Letter to Sainsbury's

Posted on 2010/07/02 17:41:28 (July 2010).

A letter I sent to Sainsbury's customer services today. Let's see if it makes any difference. Alas looking back to this forum thread from 2006 it seems this has been the case for some time...

No fewer than five of your own brand fresh tortelloni do not contain any meat or fish, and yet are not suitable for vegetarians, due to the ingredients containing cheese(s) made with animal rennet. I find this both baffling and frustrating, and today persuaded me to walk out of your store and go to Waitrose instead, where they have several fresh pastas which are suitable for vegetarians.

Whilst I can just about understand the five cheese tortelloni may require some specific cheeses, some of the other tortelloni were really incongruous - why must the wild mushroom tortelloni or pea and mint tortelloni contain cheese made with animal rennet? It appears you just have a single tortelloni (spinach & ricotta) from the 10 or so you offer altogether which is actually suitable for vegetarians. This does not make me feel like I am particularly valued as a customer.

Surely most meat-eating customers of yours will tend towards the tortelloni with meat fillings anyway? It seems absolutely nonsensical to me that you would intentionally cut out such a large part of the target market for these products.

As I'm sure you're well aware, there are plenty of vegetarian alternatives to these traditional Italian cheeses - you use some of these in your other products, for example your fresh pesto, which is suitable for vegetarians. The ingredients label this as containing a Pecorino made with vegetarian rennet. If you use this in the pesto, why not use the same cheese in the pesto and goat's cheese tortelloni?

Again, I find this baffling and frustrating, and it increasingly persuades me to shop elsewhere.

Here was their reply:

Dear John

Thanks for your email. I’m sorry that lots of our meat free fresh pastas contain cheese made with animal rennet. I understand your bafflement as we’re limiting the market for these products.

We take great care when formulating our recipes that they’re authentic and tasty. I don’t have a specific reason why we don’t use cheese made from vegetarian rennet in these dishes. It’s likely to be a cost issue but I can’t confirm this. I’ve passed your comments to our technologists for their consideration. It’s your feedback that helps us improve our products.

We’re committed to supporting vegetarians and vegans. We’ve got a wide range of products that are suitable for vegetarians and vegans. There’s a complete list of these on our website at http://www2.sainsburys.co.uk/food/allergies-intolerances/product-guides/product_guides.htm.

I’m grateful for you taking the time to contact us. We look forward to seeing you in store soon.

I particularly enjoyed the sentence: "I’ve passed your comments to our technologists for their consideration." Would those be their pasta technologists, or their cheese technologists?

Also, why exactly is the list of products suitable for vegetarians and vegans on their website in a section titled "Allergies and intolerances"...? Am I no longer a vegetarian, but actually someone who is "meat intolerant?".

Comment 1

Most people have given you good eenpossrs ..so you understand all vegans are vegetarians but not all vegetarians are vegan .vegan are vegetarians that have gone one step further..they eat nothing that comes from animals..wear nothing that comes from animals,use no products from animals or tested on animals..you could say it is the most extreme of vegetarians .but most people start as vegetarians except those they were raised that way vegan clothing is all leather free , wool free , and can be cottons, rayon's, or synthetics to name a few .people who make the choice to become vegetarian give up eating animals and ask for nothing in return ..many meat eaters will try to defend a position that has no factual backing in health or anything else google famous vegetarians and even actors/actresses it will surprise you I hope you are thinking about it animals need protecting since they can not speak PS ..vegetarian eggs are eggs that come from chickens fed a vegetarian diet

Posted by Veronica at 2012/04/20 09:41:02.

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