the other Big Mac ...

[Guest guest]

have to say i am really peed off at the Linda McCartney foods business, having

just tried some.

 

... and i read the labels twice. where do they stick the milk and eggs?

 

well, it serves me right for shopping at a supermarket and eating junk.

 

forget the free helplines, they are just a call centre doing shifts i dare say.

 

find a director or food technologist at :

 

United Biscuits Frozen and Chilled Foods Ltd who can be contacted at their Head

Office on 01472 359 111

 

and give them an earholing. 

 

apparently the brand is now worth 50 million at year. i guess they can afford to

ditch the picky vegans now they have gone mainstream.

 

john

[Guest guest]

vegan-network, john allan <jallan@f...> wrote:

> have to say i am really peed off at the Linda McCartney foods

business, having just tried some.

>

> .. and i read the labels twice. where do they stick the milk and

eggs?

 

Caseinates somewhere as a binder for the vegetable protein they use,

so I have heard. Really sorry to hear you got spiked, I'm sure it has

happened to a lot of other vegans too, definitely not your fault. The

only indicator that they are now not vegan is that the old packaging

stated vegan and the new packaging does not, but vegans who were

previously not familiar with the products and packaging, and the fact

that it was always declared if they were vegan, would not know about

their labelling customs, and like you might simply trust the

ingredients list.

 

> well, it serves me right for shopping at a supermarket and eating

junk.

 

Not at all! Vegans have the right to the choice of convenience food

too!

 

> forget the free helplines, they are just a call centre doing shifts

i dare say.

 

Give them hell I say! Apparently they are logging vegan complaints,

so we should keep it up.

 

> find a director or food technologist at :

>

> United Biscuits Frozen and Chilled Foods Ltd who can be contacted

at their Head Office on 01472 359 111

 

Are they responsible for this, what is their connection?

If it's relevant I'll call them too.

 

> and give them an earholing. 

>

> apparently the brand is now worth 50 million at year. i guess they

can afford to ditch the picky vegans now they have gone mainstream.

 

I have no doubt that that is what they think! So we have to rope in

any vegan-sympathetic friends who may be vegetarian, to join the

Heinz boycott. Show we have teeth!

 

Lesley

[Guest guest]

vegan-network, Dr Ian McDonald <ian.mcdonald@i...> wrote:

>

>

> Lesley Dove wrote:

> >

> > > .. and i read the labels twice. where do they stick the milk and

> > eggs?

> >

> > Caseinates somewhere as a binder for the vegetable protein they

use,

> > so I have heard. Really sorry to hear you got spiked, I'm sure it

has

> > happened to a lot of other vegans too, definitely not your fault.

>

> Apparently the animal ingredient (presumably the caseinates) are

removed

> during the process of cooking.

 

Which is irrelevant to many of us.

 

> > The

> > only indicator that they are now not vegan is that the old

packaging

> > stated vegan and the new packaging does not, but vegans who were

> > previously not familiar with the products and packaging, and the

fact

> > that it was always declared if they were vegan, would not know

about

> > their labelling customs, and like you might simply trust the

> > ingredients list.

>

> My understanding is that the ingredients list is trustworthy. A

> statement such as " Milk products used during creation but not

present in

> final product. " would have been good.

 

Of course they should declare the use of milk products.

 

> > > forget the free helplines, they are just a call centre doing

shifts

> > i dare say.

> >

> > Give them hell I say! Apparently they are logging vegan

complaints,

> > so we should keep it up.

>

> In the past, you've referred to times when " raising hell " had

worked.

> Usually, that's been because you had a named and recognised person

to

> deal with, on whom pressure could be placed.

>

> In this case, giving people hell would merely annoy people who have

> little to lose by ignoring you.

 

I don't mean we should be rude to the helpline people, but we should

keep up the pressure, make sure they know how many people want them

reveganised, even get some non-vegan friends to call them in support.

Some people have said that they have been told that the company is

currently seeking a vegan alternative.

 

> > I have no doubt that that is what they think! So we have to rope

in

> > any vegan-sympathetic friends who may be vegetarian, to join the

> > Heinz boycott. Show we have teeth!

>

> (i) Why would veggies want to boycott one of the best ranges of

veggie

> food out there?

 

It's not even one of the best! I actually never thought it was that

wonderful, but it was and is more accessible than most. There are

better sausages such as Wicken Fen for instance.

 

> (ii) Can't we find more deserving companies for a boycott than

Heinz?

 

Maybe, but they should know better than to take a step backwards like

this, having already started catering for vegans.

 

> We don't have teeth. For supermarkets, we are an all but negligible

> economic force, at least currently.

>

> The point at which pressure might be applied is the McCartney

family,

> and they'd only help us because they thought that making being vegan

> easier was good for the animals. We'll have to convince them, not

> pressure them.

 

I know their son is vegan, so he would be a good one to start with.

 

> Does anyone know what the point of contact for them is? I've had no

luck

> getting it from the " Careline " .

 

No sorry, I don't know.

 

> Make no mistake - I'm not happy about this. Any chance I get, I

refer to

> the new products as " now with added cruelty " . But I don't think the

> " give them hell " approach will work.

 

I think the boycott has potential, but any effort to contact the

McCartney's would probably help too.

 

Lesley