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Veggies vow to boycott Mars bars
Last updated at 23:07pm on 13.05.07Vegetarians plan to boycott Mars bars after their recipe changed to include animal products.
Other big brands from the same company -including Snickers, Galaxy, Twix, Bounty, Milky Way, Maltesers and Minstrels - are also affected.
From this month, chocolate manufacturer Masterfoods has started using rennet - an enzyme taken from the stomachs of newborn calves - to make whey for its products.
It had previously been relying on a readily available - but more expensive - vegetarian alternative to rennet.
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Chocolate lovers face a stark choice: either give up Mars bars or break their meat-free vows
The firm makes three million Mars bars a day in its factory in Slough.
Vegetarian Society spokesman Liz O'Neill said: "People will not like the idea that you cannot make a Mars bar without killing a calf.
"We have had no good, clear answer from Masterfoods why they have to use animal products when all these items were previously produced using vegetarian alternatives.
"But we can no longer describe any of them as suitable for vegetarians."
Any bar with a 'best before' date after October 1 this year is now no longer classed as vegetarian.
The firm is offering a refund to anyone who has bought a bar but does not wish to eat it.
Reader views (24)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
I don't understand why those of you who are vegans are complaining about the vegetarians who are objecting to using rennet. Keep the complaints to Masterfoods. The more people who protest and boycott them, the more likely they will reverse their decision, resulting in less animal cruelty - the thing which we are all fighting for.
- Jenny N, Southampton, UK
Has masterfoods the manufacturer of such popular treats as mars bars, minstrels etc. gone mad, they have not only stoped vegetarians from eating there treats but also Hindus, Muslims and Jews as the renet will not be taken from animals killed in a religious manner.
How much profit will the change cost them in not just this country but globaly, I do not think that which ever profit cruncher they have used has thought this one out.
- Mike, Heptonstall, England
I am absolutely disgusted at this decision.
I agree with Lee from Weymouth, and as a vegetarian, eating these products is simply not an option.
I refuse even to buy the veggie bars still available as I refuse to contribute to a company that makes such backwards choices.
- Fiona, Edinbrugh
18°c
