The Bank of England has responded to the revelation that the new £5 note, introduced in September, contains the animal product, tallow, by saying it is treating the concerns raised by the vegetarian and vegan community with the “utmost seriousness” and is working towards “potential solutions”.
The Bank of England confirmed that a trace of tallow can be found in the polymer pellets used in the base substrate of the new £5 notes.
In a statement it said: “We are aware of some people’s concerns about traces of tallow in our new five pound note. We respect those concerns and are treating them with the utmost seriousness.
“This issue has only just come to light, and the Bank did not know about it when the contract was signed,” the statement continued.
“Information recently provided by our supplier, Innovia, and its supply chain shows that an extremely small amount of tallow is used in an early stage of the production process of polymer pellets, which are then used to create the base substrate for the five pound note.
“Innovia is now working intensively with its supply chain and will keep the Bank informed on progress towards potential solutions.”
A change.org petition has received over 115,000 signatures since it was set up three days ago by Doug Maw who on the site describes the situation as “unacceptable to millions of vegans, vegetarians, Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and others in the UK.”
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
