For those of you affected by the UK's recent Mars bars formula change...

[camwyn]

You probably knew this already, but just in case you didn't?

Mars bars get veggie status back

Mars has abandoned plans to use animal products in its chocolate, and has apologised to "upset" vegetarians.

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.

The Vegetarian Society organised a campaign against the move, asking members to voice their concerns to parent company Masterfoods.

Mars said it became "very clear, very quickly" that it had made a mistake.

In just one week, more than 6,000 people bombarded the company, which produces the Mars, Snickers, Maltesers and Galaxy brands, with phone and e-mail complaints.

Forty MPs also signed a petition to voice their opposition.

Fiona Dawson, managing director of Mars UK, said the company had listened to customers and decided to reverse its decision. ...

Figured you should know.

Comments

[innerbrat]

I need to post about this.

1) not all bars are going to be vegetarian. Only some. So Mars will be OK. Twix won't.

2) they have not stated when they will be switching back to vegetarian whey, so at the moment it is safe to assume they are still not.

3) They're still morons.

[camwyn]

Oh, well, that's just bloody lovely, isn't it.

I'm not even a vegetarian and these people are cheesing me off. So to speak. Um.

Dip me in chocolate...

[kelathefinn.livejournal.com]

I *love* you icon!!!

Re: Dip me in chocolate...

[innerbrat]

Thanks!

(I likes it, but it was quite obviously made in IR7. I need to fix this.)

[morelindo.livejournal.com]

1) not all bars are going to be vegetarian. Only some. So Mars will be OK. Twix won't.

???

[innerbrat]

So it was reported in the Guardian. Unfortunately, nowhere can I find a decent list of which ones are which.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

What unbelievable idiocy.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

2) They never switched away from vegetarian whey, they just announced plans to do so. Which they've now canceled. So no problem.

[innerbrat]

Nope. They switched on May 1st. So any bar with the Best Before after october 1st is not vegetarian.

[kelathefinn.livejournal.com]

Mars is just about the only chocolate bar I ever eat. NOW I'm worried the Finns are using animal products in *their* chocolate, and I don't even know how to check.

[tundra-no-caps.livejournal.com]

Technically, by your post, no one was affected by this, except emotionally. Since the change has yet to occur, only plans at this stage.

Also, this will affect many Jews, as it will be considered a non-parve product.

I eat Snickers, and I couldn't be fucked to care less.

[zsero.livejournal.com]

It was never parve; it's milk chocolate. And the proposed change wouldn't have affected its kosher status, because any traces of rennet remaining in the whey would be negligible, with no effect on the taste, the volume, or anything else. We're talking parts-per-million, and the kashrut rules don't care about such small proportions unless they have a noticeable effect on the final product. So cheese made with animal rennet is a problem, because the amount of rennet might be small but its effect is clear; but the whey that's a byproduct of that process is not affected by the rennet, so it's not a problem.

[tundra-no-caps.livejournal.com]

I can tell you that gelatin produced of ground bone has an effect on kashrut. And "chocolate" cups with that.

Also, you can also have dark chocolate chocolate bars, so it depends :)

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Yes, of course, because the gelatin has a noticeable effect on the product. That's why they put it in. But in our case the rennet has no effect on the product, so it's not an issue for kashrut.

[tundra-no-caps.livejournal.com]

Then why do they have to sell hand-sorted lettuce in Israel, for fear the machines may not catch all the small worms, turning it into a non-kosher food?

[zsero.livejournal.com]

1. Insects in lettuce are not present in unnoticeable trace amounts. If there is an insect in your lettuce it's all there, crawling around or hiding in a crevasse, and providing unexpected protein.

2. An insect, since it's an entire living creature, can't be considered negligible, no matter how small it is in relation to the whole product.

3. If the probability of finding an insect in any one head of lettuce is estimated at less than 10% then no inspection is necessary. The fact is that in certain environments some vegetables, such as romaine lettuce, has a much higher probability of infestation. (Some certifying agencies, such as the Star-K (http://www.star-k.com), consider the probability of finding an insect in any one serving of lettuce, rather than in any one head. That greatly reduces the need to check, and explains why, when other agencies stopped certifying romaine lettuce, the Star-K picked up those contracts.)

[zsero.livejournal.com]

Of course you can have dark chocolate chocolate bars, but by definition they wouldn't contain whey. The whole point of this discussion is Foodmaster's (now aborted) plan to start buying its whey from all sources, including ones that use animal rennet, instead of restricting itself to vegetarian sources. Chocolate that doesn't contain whey would obviously not be affected by this plan.

[rowanberries.livejournal.com]

It just makes me happy to think of the panicked flailing when they were deluged by 6,000 complaints in a week. :D

Vindictive? Moi?

[morelindo.livejournal.com]

And as a vegetarian, I say:

Yay! Yummy yummy Mars bars for everyone!