– Archive –

This discussion dates from 2011 on the ethics of Veggies vs other vegetarian burger mixes and sosage mix suppliers.

Veggies Burger and Sosage mixes are distributed around the Midlands by Lembas, a vegetarian wholefood distributor co-op from Sheffield. It is also available direct from Veggies at any of the many good events that we attend and by mail order.

Our products are handmade from organic ingredients in premises that have not seen any animal ingredients since 1984.

We aim to travel less to cater at events where the is another suitable caterer closer. Towards these ends we compile a directory of veggie/vegan caterers.

When we do cater away from Nottingham we also like to point people to other outlets for our popular burgers and sosages in their area. To help with this have a listing of outlets on our website.

Read our Jan’2012 announcement about our new reduced salt recipe mixes.

———- From Lembas website visited 20th January 2012 ———-

Direct Foods

Haldane (owned by multinational Hain Celestial) has sold its packet mix brands (Direct Foods , Granose), though they still own the Linda McCartney range and may be keeping the Realeat brand, just for the frozen lines.

Symingtons, who bought the dried mixes range from Hain Celestial have rationalised it by branding remaining products under the old “Granose” brand.

But things have not gone too smoothly: they have reformulated the mixes and have added milk products to lines that were previously vegan, which has upset many customers.

We have hesitated recently to stock these new “Granose” lines until they have been properly evaluated.

———- Message compiled 18 September 2008 ———-

Unlike ADM, who own direct foods/realeat/granose, Veggies never uses, and actively campaigns against genetically mutated ingredients. [See Corporate Watch report]

“Three companies, Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Zen Noh, control 65% of US soybean exports and 81% of corn exports.” Corporate Watch : A ROUGH GUIDE TO THE UK FARMING CRISIS :

“ADM is a huge supplier of livestock feed and distiller’s grains…”
Starving the beast: How to avoid Archer Daniels Midland

See also the new FoE report at
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/livestock_impacts_summary.pdf?

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: – V I N – <vivisectionkills@hotmail.com>
Date: 2008/10/8
Subject: Help save Sosmix!</vivisectionkills@hotmail.com>

Can you help by forwarding this information please? Feel free to write your own text, but I’ve written a bit in case you want an easy cut and paste.

Sosmix is one of the first and best veggie sausages. It made barbecues, hot dogs and burgers possible in the 1980s years before veggie foods like sausages were available. Great food like this made going vegan easy.

Now the manufacturers have been bought out and Sosmix contains cows milk! It’s unneccesary things like this that make going vegan difficult – and deprives vegans of the choice they deserve. Please sign the petition below and pass the link onto anyone you know. You don’t have to be vegan to sign this online petition.

Thanks

Update – Oct’10

Symington’s have a policy of not using anything ‘artificial’, which is why they removed an ingredient and added milk. They stuck with that policy and came up with a new formula which is vegan, but tastes much worse that the original.

This has left most of us dissatisfied. However, Alternative Stores sell the catering pack which uses the old recipe complete with old vegan artificial ingredients. This is about 1kg.

Not an ideal outcome for us or for Symingtons as they have a product now which neither caters for the vegan market or the non vegan, because it’s just not as good.

Cris

____________________________________

From alternativestores.com/ethical-shop/ (prices in 2010)

Vegan Burger Mix: 500g – £3.50 / 1kg – £6.10
Vegan Sosage Mix: 500g – £3.50 / 1kg – £6.10
Protoveg (Direct Foods) SosMix: 500g – £4.25 / 1kg – £7.99

Just Wholefoods Organic Vegetarian Banger Mix: 125g – £1.35 (£10.80/kg)
Just Wholefoods Organic Vegetarian Burger Mix: 125g – £1.35 (£10.80/kg)

Veggies Burger and Sosage mixes by mail order:

Veggies Burger Mix, Sosage Mix and Hempburger Mix
350g – £3.50
1kg – £9.00

Veggies Burger and Sosage mixes are made with organic ingredients

…buy here…

———- Forwarded from Veggies ———-

The SosMix is v interesting. We like to keep track of who owns who.

The last we heard Direct Foods were owned by ADM.

There is a lot of discussion going on on the lists at the moment concerning
(i) Realeat mixes changing recipe;
(ii) Green & Blacks going non-vegan;
(iii) Vegan Trademark changing it’s criteria

Much of this leads back to a change of legislation regarding allergy labeling, such that products that have always been ‘suitable for vegans’ but made in a non-vegan environment, now have allergy disclaimers such as ‘made in premises that also handle dairy ingredients’ or ‘may contain dairy ingredients’. This does not necessarily mean that ingredients have changed, or that non-vegan ingredients are being deliberately added, but manufacturers are covering their backs.

The dilemma is that products may be seen with the Vegan Logo on the front and ‘may contain dairy traces’ on the back!

Some would say that such products were never truly vegan if subject to contamination in this way, and that the Vegan logo should be a mark of the highest possible standard.

Others feel that that so long as animal products are not deliberately added, and so directly funding animal abuse, then that’s ok. This view suggests that the vegan concept is currently becoming widely accepted, partly because the word and the products are being seen more often in the mainstream, and that to be more strict would put veganism back into the fringes again.


In 1944 The Vegan Society created the word ‘vegan’ – their trademark is the authentic international vegan standard. Today, companies must pass the following criteria to be eligible for authentication:

– Animal Ingredients

The manufacture and/or development of the product, and where applicable its ingredients, must not involve, or have involved, the
use of any animal product, by-product or derivative.

– Animal Testing

The development and/or manufacture of the product, and where applicable its ingredients, must not involve, or have involved, testing of any sort on animals conducted at the initiative of the manufacturer or on its behalf, or by parties over whom the manufacturer has effective control.

– Genetically Modified Organisms

The development and/or production of genetically modified organisms (GMO) must not have involved animal genes or animal-derived substances. Products put forward for registration which contain or may contain any GMOs must be labeled as such.

 


 

http://www.veggies.org.uk

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