The Masterfoods petition

Still Veggie-unfriendly

2007-05-21T18:53:00.000-07:00

Mars have now put up part of a website to help them deal with their crisis, available at:
http://www.masterfoodsconsumercare.co.uk/veg_faq.asp

Here are their Frequently asked questions, and my response:
Q1. What are you announcing?
A1. We have recently changed the source of some of the whey which is used in our chocolate products made in the UK from a vegetarian friendly variety to one which contains traces of traditional rennet from animal sources. We have received lots of feedback from consumers and reversed this decision.

Q2. Are you reverting to vegetarian recipes for all of those products that were subject to the ingredient change?
A2. Yes, this announcement means that favourite products - Mars bars, Snickers bars, Galaxy, and Maltesers will once again be suitable for vegetarians.
Err...my favourite product is Bounty though!! Hang on a sec....there are a few products missing!! Let us see what the next question brings!

Q3. You make lots of other brands – what about the suitability of them?
A3. Other products will also be suitable for vegetarians including Minstrels, Revels, and Ripple. However, Twix, Bounty and Celebrations will continue not to be suitable for vegetarians.
Why not? Have Mars decided to outsource abroad for these chocolates? Don't they realise that people also prefer the taste of Twix, Bounty and Celebrations over some of the other chocolates?

Q4. I’m a vegetarian – which products can I eat / should I avoid?
A4. Currently we cannot guarantee that our products contain vegetarian rennet. However, we are starting to change our manufacturing process with immediate effect. We want to get our vegetarian products on the shelves as soon as possible. During this process of changing the recipes we will provide updates on this consumer care website, on a regular basis. If you are not sure about the suitability of our products please call us on 0845 0450042.
...In other words, you do not know and you screwed up. Big time.
I would recommend that for a short time period (say 3 to 6 months) no-one eat any Masterfoods chocolates just to be on the safe side and to teach Masterfoods a lesson!

Q5. Why did you decide to change the ingredients in the first place?
A5. We made the change to broaden our supply base in order to ensure we could continue to provide our consumers with products of consistent quality in the future.
Are you sure it had nothing to do with costs? It sounds like an accountant made this decision and not a marketer. At least not one who knew the basics of market research.

Q6. Will you now consult with consumers on any future changes to products?
A6. Yes. This change was a mistake and we are sorry that we may have prevented consumers from enjoying the products they’ve always enjoyed.
Well...you've learned the hard way, and as I have said before let this be a lesson to any company that wants to try and save some of their costs over serving the Customer - it can only end badly!

Here is also a statement on their current Vegetarian status (and a few of my responses):
http://www.masterfoodsconsumercare.co.uk/veg_status.asp

At Mars UK we recently changed the source of some of the whey which is used in some of our chocolate products. We have received lots of feedback that this decision has made it difficult for some of you, especially those of you who are vegetarians, to continue to enjoy our products.

We made a mistake. We apologise.

The consumer is our boss. Therefore we listen to you and your feedback.
Then why have you only changed some and not all of your products?? Will you wait until sales start to drastically fall until you make the decision? The consumers have already spoken, and we want the chocolates of Masterfoods to be vegetarian friendly. Just read some of the comments on the Masterfoods petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?MarsWhey) This is very poor CSR from Masterfoods.

As a company we value openness, honesty and diversity and we believe that anybody should be able to choose freely from our range of chocolate brands.

But being sorry isn’t enough. Therefore we commit to you today, that we at Mars UK will ensure that a selection of your favourite brands – Mars bars, Snickers bars, Galaxy and Maltesers, will be suitable for vegetarians in the near future. To this effect we are starting to change our manufacturing process today.
Why make the changes today? Why did it change the ingredients anyway? To cut costs and not think about the Customer? Why not change once the first few people mentioned it and why did it have to wait until it got national coverage in the national press and radio? Did you not do any proper market research?

We will keep you informed of our progress against this commitment through regular updates on this website.

Please accept our apology and keep talking to us, via

our careline - 0845 0450042 [The number I remember off the top of my head is 0800 952 1234]
our simple freepost address – Freepost, Masterfoods, Consumer Care
our website - www.masterfoodsconsumercare.co.uk
our email address –

Please contact them to get Masterfoods to use vegetarian certified whey in all of their chocolates. Thank you, and keep up the good work everyone!

E-mails I have recieved

2007-05-21T18:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a selection of questions that I have been asked in various emails and also my reply (please note that I am still working through the back-log):

Q1. About Muslims \ Jews \ Hindus
I've had a few on similar lines, some of which are (some edited for spelling mistakes and text speak!):
Have just signed your petition, but someone pointed out to me (I signed before reading the cover letter) muslims do eat cows, hindus don't and I'm fairly sure they're right so you should change your letter before submitting it.

I just signed the petition for the chocolate - about them using animal renent used from calves I wanted to mention that this is a big issue for hindus as well as cows are holy to us and being vegetarians we cant eat it as well but this was not mentioned in the letter before the petition so just wanted to inform you if it could be mentioned. thank you

Thanks for setting up the petition to Masterfoods, which I have signed and urged all my friends to sign also. Please could you give me a few more details as to what the derivation of the rennet in the Mars products actually is?
Is it from calves - or also from other animals? If it is calves then I am not sure why this is not Kosher or Halal, I thought Muslims and Jews only avoid pigs? If you could clear this up for me it would be much appreciated.

Answer 1.
I remember reading somewhere that it is calf rennet although cannot be 100% sure. You are correct in saying that Muslims and Jews avoid food derived from pigs - but they also need to ensure that the food they eat is Halaal (Halal) for Muslims and Kosher for Jews. Making sure they eat food which is not derived from Pig is one aspect, but there are also other aspects such as making sure the animal is killed in accordance with Islamic or Jewish law - such as making sure the animal is slaughtered as quick as possible using a sharp blade across the throat and for Muslims mentioning the name of god at the time of killing the animal. There are a lot of Hindus that do not eat cow too.

Some Muslims and Jews say that food derived from an animal which has not been slaughtered according to their religious law is not allowed - including Whey that is produced by using rennet. In addition there may also be Jews or Muslims who may be Vegetarian too.

More details can be found here for Halaal:
http://www.ifanca.org/halal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhabi%C4%A5a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_dietary_laws

Details can be found here for Kosher:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods
http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashrut

Details of similarities and differences can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Dhabi%C4%A5a_Halal_and_kashrut

Details can be found here for Hindus belief about the cow:
http://www.hfb.org.uk/Default.aspx?sID=795&lID=0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_cow

Yes...I know lots of links to the wiki....but that is because it is easier to find these articles there!

Q2: About the removal of certain signatures

Answer 2:
I have e-mailed the guys at petition-online and still have not got a reply with regards to removing names.

Q3: About changing the petition including:
I've just signed your Masterfoods petition. I went to show it a friend to get him to sign too and he noticed there's a typo in the letter you wrote to Masterfoods on the main page. At the end of the letter you have put 'Thanks you' - instead of 'Thank You'. We figured you should change that - just so it looks better.

Answer 3:
Thanks...the only problem is you can't edit the petition after signing it!! As mentioned on their site: Also keep in mind that a petition cannot be changed after it has been submitted, because any changes would be unfair to people who have already signed the petition. Apologies, as I may not have the best spelling and grammar!

Q4: About the community doing their part (slightly edited to protect privacy):
I have been following the efforts of your blog and commend you for your dedication and perseverance. I just want to send you this email to let you know that the campaign to persuade Masterfoods to change its decision stretches to island of Ireland.

Yesterday, May 15th, I sent an email to a national radio station, which graciously read it out. In essence it warned listeners about the Masterfoods decision and gave them the information to seek out your site and petition, and ultimately get involved.

The response has been very good, and I would just like to recommend that you ask other visitors to your blog to contact their local media organisations, be they radio stations or local newspapers, and draw attention to the deep opposition. I have seen first hand the effect this hand and fully believe that it will add further and deadlier pressure on Masterfood.

Again thank you for providing such a dedicated and wonderful site and for coordinating such a widespread response. As a vegetarian for the best part of my life, I have never before felt so passionately about being one as now.

Firstly thank you for creating this petition, its growing nicely!!

* * *

I am equally disgusted with Masterfoods, I have signed the petition, emailed them AND rang them to talk to them about my disappointment in their recipe changes. I have also created a forum group on facebook to try to raise awareness that this is happening and signpost people to the petition. I have put the link at the bottom if you would like to see it.

I am thinking about starting a petition where I live, it is national vegetarian week next week which would be a perfect time!! There are a few events so I am thinking about emailing the vegetarian society to see if they would mind me visiting their different events, and asking people to sign a petition. I have never done this before but you have given me inspiration!!

Answer 4:
Keep it up guys and thanks a lot - the action and responses that have happened so far would not have happened without you. So thank you all, let us keep up the good work and keep pressurising masterfoods into producing veggie-friendly chocolate.

Not all Mars products will be veggie friendly

2007-05-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

From the Guardian:
The company behind some of Britain's top-selling chocolate bars has admitted many of its well known brands will remain unsuitable for vegetarians, despite reversing a decision to use animal extracts in its products.

While Mars UK has backflipped over the use of animal extracts in some of its chocolate confectionery - including Mars and Snickers bars - ingredients used in its other products, such as Twix, Bounty, Celebrations, Topic and Milky Way, will not be changed, meaning they will continue to be unsuitable for vegetarians.

...with hundreds of thousands of chocolate bars containing the new ingredients already thought to be on the shelves and the company ruling out a recall, Mars has had to admit it cannot tell vegetarian consumers exactly when its bars will be safe to eat.

"The position is highly confused," said Annette Pinner, chief executive of the Vegetarian Society, who has been in talks with Mars UK over the weekend. "We need to know what's going to be vegetarian - and when it's going to be vegetarian."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,2084418,00.html?

So.....Masterfoods comes out with an apology, tries to do some slick PR work and fails badly. Please keep up the pressure on them by signing the Mars \ Masterfoods petition (at http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html) as well as calling them on 0800 952 1234 to tell them to make all of their ingredients veggie friendly.

Thanks again guys, especially Mich who told me about this in the first place.

Masterfoods starts to back down...

2007-05-20T05:15:00.000-07:00

A big thank you to all those people that signed the petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html), made the petition appear on the frontpage of petition online (http://www.petitiononline.com/), phoned up Masterfoods on 0800 952 1234 and spread the news of the terrible decision from Masterfoods, helping this to achieve national and even international coverage!

Details of this back-down can be seen on the BBC:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6673549.stm

and on Sky:
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1266578,00.html

and MSN:
http://news.uk.msn.com/Article.aspx?cp-documentid=4976226

The BBC are also running a 'Have your Say' section about this decision here:
http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?threadID=6385&&edition=1&ttl=20070520132240

However not to get too carried away the BBC said 'The firm had said it would change the whey used in some of its products from a vegetarian source to one with traces of the animal enzyme, rennet'. However which products it will change the ingredients in is unknown at the moment, and i'm sure there are a few people out there who have no idea which chocolates they can eat right now.

Please note that I still have a back-log of e-mail to get through in my inbox, so apologies if I have not replied to you yet. Many people have made the comment that this could be a PR stunt, but as for me personally - I will keep quiet for the time being, but being a student of Marketing this is what I would now expect Masterfoods to have to do. Quite why they made the decision in the first place to use the non-veggie whey without consulting the public though goes against my Marketing brain.

Thanks again to everyone who contacted Mars, and let this be a warning to all other companies who want to save their costs over serving their Customers.

The Masterfoods petition is back online

2007-05-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

Bah...petitiononline went down for a few days, but I have checked and it is now back up.

So for all those who have not yet done so, please contact Masterfoods on 0800 952 1234 or sign the masterfoods petition on: http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

Thank you to everyone who e-mailed me....so please keep spreading the word and keeping the pressure on Masterfoods. Over 2,400 signatures so far so well done guys.

Thanks.

Petition online is currently down!

2007-05-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

Just tried to check http://www.petitiononline.com/ this morning, where the petition is being held (exact link: www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html ) and the site is currently down. I hope this is just a maintenance outage but we will see.

Thanks to all those 1,250 who had signed the petition yesterday (14th May). For those that have not signed, please sign the petition and give masterfoods a call on 0800 952 1234. Please tell your family and friends about this and keep up the pressure on Masterfoods.

Thanks.

What Mars need to consider reversing their position

2007-05-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Just reading through my numerous e-mail (please note that I will try and reply to each one as soon as I get the time....but please note I may not be able to reach my e-mail for the next day or two), and had one that mentions this:

I called the Mars Customer Care line and complained. Spoke to a really friendly lady and she said for Mars to consider reversing their position they would need more calls like this to rethink their decision.

Not sure how, but can you somehow ask the petitionees to call this number to log their complaint 0800 952 1234 (I didn't select any options, just waited to be connected to a customer care advisor)

Hope they reverse their decision.

Thanks

So as a reminder please can you call Mars on 0800 952 1234 to complain and please point them in the direction of this blog or at least get their attention on the petition and ask them to read the comments. The address of the petition for those who have yet to sign it is: http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html Please sign!

News finally starts to catch on: The Masterfoods saga

2007-05-14T15:37:00.000-07:00

Finally some national coverage of the very bad decision for Masterfoods not to make all their products certified suitable for vegetarians. There has been an article published in the Daily Mail.

In addition the BBC have now pulled up their socks and have mentioned it on their website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6653175.stm
Currently this is the most e-mailed story

On a similiar note, thisislondon (which is the website for the London Lite and the Evening Standard) carries this story:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23396142-details/Veggies+vow+to+boycott+Mars+bars/article.do

The times also has an article:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink//article1784882.ece

The telegraph also carries this news:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/14/nchoc14.xml

The guardian carries a more in-depth story, rather than just paying lip-service:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/liz_oneill/2007/05/mars_barred.html

Some state quotes from the vegetarian society, as mentioned in this blog a few days ago. However, please can people keep up the pressure on Masterfoods and Mars. As mentioned before, please sign the Masterfoods petition which requests that Masterfoods change the ingredients of their products, specifically using rennet NOT derived from animal products so that the whey they use, and in turn the various products from Masterfoods are able to bear a Vegetarian mark or symbol: http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

The Vegetarian society have also updated their website, and now mentions that you can contact Masterfoods electronically using this link here.

For all further updates, please keep tuned to http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/

Thanks guys.

For further reading, please have a quick look at the at a summary post: http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/2007/05/as-summary.html

As a summary

2007-05-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

Masterfoods \ Mars sent me a letter (probably because I asked them for lists of veggie-friendly chocolates a while back) mentioning some products that were non-veggie friendly and also mentioning some that used non-veggie whey. This list was the majority of their products!!

The purpose of this website is to therefore tell people about this, alert them as to what they can do and to tell people who have been signing the petition the progress of what is happening (if anything will happen at all).

The summary list can be found here:
http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/2007/05/introduction-to-masterfoods-petition.html

The actual letter scans can be found here:
http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/2007/05/scans-of-letters.html

The petition that I started against them can be found here (GO AND SIGN IT PLEASE):
http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

Their freephone number is:
0800 952 1234 - please take a second to ring them to discuss your displeasure at this

The links for Muslims to look at with regards Whey \ Rennet can be found here:
http://masterfoodspetition.blogspot.com/2007/05/links-specifically-for-muslims-on-whey.html

The Vegetarian Society is extremely disappointed!!

2007-05-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

On the homepage of the Vegetarian society (http://www.vegsoc.org/) there is a link to another page where the Vegetarian society mentions that they are disappointed at the decision of Mars to make their chocolates unsuitable for vegetarians. The exact text is:

"MARS PRODUCTS NOT VEGGIE

The Vegetarian Society is extremely disappointed to learn that Mars favourites such as Mars, Milky Way, Bounty, Snickers, Galaxy, Twix and Maltesers are now all unsuitable for vegetarians. At a time when more and more consumers are concerned about the provenance of their food, Masterfoods’ decision to use non-vegetarian whey is a backward step. Mars products are very popular with young people and many will be shocked to discover that their manufacture now relies on the extraction of rennet from the stomach lining of young calves.

Please contact Masterfoods Customer Services on 0845 045 0042 to express your concern."

http://www.vegsoc.org/news/2007/mars.html

Please note that I have a free phone number hanging around that you can phone Masterfoods on - in fact it is on the letter scans. Will paste that up here once I get a sec.

Links specifically for Muslims on the Whey \ Rennet issues

2007-05-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

First of all don't forget about signing the petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

Specifically for Muslims, here are various links mentioning the whey \ rennet issue that give different views from different perspectives, some saying that it is allowed, others erring on the side of caution and saying best not to eat it and others saying it is not allowed (best to try and read all of them!):

http://www.gmwa.org.uk/foodguide2/index.php?page=viewquestion&id=20
http://www.albalagh.net/halal/col4.shtml
http://www.nzmuslim.net/article232.html
http://www.eathalal.org/faq.htm (or this if that does not work!)
http://www.canadianhalalfoods.com/faq.shtml#2
http://www.halaldiets.com/faqs.aspx#FaqID_5

For the following you need to search for the word rennet to find the relevant section:
http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=o5PHSN
http://www.islamonline.net/livefatwa/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=20WzgK

The following is from an Internet forum:
http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?s=568cfb91892210d7be6dffbf09bbb5fb&t=9075

In fact even the Wikipedia mentions a little about the rennet issue for 'Strict followers of the dietary laws of Judaism and Islam'!!: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese

Scans of the letters

2007-05-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

As requested by a couple of people, here are the actual letter scans (click on each one to make it full size):
Page1:

Page 2:

Page 3:

The Masterfoods petition has now been created

2007-05-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Masterfoods petition has now been created online via this link here:
http://www.petitiononline.com/MarsWhey/petition.html

Introduction to the Masterfoods petition

2007-05-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I got a letter from Masterfoods stating:

“Due to a change in the ingredients used in our chocolate recipes from 1st May 2007 many of our products now contain whey. This is a by-product of the cheese making process and uses rennet derived from an animal source. Therefore we feel it is for individual vegetarians to judge whether they are comfortable in consuming cheese products that do not bear a vegetarian symbol; we would consider our products to fall into this same category.

Products that are currently in store or that you may have already purchased that carry a Best Before Date of 1st October or before are still suitable for your consumption, however if you have purchased any products with a best before after this date then we will be more than happy to refund the value of the product. Please see attached lists for further information.”

I was not happy. The lists itself is:

Vegetarian Suitable Products:

Confectionery:
Aquadrops ®
Skittles Fruit ®
Starburst ® Sours/Fruits/Strawberry
Tunes ® Blackcurrant/Cherry/Strawberry
Lockets ® Blackcurrant/ Extra Strong/ Honey & Lemon

Ice Cream:
Starburst® All: Varieties

Milk Drinks:
Mars ® Original Drink/ Extra Chocolate/ Thick Shake
Galaxy ® Smooth and Creamy/ Thick Shake
Maltesers ® Chocolate
Bounty Frappe®
Bounty Drink®

Powdered Drinks:
Galaxy ® Hot Chocolate/ Hot Chocolate With Caramel/ Hot Chocolate Bliss
Maltesers ® Hot Chocolate

Products which may contain whey Derived from animal rennet:

Confectionery:
Bounty ® Dark / Milk
Celebrations ®
Flyte®
Galaxy Ripple®
Galaxy Minstrels®
Galaxy ® Block/Caramel/Fruit & Hazelnut/ Hazelnut
Galaxy Promises ® Cocoa Crisp/ Caramel Crunch/ Roast Hazelnut/Rich Coffee
Maltesers ® Original / White
Mars Original ®
Mars Delight
Mars Planets®
Milky Way ® / Crispy rolls / Magic Stars
Revels®
Snickers®
Topic®
Tracker ®Chocolate Chip / Forest Fruit / Lemon / Roasted Nut
Twix®

Ice Cream:
Bounty ® Ice Cream
Galaxy ® Caramel Swirl Ice Cream / Vanilla / Triple Choc
Maltesers ® Ice Cream
Mars ® Ice Cream / Xtra Ice Cream
Snickers ® Ice Cream / Xtra Ice Cream

Products Which Are Not Suitable for Vegetarians:
Confectionery
M&M’s ® All Varieties
Skittles ® Sours / Rainbow

So....I'm thinking of starting a petition against them.