chocolate maker Mars apologised on Sunday for a widely mocked decision to use animal products in chocolate bars and said in future its candy would be suitable for vegetarians.
The company said it was reversing a decision announced last week to change its chocolate recipe to include trace amounts of rennet, a natural enzyme produced from the stomachs of calves which is used in traditional cheese and chocolate making.
That recipe change had infuriated vegetarian campaigners. Forty members of parliament signed a protest petition, and the media was bemused. The Independent newspaper called it a "truly cruel but funny prank played by the universe on vegetarians".
The company did its best to sound contrite.
"It became very clear, very quickly, that we had made a mistake, for which I am sorry," Fiona Dawson, managing director of the Mars snack food business in Britain, said in a statement.
"There are 3 million vegetarians in the UK and not only did we disappoint them but we upset lots of other consumers," she said. "We have listened to their views and have decided to reverse our decision."
The statement acknowledged the protests from politicians and said Mars had been "swamped" by more than 6,000 calls and e-mails in the days following the announcement.
"We took the original decision in order to broaden our supply base to ensure the availability of our supply, but we underestimated the impact this would have," Dawson said.
"I personally commit to make sure that the products we changed will be suitable for vegetarians again in the near future."
I think it's great - yes, the company has had some publicity out of it (mostly negative though), but it has highlighted lots of veg*n/food issues aswell as bringing animal cruelty into the arena and giving many opportunities for enlightenment! .
Now......we just need to get them to drop all animal ingredients! .
Yes i know, the title of the article was "Mars says sorry for the animal products in their chocolate" I got excited because I thought they were taking them all out milk and all. Obviously milk isnt an animal product
I've been on the BBC website, "Have your say" area in particular the thread on this issue - the widespread hatred and attitude towards vegetarians is outstanding!
What on earth is their problem???? I can't see what business it is of anyone what I eat and why they should care. Some of them are saying they wouldn't have freaks like us over to their homes etc etc.
I guess people like that have loads of friends!
Does anyone know why everyone hates vegans and veggies so much? We're not child molesters, we love animals, we're generally better people on the whole with regards to morality, ecology etc so what's not to like about us?
My view on the majority of people in the world is that they are rats - a plague the world wouldn't miss if they were wiped out
Silent but deadly :p
lol, I can understand why non vegetarians may hate people who think they are vermin and should die horribly! Thankfully I and a few other veggies actually quite like humans.
"Mr Flibble - forum corruptor of innocents!!" - Hemlock
But...look at all the good press that the vegetarian movement got as well. In many, many papers and on TV news including at least the BBC and Channel 4, I saw the story covered. This included info about the nature of rennet, which undoubtedly made many non-vegetarians say "ewww". I saw the Pres. of the Vegetarian Society on TV, and heard her on the radio. She did an excellent job of showing vegetarians as "normal" people, as opposed to many of the freak stories the media often picks up on. I even was fortunate to hear her say to a reporter who was talking about fishatarians: "Well, anyone who eats fish isn't a vegetarian."
A small dose of education and a positive image of vegetarians, along with the reversal of the decision by Masterfoods. Not an altogether bad outing, imo.
Sure, as a vegan, I wish they'd eliminate the milk products. As a human, I wish they'd verify the slavetrade-free status of their chocolate. But, that just means we have more battles to fight, and shouldn't detract from this success.
I don't think it really helps to think/say that veg*ns are 'better' people, I honestly think that causes a lot of the hostility . Besides, I have known a lot of veg*ns who definitely don't fall into the category of 'better' people .
Calves Protest at Mars Bars U-turn
The National Union of Calves today released a statement condemning Masterfoods for their u-turn in using mashed up dead baby calf in its chocolate products.
In the statement, released earlier today, it was stated that the decision to use a vegetarian alternative had angered calves and their mothers all over the UK.
A mother cow commented, "what use is a calf now?"
The National Union of Calves today expressed the disappointment of it's members at not being sourced for Masterfoods chocolate, saying that its members had been looking forward to leading a useful and productive, albeit very short, life in fulfilling the appetites of chocolate-eating obese non-vegetarian humans.
Cows are said to be devastated that their offspring will now be taken from them after birth and slaughtered for no particular reason except to extract large quantities of milk from the mother.
A cow spokesman commented, "this a low move."
http://www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.c...dline=s1i19060
Bookmarks