The Bank of England has revealed that the plastic polymer note, launched in September, contains tallow, an animal fat often used in candle making and soap.
The news prompted angry vegans and vegetarians to go on the attack.
They also set up a petition calling for the note to be scrapped that has now been signed by over 130,000 people.
It says: “This is unacceptable to millions of vegans, vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in the U.K. We demand that you cease to use animal products in the production of currency that we have to use.”
A change of heart
Some people did offer to take the new notes off vegans’ hands.
But the Bank is already bowing to the pressure, announcing the company that supplies the polymer for the bills is looking into “potential solutions” to the issue – no word yet on what will happen to the 440 million bills already in circulation.
Interestingly, Australia was the first country to launch plastic notes back in 1988 – so do ours contain animal fat?
This story says yes – just don’t tell the vegans.
