What have Mars done? Their key chocolate bars aren't veggie

Reading article "What have Mars done? Their key chocolate bars aren't veggie" - Reply to this / 4 comment(s)
Normally I wouldn't encourage any sort of boycott, but this one is different. For some strange reason, Masterfoods, who make the Mars products, have started using animal whey in their products. Some of the products affected are:

Twix, Snickers, Mars Bars and Maltesers (from May 1) and "It will now also be found in Bounty, Minstrels and Milky Way products, and the ice cream versions of all Masterfoods' bars."

"Masterfoods said the change was due to it switching the sourcing of its ingredients and the admission was a "principled decision" on its part.

The Vegetarian Society said the company's move was "incomprehensible"."


I really can't believe that they would take such a backwards step as this. One of the great things about some of the food scares in recent years has been that manufacturers stopped using animal fat and gelatine in so many products. It opened up a lot more options for us veggies.

Now Masterfoods have done something like this.... using animal whey (from animal rennet, which is the lining of calves stomachs) in some of the most popular chocolate bars around. I'm not impressed, and it's worth making vegetarians know (I'm sure that in the UK it will have an impact on sales - there are about 3 million of us.) It's not just vegetarians that are affected, but also those that don't eat meat for religious reasons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6653175.stm 

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1. Re: What have Mars done? Their key chocolate bars aren't veggie by ecosrights, 271 days ago

   I've just done a bit of reading around on this and looked at a couple of forums trying to establish if this means the products are halal or not. From what I can tell, they wont be... so there's another major market sector that Mars are ruling out. It's crazy.

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2. Re: What have Mars done? Their key chocolate bars aren't veggie by ecosrights, 268 days ago

   Apparently British Jews have been given the all clear to eat the chocolate bars still:
   
   "British Jews have been given the green light to continue eating chocolate manufactured by Masterfoods despite the recent announcement that whey containing animal rennet is now being used in products including Mars, Snickers, Milky Way and Bounty.
   
   According to the London Beth Din, the amount of whey is such a minuscule amount that is does not affect the kosher status of the product."

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3. Re: What have Mars done? Their key chocolate bars aren't veggie by ecosrights, 267 days ago

   Well, it turns out that Mars have realised the error of their ways...
   
   The whole article is behind a subscription, but
   
   "The speed with which Mars has reversed its decision to switch to non-vegetarian whey in the production of some of its chocolate bars demonstrates the power consumer campaigns can exert on food producers..."
   
   Having said that there are still thousands (registration necessary) of Mars products on the shelves of shops that remain unsuitable.
   
   "In an advert taken out in several national newspapers today (Mon 21st), Mars UK's managing director, Fiona Dawson, apologises to consumers. "We made a mistake," she says in a signed open letter. "We apologise. The customer is our boss. Therefore we listen to you and your feedback."...
   She told the Guardian the decision to revert to vegetarian-friendly whey for a selection of lines had been customer-led, but indicated there had not been a boycott.
   
   "There's been no impact on sales - this has been about getting feedback from people who love our product," she said."

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4. Re: What have Mars done? Their key chocolate bars aren't veggie by ecosrights, 163 days ago

   Well having recovered from this whole fiasco, Mars are now trying to make things clearer for us veggies by labelling some of the chocolate bars as such. This is good, but it does raise the age old "what is vegetarian" debate again. The Veggie Society have said that they wont approve Mars' labelling because they don't use free range eggs.
   
   So, will you trust Mars using their own veggie labelling?
   
   

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