Veggie Lady

Veggie Mars??

Okay, so readers of my Veggie Lady Edinburgh blog will already have seen this news, but I wanted to share it with everyone as if you didn't see it today, you'd probably not hear about it!

Masterfoods are no longer going to be making their popular chocolate products - such as Mars Bars, Twix, and (BOO!) Maltesers - vegetarian friendly. From the 1st May onwards these products have been manufactured using calf rennet instead of a vegetarian alternative, due to a switch in source materials.

The Vegetarian Society is, naturally, up in arms.

Fair enough, I've only actually eaten one of these products in the last couple of years (a bag of Minstrels) so it doesn't really affect me, but to never be able to eat Maltesers again seems harsh! I'm sure there are literally hundreds of thousands of people who did before and now can't.

The moral of the story is: always check the label! If I hadn't seen this news I would just have assumed that these products would still be alright to eat.

UPDATE: 20 May 2007

Mars have listened to the flood of complaints they received, and will apparently be making their products vegetarian once again. Full story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6673549.stm

News

I read a few stories today I thought might be of interest.

Expert advice ignored by Scottish Minister, who sends "mixed message" out to schools. See the Scotsman

Slightly grotesque US study links large amounts of beef during pregnancy to low sperm counts in sons, due to hormones in US cattle. See the BBC news.

Healthy pizza? Scientists have found a way of cooking the dough which may have health benefits! See the Guardian.

Finally, and not as nice as the thought of healthy pizza, the blogosphere are considering some sort of code of conduct after a prominent blogger received death threats. See the BBC news again for more details. Scary stuff.

Veggie News: a little round up

I've read a few stories that have sparked the interest of my vegetarian self, and thought I'd up links up to them. Click on the title for the link.

PETA drops Heather Mills McCartney?
A few UK newspapers this weekend have reported that PETA have dropped Heather Mills, a formely vocal supporter of the charity, for the chance to work with Mary McCartney (Paul's daughter and a respected photographer). Wonder if it's true? I really hope not - it's not a good day for a charity if they get involved in personal family feuds. No reports on the PETA site, as yet :)

160,000 turkeys culled in avian flu outbreak
Dearie me... I'm sure you have all read this already, but the Bernard Matthews factory in Suffolk was involved in an outbreak of the bird flu virus H5N1. This has resulted in some 160,000 turkeys being gassed to death. In my ignorance, I didn't realise that so many birds would be kept in such close quarters. Poor wee birdies.

Organic Meat - turning veggies meaty?
Well, I don't think so. I'm posting a link to this article because it made me rather grumpy. A woman who has stopped being vegetarian posts an article in the magazine section, in which she justifies her reasons for eating meat again. Fine by me, but the assumptions she makes are ridiculous and annoying. She talks about the "happy life" of an organically bred animal, but doesn't appear to think about the stressful death. She also assures her readers of the many other vegetarians who would happily eat organic meat - I suspect that many vegetarians would beg to differ. Have a read through the comments - like me, you may become grumpy with the comments from both some of the veggie and meaty readers! She also starts sentences with "but" and "because". Dearie, dearie me...