Aimee Walker
Tesco is reportedly ‘seeking alternatives’ after vegan customers have made a complaint about the supermarket’s fruits.
According to Retail Gazette, the store giant confirmed its oranges are labelled as ‘non-vegan’ on August 21.
Apparently, it’s due to the application of post-harvest beeswax to the fruit peels during the production process, which is used to keep the produce fresher for longer.
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This means that the zest from the oranges, and also lemons and limes, isn’t suitable for plant-based eaters when cooking.
Tesco has said it will now look for ‘alternatives’ for the wax, as well as its other fruits that contain shellac, which is secreted from the female lac bug.
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Since the supermarket has confirmed it is looking elsewhere, vegans have taken to Twitter and thanked it for reconsidering.
One tweeted: “#VeganPeoplePower! For those that mocked me for raising the issue @Tesco, oranges, clementines and other citrus fruit are not suitable for #Vegans. #Tesco has listened and [are] looking for alternatives. Thank you Tesco.”
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Tesco isn’t the only chain to face a backlash over this issue.
Recently, Pizza Express came under fire when author and anti-food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe noted that its Coca-Cola was only classed as vegan when ‘served without lemon’.
At the time, he tweeted: “Erm, what do Pizza Express do to their lemons to make them not suitable for vegans? Just noticed this and can’t for the life of me fathom, what the f***.”
In response, Pizza Express simply stated: “The wax on waxed lemons contain shellac, which is derived from insects and therefore strictly not vegan.”
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