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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

More of a WWYD than AIBU chicken in a vegan sandwich.

279 replies

6demandingchildren · 26/02/2022 16:50

My lovely step mum is moving and the family have got together to move her today, my dad went to a local bakery to get everyone lunch, my husband is the only vegetarian and my dad got him a chickpea coronation sandwich after double checking with the assistant my dad spent over £50 in there, after a few mouthfuls my husband came across a large chunk of chicken looked in the sandwich and there was small bits of chicken in it, I contacted them through Facebook messenger they have read my message that says

My father came to you early this afternoon and bought lots of food for the family, the coronation chickpea sandwich however contained chicken after the vegetarian who was eating it found out it also contained no chickpeas.
We still have half left with the packaging, how would you like to move forward with this issue?
Regards

But obviously won't get a reply now until Monday at the earliest.
What else can I do?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Legoisthebest · 26/02/2022 18:13

liveforsummer the ingredients the OP posted doesn't seem to have 'fake chicken' on it.

ZombeaArthur · 26/02/2022 18:16

If that was the chicken version rather than the vegan version with chicken in, then it’s highly likely that it’s made with regular mayonnaise. There’s a very real chance it contains unlisted egg which could be extremely dangerous to anyone allergic. If the whole batch was mislabelled, there could be a number of people eating ingredients they wouldn’t choose to eat/may be allergic to.

liveforsummer · 26/02/2022 18:16

@Legoisthebest

liveforsummer the ingredients the OP posted doesn't seem to have 'fake chicken' on it.
I'm not sure, there's a load of yeast type vegany ingredients that I'm not sure what they are.
Chikapu · 26/02/2022 18:16

Move forward with this issue, seriously? Take it back, accept the apology and move on.

WildImaginings · 26/02/2022 18:17

It's clearly meant to be a vegan sandwich. Scroll through the photos and you can quite easily read the ingredients. 'Chickenpea' is a (shit) play on words. I've seen it before with vegan sandwiches.

I don't eat meat. I would be a bit upset to have eaten the sandwich. I would make them aware of the issue and request a refund. Similar has happened to me in the past and all bar one place apologised, confirmed they would review their procedures and gave me a refund. The place that didn't give a refund is a place I've not been to since; they could not care less when I spoke to them. When I mentioned allergies they said if someone was that allergic they'd recommend they make their own food! Not a great attitude..

anothernamedoesntsmellsosweet · 26/02/2022 18:17

Just to confirm then, we are not allowed to post about anything else because of the horrendous atrocities in the Ukraine? The actions of the Russian president are deplorable but that doesn't mean we can only think of that. It's not always a competition of who has it the worst.

Legoisthebest · 26/02/2022 18:18

I will say it again.... I cannot believe how many here are saying this isn't serious. Infact I am horrified.
It's like food allergies or intolerances and eating disorders don't exist.
OP please make the bakery take this seriously.

LuckySantangelo35 · 26/02/2022 18:18

@tinyt137

Unless it's a dietary requirement then it's a harmless mistake.
@tinyt137 Errr it is a dietary requirement. Vegetarian = no meat
Hawkins001 · 26/02/2022 18:19

@6demandingchildren

My lovely step mum is moving and the family have got together to move her today, my dad went to a local bakery to get everyone lunch, my husband is the only vegetarian and my dad got him a chickpea coronation sandwich after double checking with the assistant my dad spent over £50 in there, after a few mouthfuls my husband came across a large chunk of chicken looked in the sandwich and there was small bits of chicken in it, I contacted them through Facebook messenger they have read my message that says

My father came to you early this afternoon and bought lots of food for the family, the coronation chickpea sandwich however contained chicken after the vegetarian who was eating it found out it also contained no chickpeas.
We still have half left with the packaging, how would you like to move forward with this issue?
Regards

But obviously won't get a reply now until Monday at the earliest.
What else can I do?

Id say, who got the order mistaken the person ordering or the company, then proceed from there
Original poster
6demandingchildren · 26/02/2022 18:20

:11Sisisimone

I dont know why you asked them how youre going to move forward with this. What on earth do you expect? You'll get an apology and a refund and they'll look into the mis-labelling. No-one died. No-one is going to die from eating a bit of chicken.

As an aside I cannot fathom for a single second how anyone could eat a coronation chickpea sandwich. Sounds truly vile 🤑

I deleted a line in the message that was potentially outing as I said about the moving addresses and that we are not local to the shop so sorry for that bit of drip feed but I thought it was in context obviously not, but this is my first post that I have written since I got out of the car as I started this thread as we left.

OP posts:
fairylightsandwaxmelts · 26/02/2022 18:20

@Legoisthebest

I will say it again.... I cannot believe how many here are saying this isn't serious. Infact I am horrified. It's like food allergies or intolerances and eating disorders don't exist. OP please make the bakery take this seriously.
Yep. It seems most of MN don't care that these mistakes could kill people.
Lunde · 26/02/2022 18:20

You are sure that it is in fact chicken and not some sort of "no chicken, chicken" made from chickpeas?

Legoisthebest · 26/02/2022 18:21

fairylights it's awful isn't it.

Original poster
6demandingchildren · 26/02/2022 18:22

Hawkins it wasn't pre-ordered my dad went in to get something for everyone and my husband asked for this sandwich my dad was unsure if it was the right one so asked, my dad doesn't understand why meat free food has meat in the descriptions.

OP posts:
LuckySantangelo35 · 26/02/2022 18:23

@FinallyFluid
What has the Ukraine got to do with it?

StiltonIsLife · 26/02/2022 18:23

YABU. Sure inform them, but it's not urgent issue so wouldn't expect a reply before next working day. I used to be a vegetarian and have few times been given meat (chicken) by mistake. I've lived to tell the tale.

Cakelover17 · 26/02/2022 18:23

The product description doesn’t suggest it’s got a fake chicken product in it.

@6demandingchildren personally I’d ask for the photos to be removed as it’s very clear despite your little blue line what the name of the bakery is, doesn’t seem fair to name them when they’ve not even responded to you yet.

Cloudsarebright · 26/02/2022 18:23

coronation chickpea is quite common! It’s the vegan version.

ExactlyThis · 26/02/2022 18:24

McDonald’s did this with a vegetarian wrap. Very upsetting. It was labelled as veggie too!

Original poster
6demandingchildren · 26/02/2022 18:24

Lunde it was chicken and that's why we didn't throw it away incase the bakery wanted to double check, but it was stringy like chicken breast tasted like chicken and felt like chicken as I obviously tested a bit, but the coronation sauce was amazing

OP posts:
OMG12 · 26/02/2022 18:26

I’d be really annoyed by this as I’d likely end up quite ill. Whilst not allergic to meat or dairy my body really struggles to digest it so would end up fatigued and with bad stomach pains. I always order vegan food for this reason when out. If something is advertised vegan that should be it.

People serving food need to be aware of what they are serving

Original poster
6demandingchildren · 26/02/2022 18:28

Cakelover
Didn't realise you could see the name, my fault for not waiting until I got home. I have asked for the photos to be removed.
Thank you

OP posts:
Cam2020 · 26/02/2022 18:29

Daily mail with sad face photo?

Movinghouseatlast · 26/02/2022 18:30

What else you can do is report it to the local council Environmental Health Officer if you want the restaurant investigated.

With Natashas's Law this is actually quite serious- they clearly don't have the right processes in place to ensure that what is inside a sealed package is what the label on the outside said.

misspercy · 26/02/2022 18:33

@Legoisthebest

I can't believe the casual-ness of some of the responses here. Imagine this was an allergy issue not a food choice issue. Someone could quite easily be dead as has happened in the past with poorly labelled food. OP I would contact the bakery and say you are not interested in a refund but you would like a investigation of what happened. If they don't respond or take you seriously then I would report to the food health and safety/trading standards. Infact I would do that anyway. After that teenage girl died from an allergic reaction in Pret a Manager I thought food standards and labelling were meant to be much much stricter.
Well, I'm a vegetarian with allergies, and it's precisely because I would die if I ate one of my allergens that I'm taking this casually.

If I asked if an allergen was excluded and I was given wrong information, I'd be pretty pissed off. If I accidentally ate meat, I'd live. Hence not going in all guns blazing, just asking for the £3.60 refund and £4 compensation to buy a sandwich elsewhere, and asking for confirmation that the bakery were taking steps to avoid a repeat.

You can't treat every 'what if' like the end of the world. No one ate an allergen in this scenario. If the bakery are suitably horrified at their screw up and take steps to label their food better, that's the right outcome.