written by on 28/03/2011
These are not suitable for vegetarians as the company insist on using Cochineal to dye the product red. This dye is made from crushed up beetles! There is really no need to do this in this day and age as other companies use alternatives such as beetroot dye. When I pointed this out to Mr Kipling, their reply was that Cochineal gives the best colour and that beetroot dye turns an orange colour "which is certainly not what you or retailers would want". What a silly thing to say.
Mr Kipling pride themselves on using free range eggs yet they are happy to use the outdated practice of using cochineal as a dye just because they think it gives the best colour. Some of their cake contains pork fat too. How 'natural', to have dead beetles and dead pigs in cakes!