it's a sad, sad day in miss muffin's magical land of vegan cooking. i posted a message on twitter the other day saying that oreos are vegan and my tweep, veganwrites, quickly corrected me. i have always heard, and have reported on my own blog, that oreos are indeed vegan. they're even on the peta list of i can't believe it's vegan snacks and you'd think you can trust that, right? i immediately went to the nabisco website and clicked on the little contact us button to inquire.
the following is the correspondence between the lovely associate director of consumer relations at nabisco and me. you'll notice that i have given her the links to this blog, my twitter page and my facebook page so nabisco can follow your responses to their public outing as a company that needs to know it's time for a change.
please feel free to retweet, share this on all of your pages, blogs, through email and to contact nabisco to let them know how much better compassion tastes.
my email to nabisco via the email link on http://www.nabiscoworld.com on july 13, 2009.
I love oreos! I am interested to know who your sugar suppliers are because I would like to know if they provide you with cane sugar that is filtered using bone char for your product.
nabisco's very prompt response delivered to my email address on july 15, 2009:
Hi Ginger,
Thank you for visiting http://www.nabiscoworld.com and for asking if we use sugar that was refined by using bone char.
Natural charcoal has been used for over 175 years to manufacture sugar and for the past 10 years to filter and decolorize water. Natural charcoal is also approved for use in the purification of municipal drinking water and of course there is no health risk associated with the use of bone char.
Kraft has several sugar suppliers. Some of our suppliers DO use the animal-derived natural charcoal (also known as "bone char") in their cane sugar refining process and some suppliers DO NOT use this process.
Since we may use any of the sugar suppliers at any given time in production, I cannot give a definite answer as to whether or not bone char was used in the sugar refining process of a particular product.
Please be assured that when using natural charcoal for the de-colorization and de-ashing of sugar in the refining process, the charcoal does not transfer impurities to the sugar solution. As a result, the extremely high-quality refined sugar manufactured by our suppliers does not contain any actual impurity from the natural charcoal.
Lastly, I am delighted to hear that you are pleased with our NABISCO Oreo Cookies. Our goal is to maintain the highest quality products and to create a variety of new products that are enjoyable and it is gratifying to learn that our efforts have been successful. I will pass your comments on to the appropriate parties.
Thank you for your loyalty and if you haven’t done so already, please add our site to your favorites and visit us again soon!
Kim M (i've deleted her last name on purpose)
Associate Director, Consumer Relations
and finally, my response to kim on july 15, 2009:
Hi Kim,
Thank you so much for your response...I really appreciate your thorough and honest answer.
The reason I asked about the filtration processes of your sugar suppliers was not for my own health ~ after all, we're talking about cookies here, right? I asked because using bone char is not necessary for the filtration process in white sugar and I, as well as many others, don't believe that any animals should suffer or be killed so people can satisfy their sugar cravings...especially not when you have more compassionate competition like Newman's Own.
Please take this as a formal request from a customer who loves your product to stop buying from sugar suppliers who use bone char and to begin only using suppliers who do not. And when you do, please make the decision known to the public. There are many compassionate customers who will stop using your product while Nabisco continues to condone the suffering of animals through the use of bone char, but would be delighted to return as loyal customers once your practices become more compassionate.
If you'd like to follow responses to this correspondence, you may do so on one of the following sites: the great adventures of miss muffin
veganginger on twitter
veganginger on facebook
Thank you!! I look forward to seeing the change!!
Ginger
please, please, please share this on facebook, twitter (mark all twitter comments with #vegan), comment here and contact nabisco to let them know this is not necessary and to please change to suppliers to those with humane practices.
have a lovely day!!
xoxo
ginger
photo from here
10 comments:
I had no idea people did this to sugar.
Hi, I just came across your blog and think it's great that you are being proactive with a food company.
I was wondering if you had any sugar-free, naturally sweetened dessert recipes? Otherwise, I might have to try the velvet cake and substitute with my own sweeteners...
Thanks!
hi, thanks for the visits :)
i would try the red velvet cake with agave nectar. it's all natural, low glycemic and minimally processed.
just use 3/4 cup agave for every cup of granulated sugar (because it's sweeter than sugar). then, because sugar acts as a liquid ingredient in baking, you may want to add another 1/4 cup of soy or coconut milk to keep the moisture level of the cake even. i have discussed this method with a friend of mine who's a pastry chef and she says that should work.
when you do that please come back and let me know how it worked. thanks!
I am in awe that not only did you get such a prompt and honest response but that they explained in detail what is done to sugar. If I can substitute agave or other sweeteners for refined white sugar in the future I will do so. I am extremely interested in the fact that bone char is used to filter tap water. Does that mean that a person who does not drink bottled water can not technically be considered vegan? What an odd tradeoff that is. So much to think about but I am happy to be armed with the info. Thanks for your thorough reporting as always Ginger!
that's crazy! good detective work! :) tonight i will toast you with newman o's and a glass of soy milk.
i thought it was the opposite jenn...that bottled water is filtered using bone char and that tap water just tastes like chlorine, haha! i was going to look into that the next time i need to buy a water filter for my tap. i'll definitely post my findings on that!
right on amanda! i was thinking of a veggie sandwich with lots of mustard so we'll be together in spirit, heehee. :)...(you are the amanda who loves mustard, right? if not, i look really silly right now).
I think it's kind of unfair that there's stuff like this to interfere with vegans leading their happy vegan lives. I may not be vegan, but I don't agree with secret animal products hiding in food that you'd otherwise think should be vegan. Hell, I wouldn't even call it vegetarian, considering it's BONE char.
that's depressing - I thought charcoal came from wood....
just goes to show we need to eat as close to the land as possible and avoid anything refined. if only I hadn't been a sugar addict all of my life it would be so much easier.
Thanks for all the research, Ginger - you rock!
Peace, Judi
Very informative article thanks for the info
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