ASDA - cochineal products labeled veggie

Murtle

lellie wrote:

my friend dan is veggie but has to eat fish due to health worries.. He's rediculously anemic amongst other things and despite taking lots of iron supplements and things the only thing that actually helps is eating fish :S it's not really out of choice - more neccessity.

Taken from veggie definitions


Demi-vegetarian is a term sometimes used to describe persons who eat no or little meat but may eat fish. Persons consuming fish but no meat are sometimes called pescetarians.

welf_man

Does anyone know if there's a food colouring number for cochineal, or is it always named? Another one to look out for!

Mel.

MrsMondragon

E120 and E1124 are the numbers to look out for...and quite possibly E122 as well. Those are all variants of cochineal, and if you are veggie avoid them.
Also many other products which seem vegetarian arent. Like for example many of the Mars company chocolates. Most contain whey which is sometimes of vegetarian source and sometimes not. So unless it says vegetarian on a product and contains whey, then avoid it. Some whey is vegatarian though not all. HTH

Happy_Hippo

Not just in wine processing, but Isinglass is also used to settle the sediment in yer real ale, so there's another tipple out of the equation.

It's all a matter of how far you are prepared to let your conscience rule what you consume - if you want to take it to the extreme, even if your organic potato has not been sprayed with insecticide during the growing process, unless planted and harvested with the dexterity and finesse of a fastidious archaeologist, how many beetles and numerous other creatures are crushed, flattened, squashed and mangled in the growing process by plough, tyre, foot and even the number plates of your car on the way back from the shop. The fact is that if you eat anything some animals will have died for the cause somewhere along the way - Theoretically, eat meat and one animal dies to feed many, eat veg and many animals die to feed one.

ps. Don't forget it's also possible that your organic veg may have been grown using blood, fish and bone fertiliser!

Gingham_Ribbon

I'm getting straight on to Asda to complain about the cochineal. What a disgrace.

Gingham_Ribbon

I sent an email directly after making my last post. It has been ignored. Shoddy.

Gingham_Ribbon

Here's what they replied:

Thank you for taking the time to contact us recently regarding the use of cochineal in our products.

Firstly, I would like to assure you that we take our responsibilities as a reputable retailer most seriously and would never wish intentionally to mislead our customers. It is very important to us that our products are clearly and accurately labelled as we realise that customers rely on this information when making a purchase. As we are aware that cochineal is derived from crushed beetles it is clearly not suitable for use in a vegetarian or vegan product. I can confirm that we do not and never have used cochineal in any ASDA Brand vegetarian or vegan product.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say that customers have brought to our attention that some websites are alleging our vegetarian products contain cochineal. These allegations are completely false and we strenuously deny them.

I do hope that this information and our action has reassured you in our commitment to clear and honest labelling and our commitment to customer care. I do hope that we can look forward to serving you again soon at ASDA.

Well then!!!

Melissa22_Mum

crushed beetles thats desgusting I had no idea, I'm not a vegetarian but if I wanted to add insects to my meals I would go into the garden!!!!

Is it really necessary to add such things to peoples food!!

eeeuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhh..........

urmmmmmm

I feel real sick now:o

taxiphil

On a similar note, I wonder how many people are aware that many wines, beers and ciders contain animal products. For example, it's extremely common for wines to contain animal gelatine and some wines used to contain bull's blood until it was banned because of BSE fears.

The real scandal here is that because of a ridiculous loophole in the law (the 1984 Food Labelling Regulations), alcoholic drinks are exempt from the requirement to print the ingredients on the packaging.

Amazingly, it's actually illegal to list the ingredients on wines and spirits (even though the Co-op have contravened this law by printing ingredients and vegetarian suitability on all their own-brand alcohol, because they're ethical and all that).

Besides animal products there are all sorts of weird and wonderful chemicals added to alcoholic drinks, and I wonder what the public reaction would be if people were suddenly hit with the realisation that their booze contains much more than they ever imagined it to contain?