Gille swedish buiscuits

**Tanja** · Feb 26th, 2005, 08:11 PM

Hello,

hope that somebody can help me here. I do not know if these buiscuits are as popupar in Sweden as in Germany (people are really keen on them, you can buy them at IKEA for example ;-)). A few weeks ago I sent Gille an email:

Dear Sir or Madam,

More and more people are vegan for ethical reasons and therefore avoid all
animal products. As an animal-rights organization one of the things Maqi
wants to do is disseminate information about veganism. Every now and then we
get enquiries relating to vegan products.

It is not as simple to answer these enquires as it seems to be at first
sight. Apart from obvious animal products such as milk and lard a lot of
processed food contains hidden animal products or ingredients that may be of
animal or of plant origin (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, vitamins
and flavourings, to give only a few examples).

In Germany there are some kinds of your biscuits that could be vegan.

I should be grateful if you could let me know:
1.. what the ingredients are (including these that do not have to be
listed by law)
2.. what the compound ingredients are composed of
3.. what other materials are used in the manufacturing process (including
any that are not present in the end product or are present in very small
amounts)
4.. all these queries relate to the packaging as well (e.g. glue
containing casein for the labels)
For example there is vanilla flavouring in some of the biscuits, that could
contain animal products or be synthesized from them. And if you use fat for
the baking tray: which kind of fat is it (maybe butter)?
We are also interested in the sugar: Is it beet sugar or cane sugar (the
second one could have been refined using animal charcoal).

We should be grateful if you would provide us with the same information
about any of your other products that could be vegan.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require any further information.
Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
Yours sincerely,

Tanja Mueller
Maqi - for animal rights, against speciesism

Their answer:

Dear Ms. Mueller,
all of our biscuits only contain what is written on the packaging
declaration. Some of our 30 different kind of cookies contain eggpowder
(written on the label), but that is the only animal product near our
products.
with best regards
Gillebagaren AB
Karin Sunesson

So I tried it again:

Dear Ms. Sunesson,

thank you for your answer, but there are still some open questions. I do not
only need to know what is contained in your biscuits but also details about
the production process. That is why I asked what kind of sugar is used for
the biscuits and what the vanilla flavouring ist made of.
The reason why I need these details is that I am not interested in health
questions but in ethics - an that includes the production process even if
the final product does not contain any animal products. Example: cane sugar
may be refined using animal charcoal. This charcoal is not contained in the
final product but animals would have been killed for it - so it is not
vegan. Same holds for the flavouring: is it derived from or based on animal
products?

Thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter.
With best regards,

Tanja Mueller
Maqi - for animal rights, against speciesism

They did not answer anymore. Is anybody here in the phorum who could help me? Maybe the swedish declaration of the ingedrients contents more details?

Before I went vegan I loved these biscuits...

Tanja

**Roxy** · Feb 27th, 2005, 05:55 AM

I'm sorry I can't answer your questions......but it sounds like they have put your email in the "too hard" basket - because they cannot be bothered

That is a real shame.

I know you really liked those biscuits before going vegan, but if the company cannot be bothered to answer your questions, and treat you as a valued consumer.....then I wouldn't waste any more of your time or money with them.