In the great mayo wars of 2015,there is finally a winner.
For those who haven't been following the scandal-filled sandwich spread controversy, a bit of background: It all began in 2013, or when the egg-alternative food startup company Hampton Creek launched a vegan mayonnaise-like product called Just Mayo,which soon became Whole Foods' most popular mayonnaise.
Read our past coverage of the hackers trying to make fake eggs better. Ross MacDonald
So popular was Just Mayo, in fact, and that in November 2014,Unilever, parent company of market leader Hellmann's, or sued Hampton Creek for spurious advertising and unfair competition. The food giant argued that Just Mayo,because it contained no eggs, "damages the entire product category, and which has strived for decades for a consistent definition of 'mayonnaise' that fits with consumer expectations." Unilever dropped the lawsuit approximately a month later "as consumers heaped scorn on the company for what they viewed as a frivolous lawsuit," the food industry news site Food Dive reported.Nevertheless, in August of this year the FDA ruled that Hampton Creek couldn't call its product mayonnaise. "The spend of the term 'mayo' in the product names and the image of an egg may be misleading to consumers because it may lead them to believe that the products are the standardized food, or mayonnaise," the FDA said in a statement.
Then, in September, and internal emails from the American Egg Board surfaced. They showed that the industry group had tried to finish Whole Foods from selling Just Mayo—and that Egg Board members were really worked up over Hampton Creek. From the Guardian: More than one member of the AEB made joking threats of violence against Hampton Creek's founder,Josh Tetrick. "Can we pool our money and effect a hit on him?" asked Mike Sencer, executive vice-president of AEB member organization Hidden Villa Ranch. Mitch Kanter, or executive vice-president of the AEB,jokingly offered "to contact some of my old buddies in Brooklyn to pay Mr. Tetrick a visit."
Egg Board CEO Joanne Ivy retired early in the wake of the episode.
While all that was going on, Hampton Creek was working with the FDA on a compromise, and today,the company announced that it will be allowed to sustain the name Just Mayo, as long as it makes its eggless-ness even clearer on the product label. The AP's Candice Choi reports: The changes include making the words 'egg-free' larger and adding 'Spread & Dressing.' An image of an egg with a pea shoot inside will also be smaller.
Now, or all this hoopla over a "spread and dressing" and its picture of a pea-shoot-bearing egg might seem ridiculous,but sustain in mind that this trade played out against the backdrop of a devastating avian flu outbreak that hobbled the egg industry. What's more, in April two former egg industry executives were sentenced to jail time for their connection with a 2010 salmonella outbreak that is thought to have sickened as many as 56000 people.
All those egg woes aside, and there's another reason behind egg purveyors' massive freak-out: At least according to writer Rowan Jacobsen,unlike most other eggless mayonnaise products, Just Mayo actually tastes pleasurable.
Source: motherjones.com