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Title: Mayo-Gate: Feds try to take down eggless mayonnaise company
Source:
The Guardian
URL Source: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ ... -board-hampton-creek-just-mayo
Published: Sep 2, 2015
Author: Sam Thielman & Dominic Rushe
Post Date: 2015-09-05 17:31:24 by Operation 40
Keywords: Mayonnaise, USDA, Eggs
Views: 3204
Comments: 28
Government-backed egg lobby tried to crack food startup, emails show The Guardian September 2, 2015 USDA official joined American Egg Board in planning to ruin Hampton Creek, Silicon Valley firm that created plant-based egg alternative and Just Mayo A US government-appointed agricultural body tried to crush a Silicon Valley food startup after concluding the company represented a “major threat” and “crisis” for the $5.5bn-a-year egg industry, according to documents obtained by the Guardian. In potential conflict with rules that govern how it can spend its funds, the American Egg Board (AEB) lobbied for a concerted attack on Hampton Creek, a food company that has created a low-cost plant-based egg replacement and the maker of Just Mayo, a mayonnaise alternative. In a series of emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (Foia), AEB staff, a US department of agriculture official and egg industry executives attempted to orchestrate the attack. The documents were obtained by Ryan Shapiro, a Foia expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Shapiro’s Washington DC-based Foia-specialist attorney, Jeffrey Light, and passed to Hampton Creek. Among the efforts coordinated between the AEB, the USDA and the egg industry: The Department of Agriculture’s national supervisor of shell eggs joined the AEB in its attack on Hampton Creek, suggesting Ivy contact the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) directly about Just Mayo with her concerns. The FDA later ruled Just Mayo must change its name. The AEB attempted to have Just Mayo blocked from Whole Foods, asking Anthony Zolezzi, a partner at private equity firm Pegasus Capital Advisors and self-described “eco-entrepreneur”, to use his influence with Whole Foods to drop the product. (Whole Foods still sells Just Mayo.) More than one member of the AEB made joking threats of violence against Hampton Creek’s founder, Josh Tetrick. “Can we pool our money and put a hit on him?” asked Mike Sencer, executive vice-president of AEB member organization Hidden Villa Ranch. Mitch Kanter, executive vice-president of the AEB, jokingly offered “to contact some of my old buddies in Brooklyn to pay Mr. Tetrick a visit”. The AEB’s research arm, the Egg Nutrition Center (ENC), tested the strength of Hampton Creek’s patent for its egg replacer, Beyond Eggs, using a consultant, Gilbert Leveille. Leveille concluded that the patent was “not very strong and could be easily challenged with an alternate product”, he said in an email to Kanter. “Were I in your position I would focus on nutritional quality and on the emerging science, much of which ENC has sponsored,” Leveille wrote. The emails, totalling 600 pages, show the AEB has become deeply concerned about Hampton Creek. The San Francisco-based tech company has attracted $120m in funding from some of tech’s biggest names, including the Founders Fund, started by Facebook backer Peter Thiel, and Vinod Khosla’s Khosla Ventures. The AEB represents egg farmers across the US and its board is selected by the secretary of agriculture. This year the politically connected AEB provided 14,000 eggs for the White House’s annual Easter egg roll and Ivy was photographed with President Barack Obama... ..snip read more- http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/02/usda-american-egg-board-hampton-creek-just-mayo Just Mayo: Egg group scrambled over eggless mayo maker http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_28747183/just-mayo-egg-group-scrambled-over-eggless-mayo For those who would say "You can't call eggless mayo mayo" how about this? 
The American Egg Board provided 14,000 eggs for the annual White House Easter egg
roll this year. Photograph: Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP 
Outgoing AEB head Joanne Ivy advised Unilever on how to proceed against Hampton Creek after the food giant filed a false advertising lawsuit against its rival last year.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
#13. To: Operation 40 (#0)
Just Mayo is sold in Wal-Mart, I bought one, brought it home, looked at the ingredients, found canola, and returned it for a full refund. What has the mayonnaise industry so concerned is that so many are, like me, making my own at home using organic ingredients at a cost of about 50 cents per two cups. It's cheap, it's easy, and it is 100% better than anything on the market and no chemicals.
I think this is a Hellman's protection racket. The egg producers sell to Hellman's, the only big mayonnaise supplier. They don't want Hellman's to have to compete against "Just Mayo" which is likely to hurt their egg sales to Hellman's. I would be surprised if Hellman's was not behind these angry egg producers raising a ruckus over "Just Mayo".
I use eggs that are under two days old. Home made is so good, compared to the others.
Many commercial condiments are all about the convenience. Fresh homemade is cheaper and tastes better and top cooks will always make their own from scratch rather than buy some Hellman's mayonnaise just to save a few minutes of prep time.
Yup, it's fast, it's good, and while not staying as 'unseperated' as long as the commercial stuff, is, I would bet, a whole lot better for you.
Certainly, there will be a market for the quick and easy. How else will people have the time to tweet and post drivel on Facebook? But let mayo be mayo and let all other imitations be labelled as imitation products.
There are no replies to Comment # 18. End Trace Mode for Comment # 18.
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#14. To: BobCeleste (#13)
What has the mayonnaise industry so concerned is that so many are, like me, making my own at home using organic ingredients at a cost of about 50 cents per two cups.
#15. To: TooConservative (#14)
#16. To: BobCeleste (#15)
I use eggs that are under two days old. Home made is so good, compared to the others.
#17. To: TooConservative (#16)
#18. To: BobCeleste (#17)
Yup, it's fast, it's good, and while not staying as 'unseperated' as long as the commercial stuff, is, I would bet, a whole lot better for you.
Replies to Comment # 18.
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