Hold the mayo

You may have seen the news article a few months ago that multinational giant Unilever, maker of Hellman’s Mayonnaise, was suing the (very small) producer of Just Mayo, a vegan “mayonnaise.” Unilever brought the lawsuit claiming that Just Mayo’s label was misleading, and that because it contains no eggs, the product doesn’t meet the legal definition of mayonnaise.

Yesterday Unilever announced it was dropping the lawsuit to allow Hampton Creek to address its label issues directly with regulatory authorities and industry groups. (Just in time for holiday deviled egg trays!) Just Mayo’s CEO, Josh Tetrick, praised the decision. Keeping an upbeat attitude, he noted that the lawsuit had provided his company with a windfall of publicity, boosting sales and giving the company “the opportunity to tell our story to millions of people.”

Critics of the lawsuit noted that some of Unilever’s products that were labled as mayonnaise weren’t exactly mayonnaise either. Just after filing the lawsuit, the company “tweaked references on its websites to products to refer to them as “mayonnaise dressing” rather than mayonnaise.”

We’d love to year what you think of the lawsuit and Just Mayo’s label. Is the label inherently misleading, or was Unilever overreacting by filing a multi-million dollar suit?

Photo of How to make mayonnaise with an immersion blender from indexed blog The Kitchn