It’s really been a whirlwind of activity over here while we continue to get to the bottom of what’s really in a bottle of V8. I’d like to give you a quick rundown of what happened since I published my Campbell’s V8 Juice post on Tuesday, so that you have the complete picture and know what to do from here on out to hold Campbell’s accountable for their lack of transparency and the huge mistakes they are making that have confused many of us.
On the morning of August 5th, 2014, I was alerted that a petition was launched on Change.org to remove animal products from V8 juice, as they had publicly admitted to a vegan blogger on Twitter that the natural flavors in their products may contain meat or dairy:
I was alarmed to find out that V8 “100% Vegetable Juice” could contain something other than vegetables. Not sure if it was true, I asked one of my team members to contact Campbell’s to double check and ask them to verify this information. We used the chat function on their website, so that we’d have a written record, but we also called them. As you can see, at around 11:30 a.m. EST, August 5th, Campbell’s confirmed that the information given on Twitter was true:
———: Hi there. I read that you recently Tweeted that the “natural flavors” in V-8 Juice may contain “meat/seafood/poultry/dairy”. Is that true?
**Welcome to Campbell’s Chat! An agent will be with you shortly.
Thank you for holding, you are speaking with Kelly.
Kelly: Thank you for taking the time to contact Campbell today ———. I will be happy to help.
Kelly: That is a great question! Yes this is true.
———: Are there any more ingredients that may contain animal parts?
———: Can you clarify if it is meat or dairy?
Kelly: The term “flavoring” refers to the oils or extracts that are obtained from spices and herbs. Natural flavoring may also include onion or garlic derivatives, as well as flavor derived from fruits, vegetables and their juices, or edible parts of plants. Other sources may include meat, seafood, poultry or dairy products, whose significant function in the food is flavoring rather than nutrition.
Kelly: I cannot clarify, However I can tell you if there was dairy in the Natural Flavoring, It would be listed in parenthesis after Natural Flavoring, because dairy is a top 8 allergen.
Campbell’s went on to say the natural flavors are “proprietary” and may contain meat:
———: Okay, so it would be from either meat, poultry, or seafood?
Kelly: Correct. It can be.
———: Are you saying that you don’t know if it does?
Kelly: I’m not saying that. It can be derived from Meat, Seafood, Poultry or Dairy.
Kelly: It is a proprietary recipe.
———: So, you can’t disclose which it is made from?
Kelly: That is correct. However, as I stated, if there was an allergen, That would have to be listed after the Natural Flavoring.
Campbell’s responds after consumers become outraged…
I also couldn’t find any mention of the fact that V8 “100% Vegetable Juice” may contain animal products on their website or their labels. I know that there are many vegans and vegetarians that have been consuming V8 juice for years without realizing that it could contain meat-derived flavorings, and I had to share this information. Within minutes of publishing my blog post on this issue, many of you were very upset, commented on V8’s Facebook page and signed the petition on Change.org, demanding that Campbell’s remove animal products from V8. As reported in Politico, after I shared the petition, it “zoomed from less than 200 signatures to nearly 6,000 in just a few hours” (and it now has over 11,000 signatures). This surely got Campbell’s attention and they made an attempt to respond, by leaving a short comment on my website:
“Hi there, It’s Anna here from Campbell Soup. We saw this post and wanted to set the record straight. V8 100% Vegetable Juice IS vegetarian and uses natural flavorings derived from plants and vegetables. Also, our Tomato Soup is vegetarian. Our care team got this information wrong on Twitter. We apologize for any confusion”.
This comment brought up more questions than it answered.
Just a few short hours ago they told us that V8 may contain meat, but now it is all plant/vegetable derived? Your customer service got it “wrong on Twitter”, although they confirmed this was “true” this morning via their website and on the phone? Why are your customer service agents giving inaccurate information to your customers? What other product questions are getting answered incorrectly?
If V8 is vegetarian, why isn’t it vegan?
Just because it is vegetarian, does not mean that it doesn’t contain any animal products. Vegan foods shouldn’t contain any meat or animal bi-products, including dairy, eggs, and gelatin – so what does V8 contain that prohibits it from being vegan?
According to Karen C. Duester, MS, RD, the editor of FoodLabels.com: “Neither FDA nor FTC has any labeling regulations for vegetarian or vegan statements, other than being “truthful and not misleading.” A clarifying “contains honey” statement near the “vegan” call-out would help to ensure that the manufacturer is making truthful and not misleading statements while giving consumers the information they need to make informed decisions”.
We are looking for the truth, and it really shouldn’t be that hard.
Even if you are not a vegan, can you really trust a company that gives conflicting information about their ingredients to their customers? For a company that has spent nearly ONE MILLION DOLLARS to fight transparency in food ingredient labeling, you’d think they would have spent that money in a positive way, possibly by creating better products and training their employees so that customers could get accurate and honest information. Mary Tully recently updated her petition, which sums up how Campbell’s actions are untrustworthy:
“How does a food company’s customer care team (they make the food, they don’t just sell it like a supermarket) not know something so basic as whether or not some of its most popular products have animal ingredients?… If their own staff doesn’t know what’s in these products, how do they expect consumers to trust them?… Trust has been lost. Campbell really screwed up. I don’t know why we are expected to trust them now”.
Yesterday, I responded to Campbell’s by email, this is what I wrote:
“I am still confused, just this morning, I received a chat response on your website from “Kelly” indicating that your natural flavorings could have animal products and the statements on Twitter were true. Are you going to issue a formal response to this matter? What EXACTLY are “natural flavorings derived from plants and vegetables”? What process(es) are used to “derive” these flavorings? You say the V8 and Tomato Soup are vegetarian, but you don’t mention if they are vegan, are they? I’d like to share your response with my readers.”
Then, I received this response from Campbell’s:
“To clarify, both V8 100% Vegetable Juice and Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup are suitable for vegetarians. The information provided by our care team wasn’t accurate and we’ve updated the way we respond to these enquiries. The flavoring in V8 100% Vegetable Juice product is a blend of herb and citrus oils and in Tomato Soup it’s a blend of herb oils. Both these blends help give the products their unique tastes. We don’t currently market any of our products as vegan.”
Our Path Forward
I responded back to Campbell’s and asked them to provide a complete list of all of their products that may contain animal products hidden within their flavors. We’ve also asked them to explain why V8 is not vegan. If it’s not, we want to know what animal products or byproducts are in V8 juice that prevent it from being vegan. Again, you’d think that a product that says 100% vegetable juice, should just be made from vegetables, right?
Please let Campbell’s know that this lack of transparency is unacceptable. Hold them accountable and ask them to provide clear labeling for vegetarian and vegan products and to provide the public with a complete list of products that may contain animal-derived ingredients. If you haven’t already, go to Campbell’s Soup Facebook page here or Twitter page here and leave a comment.
Feel Free To Call Campbell’s Customer Service Line: 1-800-257-8443
I will update you all here on the blog on any further developments. Make sure you are subscribed to get our email updates, so you don’t miss it.
Xo,
Vani
P.S. I have an amazing homemade recipe for V8 here, check it out.
Hi Food Babe, you’re so knowledgeable about all of this nutrition stuff. I was just wondering, what resources would you recommend for learning about human physiology? I was just thinking the other day, I’ve been taught to believe that food additives like MSG are “bad”, but nobody ever actually told me what they do in my body. I would like to develop a basic understanding of human physiology so that I can try to figure this out for myself, instead of simply trusting what other people tell me about it. Can you maybe point me to some of the medical journals or textbooks that you used to do your research and educate yourself?
If you are interested to read about MSG, it would be helpful to access this interview with Dr. Russell Blaylock, a respected medical doctor, where he discusses the dangers of MSG, aspartame, and excitotoxins. http://www.truthinlabeling.org/Aspartame_Truth_NaturalNewsInterview.Blaylock.pdf
They should turn it into a positive.
CANNOT HANDLE MEAT
NO PROBLEM
Now you can.
And you don’t even know it.
For many of us – its not about handling it. Its about simply – not eating animals. I can eat a steak – no problem. My body will digest it just fine. But my brain says – hey this was a living breathing animal with feelings and the ability to feel pain…don’t eat it!!
How do you know plants don’t feel pain when you cut them down? I’m not being difficult but I believe they do.
Debbie: even disreguarding the fact that plants have no central nervous system (as we understand them)….we DO NOT “cut plants down” or destroy otherwise normally living healthy growing plants to eat them. Tomatoes, oranges, pineapples, papaya, apples, green beans, etc- we remove the FRUIT ….which would otherwise fall to the ground and rot. We don’t cut down the apple trees, orange trees etc; they provide fruit year after year— “annuals”. Producing fruit is a plants way of dispersing its seeds and taking the fruit is beneficial to the plant (remember the story “The Giving Tree”?). Perennials, which is what many vegetables are, also produce fruit every year for the specific purpose of dispersing its seeds. If not picked and eaten the fruit drops to the ground all by itself anyway, the plant dies after producing that fruit.
Watersisland: You are so confused that you had me confused.
1- Plants and CNS “as we understand them” — wow. Just… okay… wow… Glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I read that so no liquid came shooting out my nose.
2- “…we DO NOT “cut plants down” or destroy otherwise normally living healthy growing plants to eat them. Tomatoes, oranges, pineapples, papaya, apples, green beans, etc- we remove the FRUIT …” – Tomato plants, without a greenhouse or a tropical climate, will fruit once and then die. Pineapples fruit one time in their lives and then typically die. I only know of one type of bean that is perennial, runner beans, all the rest bear fruit once and then die. Oranges and apples will fruit repeatedly if cared for properly.
3- “…they provide fruit year after year— “annuals”. ” That would be a perennial, not an annual.
4- “Perennials, which is what many vegetables are, also produce fruit every year for the specific purpose of dispersing its seeds.” Backwards again, darling. The vast, vast majority of vegetables are annuals and can only be grown and harvested once and then must be replanted. Also, vegetables don’t produce fruit. Vegetables don’t produce seeds, either.
I have a headache now.
Campbell’s has been a member of industrial food cabal for a long time. They been untruthful in the labeling of what goes into their products ever since they came under the umbrella of using artificial additives to enhance their product line. Now, with the insurgence of GMO’d foods being used in their products, they’ve become even more secretive claiming propriety rights not to divulge. Hogwash – like all the agricultural and food producers using GMO’d seeds, plants and food stuffs they are fighting vehemently to repulse truthful labeling and hiding from the consumer what’s really in their stuff. There’s one answer to this – DON’T BUY THEIR PRODUCTS! This is the only thing that corporations understand and their greatest fear. BOYCOTT all questionable food products. BUY ORGANIC and even then be sure its organic from a reliable source, locally if possible. The big agricultural and food processors are in bed with the pharmaceutical and chemical industries. You cannot trust a word they say.
Thank you for shedding light on this topic! While I don’t consume Campbell products, I agree that companies should be transparent about their ingredients. What I don’t necessarily agree with is demanding a company change the way they do business via letters, emails and social media shaming. When people are upset with the oil companies, they launch campaigns encouraging people NOT to buy fuel from specific oil companies. That hits them where it hurts! Promoting awareness of their ingredients and lack of transparency is essential. Attempting to force change via posts, letters or emails protesting their lack of transparency doesn’t occur to me to be as effective as inviting people to stop buying these products immediately. When sales and revenue take a nose dive that ought to communicate loud and clear that lack of transparency is unacceptable.
It’s impossible to not by fuel from specific oil companies. All fuel retailers, (most of which are mom and pop owned with very tiny profit margins,) buy from each other. The tanks at the Chevron station down the street will contain a mixture of fuel from Exxon, Mobil, United Oil, etc. The stations buy from the nearest refiner, and then will add their own brand of additives. (Chevron with Techron. Techron is theirs. They add it to gasoline bought from anywhere.)
Boycotting any individual brand of gasoline does nothing but perhaps make the oil execs giggle. These boycotts, which don’t occur anymore as most people now know these facts I just presented, HAVE been effective at bankrupting families who own the stations. So, if that’s your goal, go for it.
If you don’t like oil companies, drive more fuel efficient cars. Or ride a bike.
Sorry Gage, but that is what this site is all about. That is demanding transparency via letters, calling, emailing and social media. Demanding transparency and holding companies to task when they are being nontransparent or down right deceptive is the only way to force the change. They sure will not do it on their own. These companies know what they are doing is not right and they continue to put hidden ingredients in our food that in some cases is slowly killing our population b/c our government is bought and paid for by most of the big food manufacturers. Look at our food laws compared to other industrial countries. The US is far, far behind.
Campbell’s is a private company; they exist to make a profit. If you do not like the way they run their business buy a different brand. They have never promoted any of their products as: healthy, vegan, vegetarian, nor any other of the multiple specialty labels available. If you want to know exactly what is in your soup or juice, process it yourself. This is the truest example of making a mountain out of a molehill!
Gee, you sound just like a Campbell’s lawyer.
It isn’t a molehill for those vegetarians who have been consuming the product for years or those who for religious reasons don’t eat meat. Not everyone has the resources to make their own vegetable juice, and 100% juice sounds pretty healthy to those who are just beginning their journey into healthy eating. They can make a profit while still being transparent. They will make a bit less profit now.
Are you sure Campbell’s has ” never promoted any of their products as healthy, ……”? I am quite surprised with this assertion. Now, as to Campbell’s being private, you are quite right – but the public can ask them to provide information to make informed decisions. And if they are not willing to do that, it makes sense for concerned people, whether it be the ” Food Babe ” or some one else to alert their readers and arrange for a boycott. What’s a mole hill for you, clearly is a mountain for someone else and you may have to accept that fact and move one, like it or not.
Just like “you have to pass the bill to find out whats in it” ?
Do I have to eat the soup to find out what is in it Pepster? God forbid we ask a private company to be honest about the ingredients in its products.
“They have never promoted any of their products as: healthy, vegan, vegetarian….”
Are you a bit slow Pepster, isnt this whole issue about them claiming V8 is 100% vegetable juice? Well my simple mind correlates 100% vegetable with vegetarian, crazy right?
Crawl back into your molehill and place your head back into your ass, jeez.
V8 had not been promoted as healthy? You have got to be kidding me!
They’re misleading us by saying it’s 100% juice when it isn’t. They should tell the truth on their labels so we can make the choice whether or not to buy them. I’m boycotting them until they take out any and all animal products.
Umm – google “V8 Heart Healthy” the first result from the V8 company is: ” V8 Juice – Healthy vegetable juice with nutritional value.” How is that not advertising as being healthy?
Campbell’s Soup Company is NOT a private company. It’s listed on the NYSE under the code CPB. It’s also a component of S&P’s 500.
GOOD work! I am waiting in anticipation the end result!
I’ve never had V8 because I think it tastes terrible, but I’ve purchased Campbell’s products in the past. I won’t make that mistake again! Our family will not purchase from this company again.
Thanks for sharing this info… it’s a shame that they have such trouble answering very simple questions honestly.
Perhaps there are animal derivatives from the rats that have been known to fall into the vats filled with tomatoes. Saw on Dr. Oz that the FDA approves a certain amount of RAT HAIR in the vats of food processing plants. Yes! It’s true, sorry to say. And..rat hair was found in some of the vats containing tomatoes. How gross is that? Grow your own veggies or buy from a local producer and make your own juice. Screw Big Food. They’re in business to make BIG bucks, not make us healthy.
Same with catsup! Mass production of food is goimg to have a rat in vat or God only knows what. Gmo’s? Maybe a fly or cockroache is meat in mixture. I try to grow dang near every thing myself. Have talked to enough truck drivers to know you dont want a cherry in anything if its processed. Can you say formaldahid! Eee gads!
Hey Cahill ! Are you ready to do all the research that Vani does to keep us informed about the things we need to learn? If not, please don’t criticize her. I need the legwork she does . You are not required to subscribe to her blog…….or didn’t you know that?
I agree with Mandi. I really appreciate the hard work that goes into exposing harmful ingredients in our food and holding those companies accountable so changes can in fact be made. If we could get rid off GMO’s all together and farm the way intended we wouldn’t have to worry so much about products using cheaper food grade items, GMO, as well as other harmful ingredients. It comes down to money and integrity. Thanks to food babe I have made many changes in what I make for my family and tomato soup is easily made from scratch but, it does require me to spend more money and I’m ok with that. But there are families that cannot afford to do that. I think we need to choose our battles wisely right now.
Foodbabe;
I have been reading ingredient labels closely for almost a year since developing a gluten sensitivity Sept 2013. I have been telling anyone who will listen that Campbell’s is one of the few Major Companys that don’t highliight allergins on their ingredient labels. I now know that they are actively fighting transparency on this info by spending a million dollars to prevent it. (Thanks Foodbabe) .
“To clarify, both V8 100% Vegetable Juice and Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup are suitable for vegetarians. The information provided by our care team wasn’t accurate and we’ve updated the way we respond to these enquiries. The flavoring in V8 100% Vegetable Juice product is a blend of herb and citrus oils and in Tomato Soup it’s a blend of herb oils. Both these blends help give the products their unique tastes. We don’t currently market any of our products as vegan.” ”
I am by no means a lawyer, but to me, it sounds like Campbell is trying to give out just enough information about their products, but not too much in order to save their asses from lawsuits and such. For example, “suitable for vegetarians”….this is a very vague statement….or even “The flavoring in V8 100% Vegetable Juice product is a blend of herb and citrus oils and in Tomato Soup it’s a blend of herb oils. ” if it was strictly a blend of herb and citrus oils or just herb oils, wouldn’t they rather want to say “ONLY” or “STRICTLY” a blend of herbs and citrus oils. Also, ending with “We don’t currently market any of our products as vegan.” ….after all of those statements, they follow it by such a statement to INDIRECTLY indicate that their products are not vegan, again to save their asses from law suits. Their response sounds EXTREMELT fishy to me…
Just keep doing what you’re doing Food Babe. Unfortunately it’s folks like Cahill that cause lots of sites to disable their comet section. It’s sharing information and ideas in an open forum rather we agree or disagree that helps us to learn and stay informed and make a difference.
Why I don’t eat processed foods and why I don’t care. We all know they lie and use marketing terms they can interpret how they like. Now they will use this to their advantage to get new customers.
I don’t eat anything from Campbell’s. TOO MANY gross ingredients. I grew up loving Campbell’s Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Now I see what nasty stuff is in the soup, the cheese and the bread and don’t eat any of them.
I truly don’t get why our food has been so adulterated—How we came so far from REAL food! It’s just plain disgusting and how these people that create it just so they can fill their bank accounts, is beyond common sense. The corporate money mongers hold such a responsibility for people’s health. The diseases, the obesity, the damage… all for the sake of the almighty dollar. So sad.
Actually, no, the companies aren’t responsible for our health.
WE are responsible for our own health. It’s up to US, we and ourselves, to be responsible for our own health by making better food choices.
Vani is trying to help us get there.
I don’t like to cook (well, I don’t like to clean up after cooking), but even I know that making my own food is better than eating the stuff on the shelves.
(Although, I never will make a V8-type juice. Love the veggies by themselves; can’t stand them mixed together as juice.)
“To clarify, both V8 100% Vegetable Juice and Campbell’s Condensed Tomato Soup are suitable for vegetarians. The information provided by our care team wasn’t accurate and we’ve updated the way we respond to these enquiries. The flavoring in V8 100% Vegetable Juice product is a blend of herb and citrus oils and in Tomato Soup it’s a blend of herb oils. Both these blends help give the products their unique tastes. We don’t currently market any of our products as vegan.” ”
I am by no means a lawyer, but to me, it sounds like Campbell is trying to give out just enough information about their products, but not too much in order to save their asses from lawsuits and such. For example, “suitable for vegetarians”….this is a very vague statement….or even “The flavoring in V8 100% Vegetable Juice product is a blend of herb and citrus oils and in Tomato Soup it’s a blend of herb oils. ” if it was strictly a blend of herb and citrus oils or just herb oils, wouldn’t they rather want to say “ONLY” or “STRICTLY” a blend of herbs and citrus oils. Also, ending with “We don’t currently market any of our products as vegan.” ….after all of those statements, they follow it by such a statement to INDIRECTLY indicate that their products are not vegan, again to save their asses from law suits. Their response sounds EXTREMELY fishy to me…
Lots of feelings that we “deserve” or have a “right” to know what’s in Campbell’s products. I understand the feeling (anger, etc.) but we actually do not have any such right. And we deserve what we earn, nothing more. How is it that folks can get worked up enough to petition Campbell’s but not our own government agencies (FDA, USDA, etc.) ? As Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us”
Surely it’s illegal to falsely advertise? Where dipoles this stop? It’s bad enough that they put ‘all natural” on stuff. All natural can mean anything, form insect parts, animal brain, grit, sand, sawdust, peelings, animal poop etc Its totally meaningless, and leads us to think it’s good for you. Eat only organic, grow your own. Shop farmers markets etc.
Transparency and integrity are never molehills. People has a right to know what they are buying and ingesting. Then they can make informed decisions for themselves and their families.
What they aren’t wanting you to know is that these so called meat products, are probably rodents and snakes and dead birds, etc. that have wound up in the truckloads of vegetables being processed into a liquid.
Agree with mountain out of molehill comment. After noting it is not labeled as vegetarian or vegan, NOR is it labeled as Organic or GMO free, and it is sitting in either a plastic bottle or can with a shelf life of 18 months, you are worried that some seasoning may or may not have a trace amount of non-vegan product added to its flavoring? Did anyone really think V8 was good for them? And they corrected themselves to say that it is 100% vegetable you still want to hang them up? You do realize that all manufactured food products have a legal amount of “foreign matter” (such as insects and hair) that can be in their product and still have FDA approval. Make your own soups and juices, save your legal fees, buy a blender and pay for itself in no time. Do your best to eat local, fresh and organic foods and when you can’t, do the best you can.
THANK YOU FOOD BABE,
My mother worked her way through Drexel University in the 1940’s by counting the dirt in Campbell’s soup samples — so many parts per sample were allowed.
I am 65 years old and had been very ill for many years before it was discovered that I have severe allergies to wheat among others. I still become violently ill (suddenly…) if I accidentally eat even a tiny bit of ANIMAL Protein, or the wheat that is not actually an ingredient but only used as a part of the processing, or the equipment is contaminated. As when I am out and a chef assures us it is a strictly vegan dish…. it isn’t pretty.
Everywhere I go I meet more and more people with the same or similar issues.
The body knows even when the mind cannot fathom…You are terrific. Many of us truly appreciate your efforts.
Hi Vani,
I just moved to the USA and I can’t pick the right water to drink!!! In Europe I used to drink mineral water, however, here I can’t find one. I would like to know if you drink any bottled water and if you do, what kind? It surprises me that bottled water in the USA is not inspected by anyone, so it is very difficult to understand which type of water is good for drinking. Since up to 60% of the human adult body is water., I really care what type/brand of water should I consume? What do yo think about spring water/ purified water/ artesian water? Would you prefer drinking tap water of all? THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH! Also, I loved this article about Campbell’s Soup!!! 🙂
Gigi, move to the country (rural) area where they have wells. If you can’t afford to own your own home and have your own well, you can live in a small town that gets its water from local drilled wells. There are many types of place you can rent in a small town: a house, a room, one side of a double, small apartments and condos.
Any county official can answer your question on where the community gets its drinking water. There is no better feeling than having fresh cold pure water coming from a water well. It is naturally mineralized from being filtered through the rock layers and if there is too much iron in the water, you can run the water through a filter on your water lines.
Hi Gigi, I too was in a similar situation many years ago, until I educated myself about drinking water. Here are the basics:
1. Tap water in USA is generally considered “safe” from a microbiological point of view, but its quality is highly variable. You can call your local water company to obtain their water quality report for free, or have your tap water tested independently (will cost $$$) for more detailed results. Please know that most municipalities in USA add fluoride to tap water (for dental benefits), which I believe is a misguided policy and should be banned, since drinking fluoride does more harm than good. The other issue with tap water is that it may have nitrates from farm fertilizers and trace quantities of pharmaceuticals etc, due to pollution of ground water sources.
2. Well water may or may not be good quality (sometimes it is unsuitable to drink). Typically it needs to be purified to remove contaminants before use. If you have access to well water, make sure it has been tested thoroughly for safety.
3. A good carbon filter (e.g. a NSF-certified fridge filter) will remove most contaminants, but not fluoride or nitrates. For removing those types of contaminants, you can install a reverse-osmosis filter system, or a distillation system. Unfortunately, although this type of purified water is highly pure, it is deficient in healthy minerals, and is not good for health.
4. Bottled water varies widely in quality and price, and also has a big (negative) environmental impact. Generally, good quality “Mineral water” is too expensive for everyday use. “Spring water” or “Artesian water” are decent alternatives (less expensive, and they do contain natural minerals), if you know and trust the company. Always avoid “Purified water” or “Reverse-osmosis filtered water” in plastic bottles… this is highly purified water lacking in minerals, and it may have plasticizers leaching from the bottle!
5. Personally I like to avoid drinking expensive bottled water. My family uses a reverse-osmosis filter at home and we always add a few drops of healthy minerals (using a new product called “EMDROPS”, which is expected to become available later this year). This is the best solution to making pure mineral water at home, at a reasonable cost. I know about this since it was invented by yours truly! 🙂
Wish you all the best!
Thank you Suzie and Vick for taking your time and answering my questions!!! I just got 2013 water report from water and sewer authority of my county. What concerns me the most, is that they put chloramine and chlorine in the water in order to destroy any organism that is considered harmful. However, I like the idea of using a reverse-osmosis filter at home and I will look more into that instead of drinking tap water which is full of chloramine, chlorine and fluoride.
GREAT job exposing Campbells!! If I had facebook, I would post on there!
Instead, I will call the customer care hotline and let them know this is BS!
I’m not looking at a V8 label right now, does it have any certified kosher markings?
K with a small D next to it would mean kosher dairy, meaning it has no meat products for this designation, but does have dairy products. If it’s just a K, it’s parve which means there is no meat or dairy (or derivatives) but could have fish (not shellfish).
If it has a U in a circle the product is kosher, but technically could have meat OR dairy that was from a certified kosher source. But without a D for dairy or some sign that kosher meat is in the product, many think of these are parve.
If they’re mixing and meat and dairy derived products and labeling it kosher, that’s a big no no. They should definitely know what’s in this product if they label it kosher.
@Seq
Honey is not vegan. Maybe their products contain honey?
As always, thank you for holding these companies accountable. I cannot believe how crazy this is. Why is Campbell’s making food so complicated? If it was truly a good product, they wouldn’t need all the flavorings and additives to make it “unique”.
Ever since I found out about baby essence in Pepsi… I have had a mistrust of all these corporations. I use to work in a cheese plant and some of the chemicals we used would chemical burn your skin. This stuff was being put into the cheese( kurds & whey ) to change the Ph value. That’s not to mention the cleaning chemicals that were left in the vats or other equipment. Listeria was always a concern in the plant, however, maintenance department didn’t always sanitize or sterilize their tools, regardless if it was required.
Apparently, all the food companies put various flavorings in their products so they taste better. Hopefully, they’re all okay and won’t harm you. In the v8 case, I believe it’s more making a mountain out of a mole hill. Any meat flavoring, if at all, if listed would probably be at the end of the ingredient list.
I think time would be better spent on aiming at companies that still use trans fats. Hydrogenated oils are KILLERS, meat flavoring isn’t.
Aren’t you and your readers tired of reading labels for trans fats – I know I am.
A sure fire way to tell if the product contains pork by products is to look for a kosher symbol. If you don’t see one, this could mean a lot of things. I think going after Campbell’s for these things is a bit overkill. I’d be more concerned about the amount of sodium in their soups which may even be MSG.
Food Babe,
Thanks for all your great work at keeping us informed.
I have been drinking V-8 juice for years because I
thought that it was wholesome! Now, I have questions!
I will not be buying V-8 juice until I know that it does not
contain MSG, NO GMOs, and know what is in it! Please
keep up the great work!
Stopped drinking V8 years ago. With a juicer machine and 40 minutes of time you can make your own vegetable juice for up to a week knowing exactly what’s in it. Problem solved. Campbell’s can get bent.
I looked up V8 products on the OU (Kosher / Orthodox Union) website, (can you verify the cans are marked OU ?) and they are listed as Kosher. I thought they have a dilligent inspection system. If were meat, wouldn’t likely be Kosher? Perhaps the OU / Kosher agency is missing something too ?
I find this discussion quite interesting. In essence, the Campbell folks are quoting the content of the Food Labeling Act as required by the FDA. They are following the law, and perhaps, ‘hiding behind the law’, (my quotes) in being only as transparent as they need to be, based on the law of the land. Here is the direct quote from the Code of Federal Regulations Title 21:
“The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.”
The goes on to allow any of these flavorings to be derived of any natural substance that is generally recognized as safe, or GRAS.
The formulation of V-8 is not marketed as Vegan, and to do so would require the food product designers at Campbell to vet every component in the ingredient label to comply with the requirements for labeling as Vegan. Usually the formulation is driven by the marketing department, who, based on consumer research, decide if there is sufficient market interest in a particular label feature.
They have chosen not to do so, I would assume, as they see no benefit for doing so. Given the comments that have been raised here, they might make the choice to do the work and then change the label, but it would be a defensive move, rather than a marketing driven move. If and when the comments start affecting the sale of the product on a macro basis, they might decide to do the work to make the change.
From the GRAS list there are only a handful of flavor ingredients sourced from animals. Examples are musk oil, castor oil, ambergris, and civet. It is unlikely that these are used in the natural flavoring for V-8 juice. I am guessing that the folks at Campbell are thinking their product has done very well over the years as currently formulated, thank you very much.
Now, this does not address the probable fact that there are insect parts in just about every processed food we eat, and that to is measured, and there are specifications on how much of these are allowed. I would venture to guess (I have zero data on this) that products labeled Vegan also contain insect fragments in them, limited as specified by law. For example, every tea and coffee will have measurable (by microscopic analysis) number of insect parts in it. If they are considered Vegan, then, your tea or coffee has extract of insect in it.
Ron, Thanks for your excellent, informed & polite comments.
With a bit further investigation, I have learned that the FDA does not recognize the use of the term ‘Vegan’. The FDA does not have labeling regulations for vegetarian or vegan statements, other than being “truthful and not misleading”.
I went through this very same thing in around 1990 with Campbell’s V8, their Tomato Soup, and other soups. and Heinz Ketchup.
they said the same thing to me 24 years ago that they’re telling you.
it’s all BS.
but back then, we didn’t have the power of the Internet and social media.
I will not eat or drink their products but for the good of proper advertising and for the truth, get them to prove this once and for all.
If you check closely you’ll find that one can of Campbell’s soup has enough sodium intake for one person for several days (as do many main stream products)
THANK YOU
if I was Hindu, and the V8 juice had beef natural flavoring would I need to be spiritually cleansed if I drank it? remember the family who ate McD’s French fries in USA and wanted to be flown to India to be cleansed because the fries here are done with beef broth?
Just a heads up, the low sodium V8 has hidden MSG to make up for the reduction in salt. Also any canned product that contains tomato contains methanol, a very dangerous poison that turns into formaldehyde in your body, which can also cross the blood-brain barrier. So unless you cook off the methanol, V8 is a very unhealthy choice. Also be sure to simmer the tomato soup without a lid minimum 15 minutes, longer is better, to avoid the same as above.
All these food companies should be ashamed of themselves. Thanks to Food Babe for revealing the awful things that they are putting in our food which is something we need to live. We are so fortunate to live in a time that is plentiful and cheap. It is a pity that we can not trust these companies and that they will do anything for the mighty dollar.
I just purchased V-8 to use in Gazpacho! I would rather get a product I can trust is Vegan, what similar products would be Vegan and recommended? Thanks for you information!
I just posted to their FB page and asked them about their Vegetarian Vegetable soup. There should be no doubt as to what that contains, but I don’t trust them anymore.
I am more concerned about the MSG that Campbell’s puts in most of its soups. Do your research and you will find it is more of an issue than anyone mentions or suspects.
Agree! This is a common ingredient in Campbell’s soups. Watch out!
Just not going to buy any of their products…at all. That way I know what goes into my food…because I will have put the ingredients there myself. No guessing.
Love your work and your posts…keep it up!!
I appreciate the vegan vs vegetarian debate over V8, however, I don’t understand why the focus is here rather than all the horrible crap they have in all their soups (MSG, excessive sodium, etc) which they routinely market to kids and Moms. I’m WAY more concerned about that and wish that was the target of all the petitions and media campaigning.
And surely the vegetables in V8 aren’t from organic sources so the juice also likely contains traces of pesticides, herbicides, and a cocktail of chemicals. So in relation to all that – vegan vs vegetarian?? Who cares!! Don’t buy Campbells!!!!
I never buy food or any other products from a company that I know spends money to fight our right to know what is in our food. They are shady if they spend millions of dollars in order to keep consumers from knowing the truth.
Companies like Unilever
Coca-Cola
Kelloggs
White Wave
Kashi
General Mills etc..
They may have organic brands as well, but I do not buy anything from a company that supports the opposition.
Support Mercola and Dr. Bronner as they have spent millions and millions fighting for labeling.
Tamara-St. Louis, MO
The long & short is that if you care about the ingredients in the food you eat, ALWAYS buy organic, GMO free food. Leave Campbell’s & it’s cohorts on the shelf. Being a vegan & consuming non-organic, GMO brand food makes no sense to me. You’re still eating poison if it’s not organic.
I am very disappointed in Campbells Soups. I love drinking V8 Juice but not anymore. If Campbell’s cannot be trusted about what they add to there juices then Campbell’s has lost a valued customer!
Honesty is a huge issue!
Shame on Campbell’s Soups!
Maybe they are all just math challenged and don’t know what 100% actually means.
Hi Food Babe, be careful about wording as that makes it through the lawyers.
1. Supply Chain can change
It could be that they altered their supply chain overnight as they have tabs on their ingredients and potential replacement ingredients when issues arise. They say “IS” derived of plants and oils, but not “HAS ALWAYS BEEN” plants and oils. When a change occurs, it is common to ignore the past and act as if you have been doing it all along. I would ask when in the history that they had meat products in their natural flavors and when the recipe has changed. They will respond with, “it’s a proprietary mix and not even employees are provided that info due to the secret, competitive nature of our recipes.” But, you can ask.
2. “Suitable” does not mean vegetarian
Also, saying V8 is “SUITABLE” for vegetarians is an opinion. It has no substance. Any meat eater can say meat is “suitable” for a vegetarian as an opinion. They have not agreed that V8 is categorically a vegetarian food and that it has always been.
In other parts, Anna said it IS vegetarian, but be careful of the official legal speak as they backtrack and adjust wording to protect themselves legally.
3. Not 100% Vegetable juice.
Finally, if it has squeezed oils from plants, then that is not necessarily a vegetable. Also they mention fruits as well. Neither are vegetables. While this is a nit-picky point, it just shows that they are trying to make money, not be truthful. They will lean on influenced definitions from the FDA to say they are allowed to say what they say.
Thanks for working so hard in this industry to help the next generation grow up with healthier products, Food Babe.