May Contain warnings are for when products are produced in facilities that manufacturer other food products that contain them – not that the product itself contains them as part of their ingredients.
Yes, that’s true.
People choose vegan products for various reasons, including ethical considerations, allergies to particular ingredients, or simply because they do not like the idea of consuming animal products. Labelling a product that potentially contains animal products as being vegan is exceedingly unhelpful for at least two of those groups.
I know Huel is not the only company labelling potentially-animal-product-containing foods as vegan, but I wish they’d all stop doing so.
Unfortunately, a lot of vegan companies, especially smaller ones, can’t afford the money it takes to start up their own manufacturing plants (no pun intended) so they have to rely upon 3rd party facilities that use equipment that manufacturers non-vegan products. Despite cleaning of said products it means that their may be a risk of cross-contamination that they cannot control because they aren’t hands on.
The vegan society in the UK will grant the sunflower status to those products as the ingredients are vegan.
There would be a lot less vegan products anf people using them if it was so strict.
Food production is complicated and even your organic veg supplied by a third party may be contaminated as not all fertiliser is veganic.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
The decision to do that was, and is controversial. To me, it makes the symbol almost useless.
Perhaps we need a new label, veganish, for products that are sort of, but not strictly, vegan
Making the product not truly vegan reduces the size of the potential market. I won’t be buying any more of these bars unless the situation changes.
Not by very much though as ‘the majority’ of vegans do eat these products as they don’t have animal derived products as an ingredient. I can appreciate that some don’t however.
Unprovable statistic time: you’re more likely to ingest animal products by swallowing a fly whilst running than via a Huel bar
True - cross contamination even at a particulate level is always a variable in food production and there are few if any guarantees. GMO free foods would be another good example – it is scientifically impossible to guarantee a crop is GMO free thanks to cross contamination, even in self-pollinating crops like wheat.
For strict vegans, it’s definitely a case of how far down the rabbit hole do they want to go into that – is it not ok to eat food manufactured in a plant that also makes non-vegan products while it’s ok to eat a plant pollinated by commercial bee keeping for example. I would say it becomes more of a challenge for people with anaphylaxis level reactions.
Take Jimmy Joy’s vegan hot meal offerings for example – look harmless enough but also carry warnings that they may contain crustaceans, sulphites, fish, peanuts and nuts – as well as milk, gluten, soya, egg, celery and mustard.
Hey sorry to hear of your concerns here!
Our new Complete Nutrition Bars are made with vegan suitable ingredients only.
The Co-Manufacturing Site that produces our Complete Nutrition Bars handles milk and other allergens on their site, because of this there is an (incredibly small) risk of milk cross-contamination at site. Even with the measures in place to minimize the risk of contamination further, we can not guarantee the product to be completely free from milk contamination, so have included this statement on packaging specifically for allergen sufferers.
Product applications have been reviewed, accepted and certificates issued by V-Label (a Vegan certification body), to validate that our product meets their vegan standard requirements.
Is this a weight loss product? I have a collegue who needs to lose weight and would like to know what products she should use (I tend to recommend Huel to people I know, and some have become new, quite satisfied customers). Money is not the main concern here.
Mind.Blown.
All food is a weight loss product
When calories in is less than calories out, weight will drop
The answer’s yes. It’s a tasty reduced-calorie convenience food, just what slimmers need.
[edited for clarity]
As @leejonesjnr states above, anything is a weight loss product if you eat less than you need, but you knew that anyway didn’t you?
By boasting about how they’re now fewer calories you misunderstand what I (and presumably others) used the bars for. If I was out and about I’d bring two or three with me to substitute for a meal, very convenient and good value compared to what I would otherwise have to buy. Reducing the calorie content and almost doubling the price makes that redundant. We don’t care about the delicious chewiness, we’re eating Huel ffs- you’ve sold us on the idea that nutrition is more important than enjoyment. Will now be looking elsewhere for convenient and affordable meal replacements for outside the house
Nutrition may be a priority over enjoyment but there is a tipping point. If something doesn’t sell well because it tastes horrible then you need to makes something more palatable.
I was put off trying Huel powder at first because I thought it would taste rank like many of the protein powders I’ve tried…and if it did taste like that I wouldn’t be using it nearly every day 7 years later. I didn’t repeat buy the other bars because they were horrible to my palate and these ones I will re-order because I like them. But I can appreciate they’re not for everyone. I guess they will monitor sales and react accordingly.
Thanks for your replies.
I know that it’s about the calorie balance, but there are products that make it easier to lose weight than others. And she is really struggling.
I bought a box of the old bars once. Never ordered them again.
Nobody else ate them and I just ended up ploughing through them so they didn’t go to waste
Finished the order I had. Put them in an airtight container in the least cold part of the fridge (bottom salad bin) and the degradation and texture improved a little so would recommend doing that if you are going to keep them cool. Initially they were in their own boxes on a high shelf and they definitely didn’t like it