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."
yeah, this just pisses me off. i'm in seitan phase right now anyway, but when i'm in need of some crumbles i guess i'll have to go elsewhere. wtf is wrong with people. >:(
I would be interested to hear whether they actually taste better, or even different.
This. Is anyone who eats them ovo-lacto? So you could tell us the difference if there is one?
I find it kind of ironic that Boca is going egg free and Morningstar is adding them left and right.
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.
I'm not lacto-ovo but I recently bought a bag of crumbles and didn't bother to look at the ingredients (I was so excited that the grocery store in my little hodunk down carried them that I didn't think about it) so I didn't notice that they were different until my f and I were halfway through making tacos with them. Since I am dirt poor and didn't have anything else for dinner, we figured that it would be best not to let them go waste. But I don't think they tasted any different, and certainly not better. I'm really bummed out that they aren't vegan anymore because I have a hard time finding boca crumbles anywhere but my grocery store back home. So, I guess I'll just buy some tvp to keep on hand for my bf is over and wants something "meaty" (since I don't eat many processes soy products anymore). And, bonus, I don't think tvp has to be frozen. :)
My son's father surprised me with a package of MS crumbles a couple weeks ago. I made tater tot casserole, sloppy moes and chili with it. I was going to buy another bag but now will have to double check the label. He also bought me a bag of Quorn's crumbles but it has egg whites in it. Why can't they just leave the damn animal products out of our food?!
They better start paying attention to the consumer because vegan food is becoming a competitive market these days.
I don't eat the crumbles. I do like the chik'n strips from time to time, though. They make decent fajitas!
I sent an email to Morningstar a couple weeks ago after reading about the change. I addressed their justification of having received positive feedback from regular customers who tested the products, stating that since I do not consume egg or dairy products, the opinions of customers like me would not have been counted. I made it clear that I would boycott their product line, even though I was aware they offer other vegan products.
This was their response:
I am sorry to hear that our reformulation of Morningstar Farms® crumbles has had such a personal impact. We will share your comments with our nutrition and development team.
We work hard to offer a variety of products in order to meet the needs of our diverse consumer base. We regret that this business decision which was made in order to keep the production costs viable and the selling price affordable for most consumers, had such a personal impact.
We appreciate your past purchases and loyalty of our products. Although you have made your position clear, we hope to retain you as a consumer of our products that are still vegan.
I personally could have accepted a hike in the price if it meant I could still eat their product.
so i have been eating this shit for 3 months a few times a month. I grabbed the package out of my freezer today i saw that they contained milk and eggs and was like "What the fuck? I could have sworn these were vegan." Go on vegweb to ask you guys and this is what i find. I love when companies promise their customers something and then do the exact opposite
Irritating to the max.
I do like how Morningstar now labels whether it's vegan or not. Like the new chicken patties are labled 100% vegan. But I probably should just boycott them altogether.
yeah it would have been nice if they put something on the front of the package like "NEW RECIPE" or "Now contains..." as well.
i do not understand why they can't just make all their products vegan?!? we have egg and milk replacers! it doesn't make sense to me because then they could capture both vegan and vegetarian markets by offering true "pure" vegetarian instead of alienating vegans... it is stupid... whoever is in charge of this must live in their little corporate bubble with no idea what is really going on
I'm just wondering if people who have egg/dairy allergies ate these unknowing of the ingredients change and got sick or had a negative reaction due to crappy change in packaging to let it be known.
This makes me mad >:( I used to love those! I will have to look for alternatives for chili and lasagna and other things like that.
A bit OT but Nate's Meatless Meatballs are great if anyone can find them. They are awesome in pasta and can be cooked in a pan of pasta sauce pretty quickly. I also like the Lightlife Gimme Lean Ground Beef and Ground Sausage substitutes.All these are a bit more prep work. The Lightlife is like a raw burger substitute. It can be shaped into balls or patties or cooked then crumbled. Not toss and go like the Morningstar were. Nice to have around if you don't mind the extra time it takes though.
This makes me mad >:( I used to love those! I will have to look for alternatives for chili and lasagna and other things like that.
A bit OT but Nate's Meatless Meatballs are great if anyone can find them. They are awesome in pasta and can be cooked in a pan of pasta sauce pretty quickly. I also like the Lightlife Gimme Lean Ground Beef and Ground Sausage substitutes.All these are a bit more prep work. The Lightlife is like a raw burger substitute. It can be shaped into balls or patties or cooked then crumbled. Not toss and go like the Morningstar were. Nice to have around if you don't mind the extra time it takes though.
the lightlife stuff is ok. i just think the MS crumbles were really a lot better for tacos, sauce, and stuff like that.
I was NOT happy. Plus I didn'ty see any non-GMO references. Of course I discovered this after the fact. *sigh* I was so thrilled to find that it tasted very good in a tomato sauce with whole wheat pasta, vegan and after my second meal using the crumbles I decided to look and see for sure if it was non-GMO after watching Food, Inc. Well, my surprise was far worse when I saw eggwhites on the ingredients list.
signed,
Relatively Newly Vegan and p*ssed about the eggwhites.
As of Christmas Day, my local market is still selling mass quantities of vegan Morningstar Burger Crumbles. I don't really know why they have so much in stock (as it is obviously pretty old comparatively), but I'm pooling my resources tomorrow and buying the lot. I'm sorry, I can't live without it. I'm planning on it holding out until Morningstar comes to its senses and realizes that vegetarians will still eat vegan stuff and vegans won't eat vegetarian, and alienating a large percentage of their market isn't a great idea. Until then, I'll have thirty pounds of Meal Starter Crumbles in my deep freezer.
haha sounds like a plan! i certainly hope they come to their senses.
As of Christmas Day, my local market is still selling mass quantities of vegan Morningstar Burger Crumbles. I don't really know why they have so much in stock (as it is obviously pretty old comparatively), but I'm pooling my resources tomorrow and buying the lot. I'm sorry, I can't live without it. I'm planning on it holding out until Morningstar comes to its senses and realizes that vegetarians will still eat vegan stuff and vegans won't eat vegetarian, and alienating a large percentage of their market isn't a great idea. Until then, I'll have thirty pounds of Meal Starter Crumbles in my deep freezer.
Fork Morningstar!!! Recently decided to make some chili using the "sausage" crumbles again and, what do you know, they're no longer vegan.>:(
I just want to slap somebody!!!!
arg, I just picked a bag of this up after not seeing them in my local kroger for quite a while. I bought sloppy joe mix and buns and thought I was all set. After opening them and pouring them in the pan, I glanced at the back only to read contains milk and eggs. I think a boycott of morning star is in order. :-\
I'm so sad. I just now found out about this change in product line. I liken it to adding in sugar to a diet soft drink and not letting anyone know. You just get used to buying the safe things and don't think about having to check the ingredient label every time. Grrr. And yeah, chik'n strips are safe today but who's to say they won't add egg whites to those this week.
Definitely a boycott. Sorry so late on the conversation but I seriously just now found out about this while reading ingredients to my curious BIL. I don't eat them often, likely a small amount in a chili or something once every 10 days but I'm making my own everything from here on out.
so, does anybody know where i can buy boca crumbles or some other alternative online? i live in a very rural area and had considered myself lucky to be able to FIND crumbles. i am very ticked off.
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