On July 13th while shopping in Wegmans, I was shocked to find in the same freezer as other veggie burgers from such vegetarian safe companies as Morningstar Farms and Boca, that one of the Wegmans store brand burgers listed rennet as an ingredient (link to their product).
For those who do not know, rennet is “A dried extract made from the stomach lining of a ruminant (cattle, sheep, goats, deer, giraffes, etc.), used in cheesemaking to curdle milk.” (source: The Free Dictionary)
I contacted Wegmans regarding this. It took six days, but I finally received this reply today:
~~~
From: comments@wegmans.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 3:02 PM
To: lazlo
Subject: Wegmans Case #780571
Good afternoon,
We appreciate you taking the time to contact us regarding your concern over an ingredient in our veggie burgers. These were developed with both flavor and the customer’s needs in mind and were not specifically designed for vegetarians or vegan customers, but customers looking for a meat alternative. The cheese that is used in the mushroom burger does have rennet, it is difficult to procure this type of cheese without the rennet. We have confirmed that the rennet is animal based. We are currently researching to find a different source for this, however, what we have found has not been up to our standards.
To satisfy our customers who are truely seeking a vegetarian or vegan burger, we created the caramelized onion with garbanzo beans burger which is Vegan and the southwest which is an ovo-lacto vegetarian for a diet that includes both eggs and dairy products. We did do quite a bit of research and a lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products but not eggs, and an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet includes both eggs and dairy products, that is why the cheese was deemed acceptable. We also decided to create the vegan offering for people with more restricted diets.
The mushroom burger is a great product that many of our customers enjoy. If we can secure a cheese source that does not contain rennet without compromising flavor, we will actively pursue it for this product in the future.
Also, regarding your concern over labeling of the rennet source, labeling standards are determined by the FDA. Our current labeling is in compliance with these standards.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate your patience while we researched this for you.
Sincerely,
Marcie
Consumer Services Specialist
~~~
Their statement is predicated on two major flaws
1. Rennet is not ovo-lacto vegetarian safe. In order to make rennet they kill the animal and utilize the animals stomach lining. Clearly, their research was inadequate.
2. If you are in a vegetarian section of a supermarket, and all the burgers near it are legitimate vegetarian burgers (such as the afore mentioned Morningstar Farms and Boca), the expectation is that a burger next to them marked, “veggie burger”, would also be vegetarian safe. If you were in the meat freezer and saw packages marked hamburgers, and then noticed one of them had only vegetarian ingredients in it, that would be misleading. So is putting a non-vegetarian safe “veggie burger” next to actual vegetarian safe burgers.
Additionally, they say that, “The mushroom burger is a great product that many of our customers enjoy”. How many of these customers did not closely read the ingredients and are vegetarians unknowingly eating animal product? I suspect quite a few. I almost did.
Spread the word, Wegmans does not understand the definition of vegetarian, and is ok with misleading its customers.
- Lazlo
For those who do not know, rennet is “A dried extract made from the stomach lining of a ruminant (cattle, sheep, goats, deer, giraffes, etc.), used in cheesemaking to curdle milk.” (source: The Free Dictionary)
I contacted Wegmans regarding this. It took six days, but I finally received this reply today:
~~~
From: comments@wegmans.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 3:02 PM
To: lazlo
Subject: Wegmans Case #780571
Good afternoon,
We appreciate you taking the time to contact us regarding your concern over an ingredient in our veggie burgers. These were developed with both flavor and the customer’s needs in mind and were not specifically designed for vegetarians or vegan customers, but customers looking for a meat alternative. The cheese that is used in the mushroom burger does have rennet, it is difficult to procure this type of cheese without the rennet. We have confirmed that the rennet is animal based. We are currently researching to find a different source for this, however, what we have found has not been up to our standards.
To satisfy our customers who are truely seeking a vegetarian or vegan burger, we created the caramelized onion with garbanzo beans burger which is Vegan and the southwest which is an ovo-lacto vegetarian
The mushroom burger is a great product that many of our customers enjoy. If we can secure a cheese source that does not contain rennet without compromising flavor, we will actively pursue it for this product in the future.
Also, regarding your concern over labeling of the rennet source, labeling standards are determined by the FDA. Our current labeling is in compliance with these standards.
Thanks again for taking the time to contact us. We appreciate your patience while we researched this for you.
Sincerely,
Marcie
Consumer Services Specialist
~~~
Their statement is predicated on two major flaws
1. Rennet is not ovo-lacto vegetarian safe. In order to make rennet they kill the animal and utilize the animals stomach lining. Clearly, their research was inadequate.
2. If you are in a vegetarian section of a supermarket, and all the burgers near it are legitimate vegetarian burgers (such as the afore mentioned Morningstar Farms and Boca), the expectation is that a burger next to them marked, “veggie burger”, would also be vegetarian safe. If you were in the meat freezer and saw packages marked hamburgers, and then noticed one of them had only vegetarian ingredients in it, that would be misleading. So is putting a non-vegetarian safe “veggie burger” next to actual vegetarian safe burgers.
Additionally, they say that, “The mushroom burger is a great product that many of our customers enjoy”. How many of these customers did not closely read the ingredients and are vegetarians unknowingly eating animal product? I suspect quite a few. I almost did.
Spread the word, Wegmans does not understand the definition of vegetarian, and is ok with misleading its customers.
- Lazlo