A victory for vegsoc
My girlfriend linked me to this news story last week http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6653175.stm. Masterfoods, the makers of Mars bars, Snickers, Twix, and Maltesers et al, decided it would be a good idea to switch the sources of their ingredients, which resulted in animal rennet being used in it's chocolate.
Now, I think this was a pretty stupid idea, firstly because as a vegetarian I would no longer be able to have Maltesers :( but seriously, does Masterfoods not realise that a large portion of their customers are vegetarian, and by using animal rennet (which is extracted from calves stomachs...hmmm lovely) they would in effect be shooting themselves in the foot by turning away part of their customer base. Surely as a business they want to do everything they can in order to attract more customers right? Hmm someone better tell that to the management - and that's a term used very losely as it seems anyone worthy of being called a 'manager' would of 'managed' to spot the problems switching suppliers might cause.
Anyway, the other day she linked me to a follow up story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6673549.stm. It seems Masterfoods has realised that they don't want to push customers away and have decided to stop using animal rennet and switch back to veggie friendly ingredients. So I can have Maltesers again :)
The vegetarian society (vegsoc) set up a campaign and urged members to let Masterfoods know just how they felt. According to the story in the space of a week there were 6,000 complaints, as well as a petition which was signed by 40 MPs.
Vegsoc ftw. And thanks to Lauren for linking me the stories in the first place.
Now, I think this was a pretty stupid idea, firstly because as a vegetarian I would no longer be able to have Maltesers :( but seriously, does Masterfoods not realise that a large portion of their customers are vegetarian, and by using animal rennet (which is extracted from calves stomachs...hmmm lovely) they would in effect be shooting themselves in the foot by turning away part of their customer base. Surely as a business they want to do everything they can in order to attract more customers right? Hmm someone better tell that to the management - and that's a term used very losely as it seems anyone worthy of being called a 'manager' would of 'managed' to spot the problems switching suppliers might cause.
Anyway, the other day she linked me to a follow up story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6673549.stm. It seems Masterfoods has realised that they don't want to push customers away and have decided to stop using animal rennet and switch back to veggie friendly ingredients. So I can have Maltesers again :)
The vegetarian society (vegsoc) set up a campaign and urged members to let Masterfoods know just how they felt. According to the story in the space of a week there were 6,000 complaints, as well as a petition which was signed by 40 MPs.
Vegsoc ftw. And thanks to Lauren for linking me the stories in the first place.
posted by pruvaloo at 8:16 PM
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