To not expect to find BEEF in my vegetarian chilli

[Katiekitty]

Last night I opened a tin of chilli for dinner (I know, I know, just call me Nigella!), I cooked it, started tucking in when, what's this? I pulled out a forkfull of beef!beef I ask you! Not strictly a vegetable... Not what I expected, nor what I wanted as I'm a vegetarian and it said clearly on the label 'suitable for vegetarians' and indeed, for vegans. Not in my book.
AIBU to expect my vegetarian dinner to be beef-free?

Hmmm, you've got to tell me more about this Tort law case, I need to know this!

If you have a solicitor dealing they should know all of this already.

Is this why Stagg don't have the offending product on their website?! here

Anne - I want to not have to pay for a solicitor if I can avoid it at all! So, any advice from lovely mnetters is welcome. It's been going on for months and months with the meat result only coming out recently, so I want to move quickly and sort it all out.

Girlandboy - sadly, the chili is indeed the 'Vegetable Garden Chili' they have pictured with the green label. So wholesome! They also make Spam, don'tcha know!

Fair enough. I thought I had read further down that you already had a solicitor.

Yes Anne, I do, but as you can imagine, solicitors are ridiculously expensive and I don't have a bottomless pit of money. I'm just after as much advice here as I can get before shelling out for a visit to the lawyer so if he explains it to me, he can do it in less time (and therefore money on my bill!) for me to understand it if I have already got an understanding of it from here. Maybe I should post on the legal section - you just made me think of doing that - thanks!

Well the easiest way is by using the Sale of Goods Act 1979, but you do have to sue the seller, ie the shop.

But the company is liable in tort law, because they have a duty of care to the end user, ie you, that the product is fit for purpose, safe, etc. But you have to prove negligence. Not so easy, and quite frankly, as this is not likely to have caused you 'harm' probably not worth the effort.

Have you kept your receipts?

OMG OMG OMG

How terrible you must feel to have found this in a product labeled suitable for veggies & vegans. It's shocking that no recall has been done.

This should be in all the papers. Companies are going under and some, like this one, just don't give a fig for their customers.

But mmmarg KKitty is a veggie - it's her right to mke this choice and was supported in this by the food labelling.

I'm sitting here so shocked that the company has done nothing - they should give you a huge compensation, have taken the product off the shelf.

Of course it's her choice, but do you honestly think that a vegetarian who finds meat in their food should be entitled to the same compensation as someone with an allergy who finds that product in their food? It's not going to cause the same harm, is it? And THAT is what most compensation is based on, the harm that is caused.

mmmarg - yes I do. KKitty bought the product as it said veggie & vegan & it wasn't. It wasn't fit for the purpose of being veggie food. The website says meat free chilli www.staggchili.com/default.asp?req=varieties/variety/310

If a product has a list of what's in it and someone pays their hard earned money then they have the right to have what's on the list of ingrediants.

If I sell a product that says meat free and it isn't then I'd be lying and my customers woulnd't come back.

girl&boy - it's on ypor link as veg pasta as it's used in a recipe.

and more mmmarg - what you eat becomes part of you (yikes!) & kkitty had chosen no meat. It's a valid food option.

I didn't say it wasn't!!!! But the LEVEL of compensation is higher when there is actual harm. What's so difficult about that???

I think that the harm is emotionally. I am not a vegetarian but depending on your reasons for not eating meat then it could be harmful psyhcologically to eat it.

Also its the potential harm to others, maybe someone would not eat (whatever it was) for religious reasons.

pamelet - thinking halal & kosher. They should have done a recall.

mmmarg - hold your horses (perhaps stagg should have done!!) Just meant that for a veggie to eat meat from a veggie product is a trauma. I'd feel really terrible to have done that when I'd taken all steps possible to be sure what I chose was meat free.

Hope you're ok KatieKitty xxx

That's it randomcups, I only got the tin of chilli because it was vegetarian, I've been veggie for 25 years. I could have chosen another option but it was late, I'd been at work all day and only the smaller supermarket was open, so I went to get something I could cook and eat without any fuss. (or so I thought!). It was clearly labelled with the big Vegetarian Society 'tick' and marked as suitable for vegans too. It was, to intents and purposes, according to the label, a vegetarian product. Except it had a lump of meat in the tin.

It was harmful psychologically and who knows, maybe even physically as I may have ingested a bit of rat/dog/or human.

I know I wasn't allergic to whatever the thing in it was, but, it was still a terrible shock to find it.

There must be soemthing wrong with the manufacturers processes that a piece of unidentifiable meat can find its way into a vegetarian product.

Just say if I was chosing that product on religious grounds, say because I only ate halal meat?

I feel really let down by the manufacturers because there really shouldn't be meat in that product. If there's any danger of it getting in there, they should have:'made in a factory handling meat' like nut handling factories have if there's a chance of a nut being in a product.

I didn't keep my receipt, but from the batch number on it, they can see where it was shipped to and if need be, I could probably pinpoint the transaction on an old credit card receipt. Do you think this would help?

Thanks again to everyone for your concern anda dvice, it's good to know that I'm not alone in thinking this shouldn't have happened!

They've said they appreciate I was concerned and upset and offered the £50 as goodwill. No apology.

Would/is there a vegertarian lobby group (sorry if not the right term/name) who would be able to take up your case.

If the Vegetarian Society have given it a tick mark you should see what they have to say about it. They may withdraw their approval.

Just can't understand why stagg chose to ignore this - really shocking. It's as shocking as meat getting in in the first place.

You really are a committed veggie & stagg should compensate you properly. The £50 is an insult. They should also remove their chilli from the shelves.

Good idea on the veg & vegan soc.

More updates please!

can I just say, why go to the Daily Mail? ....personally I tend to disbelieve anything they print, in the unlikely event that it comes to my attention, may be other veggies are similar.
and my deepest sympathies for the original experience!

This is the first time I have read an entire thread from start to finish!!! How exciting - and DISGUSTING

Needless to say really that YANBU - but what a story - I can't wait to see if it ends up in the paper!