Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Egg replacer not an egg replacer

DOH! Veganism is on the increase, vegetarianism is on the increase, food intolerances are on the increase, avoidance of highly processed ingrediance is increasing - Unilever bless them prove how out of touch they are with the market by introducing and egg replacer product that has not one but THREE key allergens in it - Soya, Dairy and even EGG!!. How can it be classed as an egg replacer if it contains egg??

How stupid are Tate and Lyle going to look when it says on the label - Egg replacer - contains egg (and soya and Dairy)
As it's a unilever product it will almost certainly contain battery egg so it won't even be vegetarian.

I am already composing my letter to Trading Standards and The Advertising Standards Authority.........

Egg replacer from Unilever food scientists moves into US market: "Gavin Heys, chief executive for Alleggra Foods.

Alleggra, composed of soy protein, whey protein, vegetable oil (sunflower oil but can be varied) and egg white, was originally developed as a project within Unilever to design an anti-cholesterol egg replacer.

UK ingredients firm Tate & Lyle came on board in September 2004 with a £1.6 million cash injection and a 15 per cent slice. The rest of Alleggra ownership is divided between Unilever and management.

The GM-free product is marketed as a fully functional replacer of egg, and claims to have 75 per cent less saturated fat than an egg, with 10 per cent more protein.

The price volatility of the European egg market over the past 18 months, in most part linked to the decimation of millions of birds through avian flu, has led to huge fluctuations in egg product prices.
Food makers that use eggs extensively in applications from bakery to dressings, have seen margins sliced by the rises. Yolk prices, for example, rose from about £1700 a tonne in 2002, to £2250 in the last quarter of 2003 and have since dipped to around £1750 (£2524) a tonne.

Evidence of the market potential for the egg replacer, according to the British Egg Information Service in the UK alone 32 million eggs are consumed a day: and per head per year, just over 20 per cent of these eggs are used in food processing.

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