Vegan mayo manufacturer Hampton Creek sued by Unilever

Unilever has filed a lawsuit against vegan mayonnaise producer Hampton Creek, accusing it of misleading customers by calling its Just Mayo eggless product ‘mayonnaise’.

Unilever lawyers stated that Just Mayo has hit the demand for Unilever’s Hellmann’s mayo and damaged the company, reported The Washington Post.

Unilver wants Hampton Creek to stop calling its product Just Mayo, remove it from sale and pay damages to Unilever, which are worth three times the profits of the startup.

Unilever has stated in its lawsuit that mayonnaise, by definition, has eggs and ‘mayo’ is an accepted abbreviation for mayonnaise.

The lawsuit said: "By calling its vegan sandwich spread ‘Just Mayo’, Hampton Creek falsely communicates to consumers that Just Mayo is mayonnaise, when it in fact, it is not."

The case has been filed by Unilever’s subsidiary Conopco in New Jersey federal court and has alleged false advertising and unfair competition.

The complaint further read: "Despite its name, Just Mayo does not contain just mayonnaise. In fact it is not mayonnaise at all. Rather, it is a plant-based vegan alternative to real mayonnaise."

Hampton Creek launched Just Mayo last year with financial backing from Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Li Ka-shing, considered to be Asia’s richest tycoon.

The product is made with Canadian yellow peas, canola oil and lemon juice and is the first in a line of eggless products Hampton Creek is developing as an alternative to industrialised foods that depend on animal byproducts, reported the Los Angeles Times.