Morningstar Burger Crumbles not vegan anymore!
I didn't see this info. already posted on vegweb (I read it on Vegan Represent), so I figured I'd let you guys know in case you didn't already. So Morningstar Farms, the company that was claiming last year to be cutting down on using eggs, has now added them to a formerly vegan product which I know many of us really enjoy-- the burger crumbles.
I emailed them to complain/inquire and here's their response:
Thank you for your comments regarding Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers™ Recipe Crumbles. We are sorry you did not enjoy the reformulated product.
As you might imagine, we conduct extensive consumer tests to determine consumer acceptance before introducing a food into the national market. Reformulated products are of special concern to us, so we use panels of regular product users across the country to ensure acceptability. Tests on this reformulated product showed that most consumers preferred the new product to the old. However, we realize that taste preferences do differ and can certainly understand your feelings.
Our goal is to ensure that consumers have a choice when considering our brands. We currently offer several Morningstar Farms® and Gardenburger® products that do not contain eggs and are considered vegan. Some of these products are recent additions formulated to reduce our dependence on traditionally sourced eggs. Our Morningstar Farms® and Gardenburger®, vegan products include:
Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters® Chik'n Strips
Morningstar Farms® Grillers® Original Vegan Burger
Morningstar Farms® Hickory BBQ Riblets
Gardenburger® Black Bean Chipotle Veggie Burger
Gardenburger® California Burger
Gardenburger® Flame Grilled Burger
Gardenburger® Garden Vegan Burger
Gardenburger® Breakfast Sausage
Gardenburger® Breaded Chik'n
Gardenburger® Herb Crusted Cutlet
Gardenburger® Veggie Medley Burger
We appreciate your comments and will share them with the appropriate company officials. We have enclosed some coupons which we hope you will use to purchase other products that you enjoy.
Thank you again for sharing your thoughts!
Sincerely,
Victor Velasquez
Consumer Affairs Department
>:(,right? I stay away from processed products for the most part, but I always had crumbles on hand for a quick sloppy joe or for tacos once in a while. I thought they were perfect the way they were, though I'm sure the actual reason for the change has more to do with being able to make them more cheaply with the "reformulated product."
Morningstar Farms are a bunch of ass pickles.
Morningstar Farms are a bunch of ass pickles.
;D I agree(nice choice of words ;)b )...I use to like to add the crumbles to my chili recipe....my hubby couldn't tell the difference (He thought it was ground beef)....I guess i won't be buying them anymore
So I finally got a response.....similiar to laur b's email though, but they're sending me my $4.....how nice of them.....
Mrs. Houge,
Thank you for your comments regarding Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers™ Recipe Crumbles. We regret to hear that the new formulation does not meet your dietary preferences.
As you might imagine, we conduct extensive consumer tests to determine consumer acceptance before introducing a food into the national market. Reformulated products are of special concern to us, so we use panels of regular product users across the country to ensure acceptability. However, we realize that taste and dietary preferences do differ and can certainly understand your feelings. I am not aware of any current plans to add dairy or egg to any of our other products. We are sending you a check for $4.00 to refund your purchase, please allow 7-10 days for delivery.
We do have some vegan products that you may enjoy. These include Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Sausage Style Recipe Crumbles, Meal Starters™ Chik'n Strips, Grillers® Vegan Veggie Burgers, and Grillers® Chik'n Veggie Patties. We do hope these products can meet your needs.
We appreciate your comments and will share them with our nutritional and food development teams.
Sincerely,
Rebecca A Jimenez
Consumer Affairs Department
Not all is lost....the Boca crumbles are still vegan, cheaper and have less ingredients than the morningstar vegan crumbles... I actually like them better but they're harder to come by.
Morningstar sent me a check for $4 :-D
QUICK. everyone email them asking for 4 dollars.
Not all is lost....the Boca crumbles are still vegan, cheaper and have less ingredients than the morningstar vegan crumbles... I actually like them better but they're harder to come by.
Thanks I'll have to look for them in the grocery store
Morningstar and Kellogs has just helped me to reduced the amount of processed food that I buy from them and increase the amount of cooking I do for myself. I really like the Riblets, but there's probably a recipe here on VegWeb! I don't want to buy corporate anyways.
Not all is lost....the Boca crumbles are still vegan, cheaper and have less ingredients than the morningstar vegan crumbles... I actually like them better but they're harder to come by.
Thank God :)
I work at an independent health food store, and we don't carry any frozen crumbles. BOCA and Morningstar won't guarantee non-GMO soy, which means they probably use genetically modified soy. And ever since Gardenburger was bought, they also use GMO soy.
I know BOCA has their "natural" line (the tan boxes), but seriously what does that say about the rest of their products?
What happened to Morningstar Farms promising to put out more vegan products?
The steak strips were the one thing I used to really enjoy from them, but they're gone. Guess I won't be buying anything from Morningstar farms now, freakin' doucheberries >:(. Oh well, I need to quit buying processed foods anyway.
well, I'll use the Boca crumbles, it saves me from having to cook two seperate meals, my hubby thinks its ground beef, I use them in Chili and Lasagne.its a damn shame that companies go and mess with the recipies
That is just awful! I say boycott Morningstar altogether. First they take away our steak strips, now this! The only thing left are the riblets!
If they take away my riblets...............
I will GO to the headquarters and throw non vegan riblets at them.
Just to let everyone know....I tried the sausage crumbles in my chili recipe and it was AWESOME!!!!
I found some vegan Morningstar ones! I think i might go buy more if that store still has them. Just because i got the boca and made both and had a little taste test.
I must say, i really don't like the boca ones.
What happened to Morningstar Farms promising to put out more vegan products?
In case anyone was curious about this last part I mentioned, I just got time to dig it up. Compassion Over Killing (http://www.cok.net/feat/fewereggs2009/) got the following message from Morningstar back in March:
I quoted this in the email I just sent to Morningstar.
I still don't get that. Why change it when you are "committed" to reducing the use of eggs? It just... makes NO sense.
I don't understand why you would change a product to appeal to a smaller amount of people. Also, it means that I've been looking at Boca stuff BEFORE I look at Morningstar, since Morningstar is more likely to have eggs/dairy in it.
Thanks, Morningstar, for marginalizing a big section of your clientele. Who thought this was a good idea?
I don't really understand why a company would make a fake meat that isn't vegan. It's not like lacto-ovo vegetarians don't eat vegan foods--adding eggs didn't make the product appeal to more people! I would be interested to hear whether they actually taste better, or even different.
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