Hellmann’s Attempt To Make Vegan Mayonnaise Won’t Actually Be Mayo

For all the vegans out there ready to throw themselves off a cliff because they can’t find a legitimate vegan mayonnaise to top their sweet potato fries with — relax and step away from the edge.

Hellmann’s, also known as Best Foods, wants to save you from this vegan nightmare by introducing an organic, eggless alternative with the label, “Hellmann’s Carefully Crafted Dressing & Sandwich Spread.” The new product will be introduced this February and will technically not be considered mayonnaise — but that’s OK.

You should already know there’s no such thing as a vegan mayonnaise. And secondly, as a vegan you’re well aware, in order for food to be accepted as “vegan” it cannot contain any animal-based products. No meat, no dairy, no eggs.

Last time I checked (OK, I just now Googled, “how is mayonnaise made paula deen“),  mayonnaise is traditionally made with egg yolk (I’m almost certain chicken eggs (yolks) are the standard mayo egg). Pretty sure chickens are considered animals (I didn’t Google chicken question, fearful that I’d get one million pages of, ‘what came first the chicken or the egg?’ results.) So, that must mean traditional, standard, good ol’ “mayo” can’t ever be considered vegan. Right?!

Hellmann’s seems to be entering the organic, eggless-spread market after it stopped pursuing a 2014 false advertising lawsuit its conglomerate, Unilever, filed against a San Francisco-based start-up, Hampton Creek, over the labeling on its line of eggless spread, “Just Mayo,”

In the suit, Hellmann’s conglomerate alleged that Hampton Creek’s, “Just Mayo” labeling was misleading to consumers because it did not contain eggs, therefore should not be considered mayonnaise.

In fact, Hellmann’s lawsuit wasn’t just a flash in the pan. In 2015, The FDA wrote a letter to Hampton Creek citing numerous violations regarding nutritional information found on its labels and website.