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

[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?

@PyongyangKipperbang

These stupid "meaty but not meat" sounding names really dont help. Chickenpea instead of Chickpea could easily be misread by someone in a rush.

I had a customer at work once buy what she thought was a pre prepped chicken roast thing, when it was actually labelled "No chicken chicken". WTF?!

I know that they are done to promote veggie/vegan eating to meat eaters but ime all it does is confuse matters.

I agree. The name chickenpea implies to me, its a chicken substitute made with chick peas. But its not clear.

No it’s not clear. That’s why her dad checked with the staff before he bought it, and they said it was veggie..

I agree. The name chickenpea implies to me, its a chicken substitute made with chick peas.
But its not clear.

But I’m not seeing chick pea or chicken pea. Are there pictures I’m not seeing?

@Honeyroar

No it’s not clear. That’s why her dad checked with the staff before he bought it, and they said it was veggie..

Oh I agree. If it is wrong they need to know for all the reasons outlined already. I wonder if it is a really convincing substitute though. I've had a very convincing vegan burger that if I hadn't been in a specific vegan/veggie place I would have been suspicious! I'm not even veggie or vegan but sometimes opt for these options anyway.

I can't give too many details as outing... but I am anaphylaxic to an item. Which despite telling a takeaway, was in my meal. I noticed straight away as hadn't eaten it (item was obvious). I told environmental health and they had to inspect the meal (I had to drop it to them). Then a week later they visited and 'gave them advice'. That was the end of it. I got a refund too.
So honestly nothing will happen.

@PriamFarrl there was a picture with the name of the sandwich (chickenpea) but it was deleted because it also had the name of the store identifiable from it

Could it have been tofu. I had some extra firm the other day and the texture was just like meat.

[quote liveforsummer]@PriamFarrl there was a picture with the name of the sandwich (chickenpea) but it was deleted because it also had the name of the store identifiable from it [/quote]
Ah. Thank you.

@BlanketsBanned

I have never seen coronation chickpea, someone has got mixed up. What does it say on the packaging. I expect they will offer you a refund for that, do they have a phone number.

Nor have I, but google it and you can see it exists.

Is it not just a meat substitute made from chickpeas rather than actual chicken?

@Nomoresmoresthensnores

I can't give too many details as outing... but I am anaphylaxic to an item. Which despite telling a takeaway, was in my meal. I noticed straight away as hadn't eaten it (item was obvious). I told environmental health and they had to inspect the meal (I had to drop it to them). Then a week later they visited and 'gave them advice'. That was the end of it. I got a refund too. So honestly nothing will happen.

Oh nightmare. That’s unacceptable. Glad you are ok and hope,you can regain some confidence to eat out x

There are some right dickheads on here today*

That was supposed to b be highlighted and say yes agreed!

@CrocodilesCry

Are you sure he didn’t misunderstand the ingredients? Coronation chicken sounds much more likely than coronation chickpea.

Nothing you can do either way if they’re closed until Monday.

Coronation chickpea is a very common vegetarian alternative now.

@mrsm43s

I would assume your Dad mixed up Coronation Chicken and Coronation Chickpea - honestly I've never heard of a Coronation Chickpea sandwich (and it's pretty unlikely that it would be vegan anyway as there's dairy in the sauce).

I would think, however that its likely the bakery will refund the cost of the offending sandwich as a goodwill gesture. This would be more than adequate in this circumstance.

Personally, I probably wouldn't have bothered to contact them about this, as it does seem more likely that its a simple misunderstanding/mis-hearing issue rather than deliberately missold item.

They sell them in Pret.

@MasterBeth

The mistake made here could easily kill someone. Is that serious enough for you?

No it couldn’t. Chicken isn’t a killer.

Actually yes it could! Take it from someone who has spent several nights in hospital due to undisclosed poultry products. 2 particularly memorable ones because of their severity were on a work related trip in 2019 due to chicken stock in a "vegan"soup. Allergies to poultry (and other meat, fish, crustaceans and molluscs can be and are life threatening so yes that mistake literally could kill

You are making a drama out of nothing OP.

Either your Dad or the assistant misheard. I’m sure they’ll give you a voucher if you complain politely. I’m equally sure they won’t want to see a half eaten sandwich as (time sensitive) evidence 😂. However if you act like a dick with them, you will most likely find they will treat you like a dick.

FYI People who have severe allergies aren’t advised to order sandwiches from deli counters because of inevitable cross contamination. (Factory produced sandwiches should be allergy safe.)

There are at least 2 chain coffee shops/lunch places that do a form of curried chickpea sandwich. It certainly exists even if some people on here have never come across it. I think Coffee1 and Pret do them. I'm not even vegetarian and they are delicious.

I’ve never heard of it - but then I’ve not shopped on Pret since they they used loopholes to not list ingredients and that poor kid died after am allergic reaction to a sandwich (and they had been aware of an incident not that long before).

@FlipFlops4Me

As a vegan I'd be very upset to find I'd eaten chicken, given the sandwich was meant to be coronation chickpea. I'd complain but wouldn't expect a reply (not in this day and age). A large order, a flustered sales assistant - mistakes happen.

I'd know that I'd not chosen to eat flesh; it had been an innocent mistake so I'd not let it worry me. And mistakes happen to everyone including shop assistants.

Agreed!

@Aderyn21

This stuff is quite important because people with allergies can die if given the wrong food. Shops have to be really careful not to get it wrong. Accidentally eating meat if you are vegetarian is upsetting

This. Can't believe people still don't get this.

If I've read this right. Then the box did say chicken and the sandwich contained chicken, so the error was in communication between dad and the server?

A refund is probably the best resolution.

It might be different if the wrong sandwich was in the wrong packet due to food standards and allergy control, but it doesn't sound like that's what happened here.

I can’t believe the dismissive replies the OP is getting on here. I’m a definite carnivore but I can see how distressing this must have been for him. Have a heart people, you’re really showing yourselves up.

What this thread shows yet again is the random unfathomable hostility certain people have towards vegetarians and vegans.

There’s lots of things wrong with this

Not getting a product you paid for
Mislabelling of food
Potential triggering of intolerances/allergies
The bakery not having sufficient processes in place to ensure the product it is selling matches it’s description/ingredients.

A lot of the above can have fatal consequences. Next time a child has something with peanuts in it labelled as peas then dies. Would that parent be overreacting in their response. The (dangerous) problem lies with the bakery, not the OP, it clearly doesn’t have sufficient safety procedures in place and they should be bloody grateful it was a bit of chicken (and presumably egg) in an a sandwich for someone who chose those options rather than someone now in intensive care/dead with an egg allergy. I really did pair at how ignorant some people are.

Despair not did pair!