The Silicon Valley food startup Hampton Creek, which has experienced explosive growth selling egg-free
In an official warning letter dated August 12 and posted today (Aug. 25), the Food and Drug Administration lists four "significant violations" that the food company (or is it a tech company?) must fix before the end of the month. The biggest issue raised by the regulatory agency is the same one that Unilever, maker of Hellmann's Mayonnaise, tried to sue Hampton Creek for in 2014: You can't call a product "Just Mayo" if it's not mayonnaise—and that means it has to contain eggs.
“The use of the term ‘mayo’ in the product names and the image of an egg may be misleading to consumers because it may lead them to believe that the products are the standardized food, mayonnaise,” the FDA wrote.
Hampton Creek, which is backed by high-profile investors including Bill Gates, Li Ka-Shing, and Vinod Khosla, was scrutinized earlier this month for its management practices after anonymous ex-employees aired their complaints with Business Insider. Tetrick dismissed some of the complaints and copped to others, maintaining that he and his colleagues are sincerely trying to follow industry rules.
Tetrick told Quartz that Hampton Creek product labels and ingredients had been "looked at" and approved several times—but evidently not by people familiar with FDA regulations. The company previously had to correct its labeling to list "lemon juice concentrate" as an ingredient, rather than just "lemon juice."
The FDA notice also said that Hampton Creek's claims about Just Mayo being cholesterol-free are "unauthorized," and that its nutrition labels do not have the required footnotes.
Quartz has reached out Hampton Creek for comment and will update this post with a response.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2015
The FDA warns food start-up Hampton Creek: You can’t call it “mayo” if it’s not mayonnaise
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