Unilever, Suing Over Rival’s Use of ‘Mayo,’ Changes Own Website


By STEPHANIE STROMNOV. 16, 2014

Last Friday, changes suddenly began appearing on websites associated
with mayonnaise.

The word “dressing” was added to comments that consumers had posted
referring to Hellmann’s mayonnaise dressing with olive oil as simply
“mayonnaise.”

And a post to Pinterest that had promoted Hellmann’s creamy balsamic
mayonnaise dressing as “mayonnaise over the top in taste” vanished —
although it still can be seen on Twitter.

The changes represented another round in the fight between the
consumer product and food giant Unilever and a tiny start-up, Hampton
Creek, which it has sued over the eggless, mayonnaiselike spread
Hampton Creek has been selling as Just Mayo for a little less than a
year.

Unilever claims that the word “mayo” and the image of an egg cracked
by a pea shoot that Hampton Creek uses on its packaging fraudulently
leads consumers to believe the product contains eggs. It also contends
that consumers equate “mayo” with mayonnaise, which must contain eggs
under the standard set by the Food and Drug Administration in 1957.

“They have an egg on their package but not in their product — they’re
just not mayo,” Mike Faherty, vice president for foods of Unilever
North America, said Sunday in the company’s first comments about the
case.

The F.D.A. has even gotten involved, contacting Hampton Creek. No
other information about the agency’s role was available.

“We’ve been going back and forth with them because the simple fact
that this has happened speaks to the larger issue, which is we need
for our regulatory framework to be more into line with the way we hope
people are starting to eat,” said Josh Tetrick, the founder of Hampton
Creek. “My hope is that the F.D.A., Congress and policy leaders are
seeing the incredible amount of attention this is getting and will
start thinking about that.”

Just Mayo, which does not use the word “mayonnaise” to describe
itself, contains Canadian yellow peas instead of eggs.

On Friday, Hampton Creek, which is represented by the law firm Boies,
Schiller & Flexner, was collecting information for a countersuit,
combing websites for Hellmann’s mayonnaise, which is sold as Best
Foods west of the Rockies.

On Nov. 4, the company wrote to Unilever pointing out that it had used
the word “mayo” to describe products that do not meet the Food and
Drug Administration’s definition of mayonnaise, which includes eggs
and a certain percentage of oil.

And consumers posting comments on the Hellmann’s site — or the site of
Best Foods — referred to what Unilever calls “mayonnaise dressing” as
simply “mayonnaise” or “mayo.”

Mr. Tetrick happened to be on the Hellmann’s site on Friday, talking
with Michele Simon, a public health blogger and lawyer who has written
about the lawsuit, when Unilever was making changes. The page for
Hellmann’s creamy balsamic mayonnaise dressing disappeared as the two
spoke.

“It was kind of freaky,” Ms. Simon said. “I was on the phone with
Josh, and he was reading something from Hellmann’s website to me — and
then it just vanished.”

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In August, the page for Best Foods Canola Cholesterol-Free Mayonnaise,
which lacks the amount of oil required to call a product mayonnaise
under the F.D.A. standard, did not include the word “dressing.” It now
does.

Unilever edited customer comments that referred to mayonnaise dressing
simply as “mayonnaise.” Early Friday, for instance, a comment by a
consumer read, “I could taste no difference in the olive oil
mayonnaise and I will continue to buy it because it has olive oil in
it!”

It vanished, then reappeared seven minutes later, Ms. Simon and Mr.
Tetrick said, reading, “I could taste no difference in the olive oil
mayonnaise dressing and I will continue to buy it because it has olive
oil in it. “

At least 10 customer comments have been removed from Hellmann’s and
Best Foods sites since Friday, Hampton Creek said.

Mr. Faherty said that was proof that Unilever had moved promptly to
address the issues raised by Hampton Creek. “Contrast our actions over
the last week and Hampton Creek’s,” he said. “They’ve known about
their misleading labels for months and done nothing, but the minute we
found out there was something misleading on our pages, we took
action.”

He said some customer comments were “inadvertently edited when they
should have just been removed.”

"Bruce" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 01:02:58 -0600, Sqwertz >
> wrote:
>
>>On Mon, 17 Nov 2014 23:36:22 -0700, Janet B wrote:
>>
>>> Last Friday, changes suddenly began appearing on websites associated
>>> with mayonnaise.
>>>
>>> The word "dressing" was added to comments that consumers had posted
>>> referring to Hellmann's mayonnaise dressing with olive oil as simply
>>> "mayonnaise."
>>
>>This is exactly what I said would happen.
>
> Did you tell all your friends about it?
>

I don't know about that, but he told us.

"Janet B" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Unilever, Suing Over Rival's Use of 'Mayo,' Changes Own Website
>


pretty lame they didn't change their website BEFORE bringing suit.

On Tue, 18 Nov 2014 08:12:04 -0800, "Pico Rico"
> wrote:

>
> "Janet B" > wrote in message
> ...
> >
> >
> > Unilever, Suing Over Rival's Use of 'Mayo,' Changes Own Website
> >
>
>
> pretty lame they didn't change their website BEFORE bringing suit.
>

They're hoping no one noticed they were being hypocritical and suing
Hampton Creek to "do as I say, not as I do":.


--
Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.

On 11/18/2014 11:12 AM, Pico Rico wrote:
> "Janet B" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>>
>> Unilever, Suing Over Rival's Use of 'Mayo,' Changes Own Website
>>
>
>
> pretty lame they didn't change their website BEFORE bringing suit.
>
>
Pace Unilever, I would say Mayonnaise is a stable emulsion of oil, egg
yolks and either vinegar or lemon juice. There can be other flavorings
added, IMHO, and the oil is not necessarily olive oil nor is the type of
vinegar specified. "Aoli" is a strongly garlic flavored mayonnaise and
"Tartar Sauce" is the ultimate flavored mayonnaise

I see nothing wrong with the term "fat-free mayonnaise" even if it is
made with yoghurt or even tofu. I have never tried, but tofu or yoghurt
might also work as an emulsifier instead of egg yolks in a regular mayo.

I think Unilever is trying to achieve as near a monopoly as it can; a
bit like the sparkling wine makers of France try with "Champagne", even
if the boundary of "the champagne region" has expanded over the years.

--
Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)

Extraneous "not." in Reply To.

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014 10:45:35 AM UTC-6, James Silverton wrote:
>
> >
> Pace Unilever, I would say Mayonnaise is a stable emulsion of oil, egg
> yolks and either vinegar or lemon juice. There can be other flavorings
> added, IMHO, and the oil is not necessarily olive oil nor is the type of
> vinegar specified.
>
Because there is whole egg in that wino beatoff Hellman's makes, it is
NOT mayonnaise either, and only a slob subs vinegar for lemon juice.
>
> --
> Jim Silverton (Potomac, MD)
>
--Bryan

On 11/18/2014 2:02 AM, Sqwertz wrote:
> On Mon, 17 Nov 2014 23:36:22 -0700, Janet B wrote:
>
>> Last Friday, changes suddenly began appearing on websites associated
>> with mayonnaise.
>>
>> The word “dressing” was added to comments that consumers had posted
>> referring to Hellmann’s mayonnaise dressing with olive oil as simply
>> “mayonnaise.”
>
> This is exactly what I said would happen. Unilever is not even
> labeling or referring to it's own products correctly. I specifically
> pointed out that olive oil product in particular as not being labeled
> properly (also the balsamic version) and that these would be part of
> Hampton Creek's counter-suit.
>
> And now Unilever is acting like they didn't even know they were not in
> compliance until Hampton Creek told them about it? They should have
> tried to cover their tracks BEFORE they filed the lawsuit. Dumbasses.
>
> I wonder how they're going to change all those labels that are already
> on the shelves? Duh.
>
> -sw
>
Absolutely correct, Steve. They're backpeddling. Also, I think it's
unethical for them to edit customer comments after they've been posted.

Jill

I find this kind of ironic, because the FDA is concerned about the word
"Mayo" but is now allowing dairies to put polysorbate-80, guar gum,
xanthan gum, and carageenan into the cream and half and half.

The only heavy cream I can find in the area without this shit in it is
Strauss Organic.

On Wed, 19 Nov 2014 02:00:06 -0800, Oregonian Haruspex
> wrote:

>I find this kind of ironic, because the FDA is concerned about the word
>"Mayo" but is now allowing dairies to put polysorbate-80, guar gum,
>xanthan gum, and carageenan into the cream and half and half.
>
>The only heavy cream I can find in the area without this shit in it is
>Strauss Organic.

Years ago, the guar gum they put in some heavy cream screwed up my
English Toffee! Gave it a noticably gummy texture after chewing! It
was hard and brittle at forst, but then upoon chewing it gummed up and
was just unacceptable to me. Taste was fine, but texture sucked!

****ing guar gum! :-(

John Kuthe...

---
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On 11/18/2014 2:36 PM, Bruce wrote:

> Since there is a legal definition of 'mayonnaise', you have to stick
> to that definition or not use the word mayonnaise or mayo. So you have
> to use eggs, for instance.
>

The law says "mayonnaise". It makes no reference to the word 'mayo'.
And that is pretty much the summation of the legal dispute. Hampton
says they're free to call it 'mayo' because the product description
law only uses the word 'mayonnaise'. Unilever says everyone knows that
'mayo' is short for 'mayonnaise', so the law should be interpreted
with that understanding in mind. The courts will have to decide.

On 11/19/2014 4:00 AM, Oregonian Haruspex wrote:
> I find this kind of ironic, because the FDA is concerned about the
> word "Mayo" but is now allowing dairies to put polysorbate-80, guar
> gum, xanthan gum, and carageenan into the cream and half and half.
>
> The only heavy cream I can find in the area without this shit in it is
> Strauss Organic.
>

Word. The dairy in my town was the last major commercial holdout
against adulterating their cream, but they got sold to a multinational
firm a few years ago who promptly cheapened the quality of the product
by adulterating it. Like you, I now have to seek out organic cream in
order to get cream and nothing but cream.

On Wed, 19 Nov 2014 07:04:34 -0600, Moe DeLoughan >
wrote:

> On 11/18/2014 2:36 PM, Bruce wrote:
>
> > Since there is a legal definition of 'mayonnaise', you have to stick
> > to that definition or not use the word mayonnaise or mayo. So you have
> > to use eggs, for instance.
> >
>
> The law says "mayonnaise". It makes no reference to the word 'mayo'.
> And that is pretty much the summation of the legal dispute. Hampton
> says they're free to call it 'mayo' because the product description
> law only uses the word 'mayonnaise'. Unilever says everyone knows that
> 'mayo' is short for 'mayonnaise', so the law should be interpreted
> with that understanding in mind. The courts will have to decide.

I hope the Unilever lawsuit is thrown out and they are told to pay
Hampton's court costs.


--
Avoid cutting yourself when slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them.