According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Hampton Creek’s Just Mayo isn’t actually mayonnaise because it doesn’t have eggs in it.
Advertisement
“The use of the term “mayo” in the product names and the image of an egg may be misleading to consumers because it may lead them to believe that the products are the standardized food, mayonnaise, which must contain eggs”, reads the FDA’s letter. “However, your Just Mayo and Just Mayo Sriracha do not meet the definition of the standard for mayonnaise”, the letter said”.
Tetrick told Quartz that Hampton Creek product labels and ingredients had been “looked at” and approved several times-but evidently not by people familiar with FDA regulations. In addition, its high fat content refutes its product being a healthy “cholesterol free” product.
Just Mayo can be found nationwide in Dollar Tree, Whole Foods, ShopRite and Kroger stores, as well as select Costco warehouses. He said that the product does not follow the “standard for mayonnaise”. They even contain additional ingredients which aren’t permitted including beta-carotene, pea protein and modified food starch. According to its official standards, mayonnaise must be at least 65 percent oil, and must contain some form of egg yolks-and, apparently, any vegan, post-egg disruption can not use the same name.
The problem, in other words, is not that Hampton Creek Foods is offering an alternative to traditional mayonnaise but that it is marketing it as indiscernible from the conventional option.
If Hampton Creek can’t win its fight against the FDA, it should embrace its differences and call its product something that gets the point across in an inviting way.
Tetrick did not immediately respond to Guardian requests for comment. The company previously had to correct its labeling to list “lemon juice concentrate” as an ingredient, rather than just “lemon juice”.
Advertisement
Mr. Cornell Jr. noted that the label of the company’s vegan mayo dubbed “Just Mayo” clearly showed that the product missed a key ingredient – eggs. In a statement at the time, Unilever said it would instead pursue the issue with “industry groups and appropriate regulatory authorities”. CEO Josh Tetrick later confirmed that the company had the wrong label, but said it had been fixed in March.
