The Telegraph reported today that traces of meat had been found in Sainsbury’s own brand Meat Free Meatballs and Tesco’s Vegan Wicked Kitchen BBQ Butternut Mac ready meals.
Samples were tested by The Telegraph at a German government accredited food testing facility and were found to contain trace amounts of animal DNA. Both retailers are conducting investigations and Tesco said that their own initial DNA tests showed no sign of animal products.
Neither of the products is registered with The Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark that confirms that a product is suitable for vegans following thorough checks of its ingredients, non-declarables and production processes. However, The Vegan Society acknowledges that we live in a non-vegan world and, as a result, cross-contamination is always a possibility even, as in the case of one of these products, in a meat-free factory, as the supply chain can introduce a contaminated product.
The Vegan Society is pleased to learn that the Food Standards Agency is investigating these cases and will be interested to read their findings.
